Fox River is a

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

community in

Cumberland County Cumberland County may refer to: Australia * Cumberland County, New South Wales * the former name of Cumberland Land District, Tasmania, Australia Canada *Cumberland County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Cumberland, historic county *Cumberla ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. Fox River is the birthplace of John Chipman (Chip) Kerr, who was awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was one of only four Nova Scotians to be awarded the VC, which is presented for an act of conspicuous valour in the face of the enemy. His VC is held by the

Canadian War Museum The Canadian War Museum (french: link=no, Musée canadien de la guerre; CWM) is a national museum on the country's military history in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The museum serves as both an educational facility on Canadian military history, in ad ...

in Ottawa and his story is featured at the nearby Age of Sail Heritage Centre.

History

Fox River was founded in 1784 in the wake of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

. Loyalists from the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th cent ...

who wished to remain under the British crown migrated to the loyal colony of Nova Scotia, and were granted land as a reward. The Fox River land grants were among these grants issued to loyalists. Names such as Hatfield were among the recipients, a family name that still has a presence in the community to this day.

Acadians

It is speculated that a small Acadian settlement existed within the boundaries of Fox River prior to the arrival of the loyalists. In the Fox River tidal marsh stand dike structures often seen in land reclamation efforts by the Acadians, but it has not been confirmed whether a hamlet existed in the area or not.

References

Communities in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia {{CumberlandNS-geo-stub