Freeport is a village in

Digby County Digby County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. History It was named after the Township of Digby; this was named in honour of Rear Admiral Robert Digby, who dispatched HMS ''Atalanta'' to convey Loyalists from New York City in ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

and it is located on Long Island in the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy () is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its tidal range is the highest in the world. The bay was ...

. At the end of Digby Neck on Long Island, Freeport is a working

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

nestled around tidal basin. This area is great for bird watching, beach combing, hiking trails, birds, whale watching, gift shops, accommodations, restaurants, and unique flora and fauna.

History

Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

founded Freeport in 1784 establishing fishing and trading industries. Prior to this it had been inhabited by the

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

First Nation. Place names such as Petit Passage, Grand Passage and the Saint Mary's Bay can be attributed to the French explorer,

Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; 13 August 1574#Fichier]For a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see #Ritch, RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December ...

, who first visited the area in 1604. However, the village itself was most likely named for

Freeport, Maine Freeport is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. Freeport is included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England City and town area. The population was 8,737 at the 2020 census. Once home to a prominent shipbuilding i ...

, or because the water of and surrounding the harbour does not freeze during winter due to extreme tidal fluctuations, making it free from ice. Well known Black Loyalist, Rose Fortune is believed to have lived here in 1795, giving birth to one of her children.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Freeport had a population of 217 living in 113 of its 138 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 223. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

In popular culture

The community is the final destination of

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. In a Brad Pitt filmography, film career spanning more than thirty years, Pitt has received list of awards and nominations received by Brad Pitt, numerous a ...

in the movie ''World War Z'' (2013), although this scene was not filmed in Freeport, but Lulworth Cove in the UK.

References

{{Authority control Communities in Digby County, Nova Scotia Villages in Nova Scotia Designated places in Nova Scotia 1784 establishments in the British Empire