New Yarmouth is an abandoned

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

and

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

community which is now part of the

Cape Chignecto Provincial Park Cape Chignecto Provincial Park is a Canadian provincial park located in Nova Scotia. A wilderness park, it derives its name from Cape Chignecto, a prominent headland which divides the Bay of Fundy with Chignecto Bay to the north and the Minas Ch ...

Cumberland County, Nova Scotia Cumberland County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. History The name Cumberland was applied by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Monckton to the captured Fort Beauséjour on June 18, 1755 in honour of the third son of King George II ...

near the village of

Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

Geography

New Yarmouth occupies a plateau 244 metres (800 feet) above West

overlooking Advocate Bay, a branch of the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy (french: Baie de 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 extremely high tidal range is the hi ...

. The highest point in Cape Chignecto Provincial Park is located on a summit of 275 metres (900 feet) just north of the New Yarmouth fire tower. McGahey Brook and Mill Brook have their source at New Yarmouth, draining south to Advocate Bay through deep ravines, while Copp Hollow Brook also begins at New Yarmouth, draining to the north. An abandoned log pond and several beaver ponds are found near the source of these brooks.

History

Land at New Yarmouth was first granted to

Loyalist 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 Cro ...

John Hall in 1785 and later granted to Alexander and John Grant in 1819 although neither family appear to have settled at New Yarmouth. By 1873, the Copps and Brown families had settled in the community. The expansion of lumbering in the

Cape Chignecto Cape Chignecto is a headland located on the Bay of Fundy coast of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Cape Chignecto is located at the westernmost tip of Cumberland County and is the western limit of the Cobequid Hills, a low mountain range that ...

area in the late 1800s brought more families to the area. By 1904, the community had 10 homes and a school around the intersection of the New Yarmouth Road and Eatonville Road. The Wasson family became important landowners in New Yarmouth and contracted out timber lands, ran lumber camps for mills, and provided horse teams. However, a collapse in timber prices in the early 1920s caused many mills to close and logging operations around New Yarmouth declined. The school house closed and was moved to nearby Advocate where it was converted to a dwelling. By the early 1950s, isolation and opportunities elsewhere led the last few families to leave, a similar fate also shared by nearby

Eatonville Eatonville may refer to: * Eatonville, Florida, United States * Eatonville, Minnesota, United States, an alternative name for the former Dakota village Ḣeyate Otuŋwe * Eatonville, Mississippi, United States * Eatonville, Ontario, a neighbourhood ...

as part of a postwar abandonment of isolated farming and forestry communities in Cumberland County. The land was used for

blueberry Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' within the genus ''Vaccinium''. ''Vaccinium'' also includes cranberries, bi ...

harvesting and

pulp wood Pulpwood is timber with the principal use of making wood pulp for paper production. Applications * Trees raised specifically for pulp production account for 15% of world pulp production, old growth forests 9% and second- and third- and more gener ...

harvesting by the Minas Basin Pulp and Paper company and later

Scott Paper The Scott Paper Company was the world's largest manufacturer and marketer of sanitary tissue products with operations in 22 countries. Its products were sold under a variety of well-known brand names, including ''Scott Tissue'', ''Cottonelle'', ...

. Minas Basin Pulp and Paper built a fire look out tower at New Yarmouth in the 1940s. The

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

proposed building a combined radar and fire tower at New Yarmouth in 1960 to fill a gap in the

Pine Tree Line The Pinetree Line was a series of radar stations located across the northern United States and southern Canada at about the 50th parallel north, along with a number of other stations located on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Run by North Am ...

radar system but the post was never built. The fire tower was later taken over the Nova Scotia's Department of Natural Resources and was staffed for many years by Lloyd E. Bennett of Advocate until his retirement in 1999. The

fire tower A fire lookout tower, fire tower or lookout tower, provides housing and protection for a person known as a "fire lookout" whose duty it is to search for wildfires in the wilderness. It is a small building, usually on the summit of a mountain or ...

and cabin remained staffed seasonally by the Department of Natural Resources until 2012. However the fire tower was closed in 2013 by the Department of Natural Resources as part of a province-wide move to replace fire towers by air patrols and citizen reporting and demolished in June 2015.

Today

Only fields, overgrown foundations, and a few hunting cabins remain at New Yarmouth. In 1989 the

acquired some of the land where New Yarmouth once stood. The park's largest campsite is located in New Yarmouth and the park's main

backpacking Backpacking may refer to: * Backpacking (travel), low-cost, independent, international travel * Backpacking (hiking), trekking and camping overnight in the wilderness * Ultralight backpacking, a style of wilderness backpacking with an emphasis on ...

trail skirts the western edge of New Yarmouth. Blueberry fields are cultivated on some of the old farmlands. The road through New Yarmouth is used by park maintenance staff, hikers and hunters.

References

{{reflist Communities in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia Ghost towns in Nova Scotia