Hammonds Plains is a suburban area of the

Halifax Regional Municipality Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

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 ...

, Canada, located 20 km northwest of Downtown Halifax.

History

Hammonds Plains was established as a settlement for

United Empire Loyalists United Empire Loyalist (UEL; or simply Loyalist) is an honorific title which was first given by Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, the 1st Lord Dorchester, the governor of Province of Quebec (1763–1791), Quebec and Governor General, governor ...

in 1786 along a road running from Birch Cove on

Bedford Basin Bedford Basin is a large enclosed bay, forming the northwestern end of Halifax Harbour on Canada's Atlantic coast. It is named in honour of John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford. Geography Geographically, the basin is situated entirely within th ...

to St. Margaret's Bay. Landowners voted to name the road after the popular outgoing Lt. Governor

Andrew Snape Hamond Captain Sir Andrew Snape Hamond, 1st Baronet (17 December 1738 – 12 September 1828) was a British naval officer and Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia from 1781 to 1782 and Comptroller of the Navy from 1794 to 1828. Career Born in Blackhea ...

. Further settlers arrived with disbanded soldiers from the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

and Black Refugees from the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. The settlement was also the eastern end of the Old Annapolis Road intended to create a settled corridor and transportation link between Halifax and

Annapolis Royal Annapolis Royal is a town in and the county seat of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The community, known as Port Royal before 1710, is recognised as having one of the longest histories in North America, preceding the settlements at Plym ...

. While the Annapolis Road never developed, settlement opened up the a modest amount of viable farmland and more significantly developed many saw mills. During the 1950s, Hammonds Plains was a potential location for a new international airport for Halifax, where the airport would've been constructed between the present day Glen Arbour Subdivision and Lucasville. The airport was ultimately built in Goffs, just south of

Enfield, Nova Scotia Enfield is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in both Municipality of the District of East Hants, East Hants Municipality and Halifax Regional Municipality. Enfield is situated along ...

Geography

The

Government of Nova Scotia The Government of Nova Scotia (, ) is the government of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The powers and structure of the province are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867. In modern Canadian use, the term ...

defines Hammonds Plains as adjacent to

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

-and- Lucasville to the east; Upper Sackville-and- Middle Sackville to the north; Stillwater Lake, Timberlea, and Upper Tantallon to the south; and Upper Hammonds Plains to the west. The community is situated along the

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

of the

Chebucto Peninsula The Chebucto Peninsula is a peninsula located in central Nova Scotia, Canada, entirely within the Halifax Regional Municipality on the Atlantic coast. It is bordered by St. Margarets Bay in the west, the open Atlantic Ocean to the south, and ...

with its centre located along Highway 213 (Hammonds Plains Road). The Hammonds Plains region is rich in small

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s and is a dormitory area for Halifax. Many homes lie on large unserviced lots, except in the Kingswood

subdivision Subdivision may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009 * "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2) * ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005 * "Subdivisions" (song), by Rush ...

where 90% of the units have municipal water service and along the Hammonds Plains Road itself where there are several small businesses involved in automobile repair, waste management, physiotherapy clinics, and other maintenance activities. The population grew rapidly in the 1990s, particularly in subdivisions at the western end of the Hammonds Plains Road. Halifax's water comes from Pockwock Lake which lies north of Hammonds Plains. The landmass of Hammonds Plains is approximately .

Residential subdivisions

*Brookline *Cedarwood * Glen Arbour *Highland Park *Kingswood *Kingswood North *Maplewood *Perry Pond *Uplands Park * Voyageur Lakes *White Hills

Activities

* Glen Arbour Golf Course, an 18-hole private championship golf course that hosts many tournaments, including the 2005 LPGA Canadian Women’s Open and the Telus World Skins Game in 2012. * Hatfield Farm, a venue that contains a petting zoo and horseback riding, and is a popular spot for weddings and other functions. In 2021 and 2023 it was the site of Splashifax, a large inflatable water park. * Atlantic Splash Adventure, a water park containing nine slides and several flat rides An annual cycling event called Close To Home: The Tour of Hammonds Plains links the earliest settled areas with the new subdivisions.

Demographics

Hammonds Plains is a well-established community—however—the demographic information available from

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 ...

pertains to the settled area ("retired population centre") of Hammonds Plains Road, not the community of Hammonds Plains. The settled area ("retired population centre") of Hammonds Plains Road had a population of 1,819 people living in 595 of its 602 total private dwellings as of

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, a decrease of from 1,859 people in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. Hammonds Plains Road had a population density of 572 people per km². Including the subdivisions the population is approximately 12,000.

Transportation

Halifax Transit Halifax Transit is a Canadian public transport service operating buses and ferries in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Founded as Metro Transit in March 1981, the agency runs two ferry routes, 66 conventional bus routes (including corridor, local, and expre ...

's route 433 serves Hammonds Plains. This route travels from Tantallon, passes through Hammonds Plains, and continues to the Lacewood Terminal in Clayton Park. At Lacewood Terminal, passengers can transfer to buses destined for other areas of Halifax.

Education

Schools that service residents of Hammonds Plains include: Services Blue Mountain Estates, Kingswood, and Kingswood North *

Charles P. Allen High School Charles P. Allen High School (CPA) is a senior high school located in Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada. This school serves Hammonds Plains, Bedford and a section of Halifax since 2010; for three years at the original CPA and current location since 20 ...

(

) * Kingswood Elementary School * Madeline Symonds Middle School Services Cedarwood, Glen Arbour, Highland Park, Maplewood, and White Hills *

(

) * Hammonds Plains Consolidated School * Madeline Symonds Middle School

Notable residents

* Andrew Bodnarchuk, professional hockey player *

Bruce Guthro Bruce Guthro (August 31, 1961 – September 5, 2023) was a Canadian singer-songwriter from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Guthro recorded as a solo artist, and was lead vocalist for the Scottish Celtic rock band Runrig from 1998, until the gr ...

, musician * Brad Marchand, professional hockey player

References

{{Communities_of_Bedford/Sackville Black Canadian culture in Halifax, Nova Scotia Black Canadian settlements Communities in Halifax, Nova Scotia