Oxford is a town 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 *Cumberl ...

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. It is east of Amherst. The town is directly serviced by Routes 104, 204,

301 __NOTOC__ Year 301 ( CCCI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Postumius and Nepotianus (or, less frequently, year 1054 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denominatio ...

, and 321. Despite its small size and demographic, Oxford is the world's largest processor and distributor of individually quick frozen (IQF) wild blueberries.

History

Oxford was founded in 1792 by settler Richard Thompson. The name "Oxford" is derived from the shallow river that was used to enter the town. Early settlers used

oxen An ox (: oxen), also known as a bullock (in BrE, British, AusE, Australian, and IndE, Indian English), is a large bovine, trained and used as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castration, castrated adult male cattle, because castration i ...

to cross, or "ford", the river, and thus derived the town's name.

Geography

Oxford is located at the junctions of three rivers, the largest of which is River Philip. Much of the town lies in a floodplain and floods are common during the springtime. Salt Lake is located between the Black River Road and the Trans Canada Highway. A series of swamps and meadows connect this lake to the River Philip.

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 ...

, Oxford had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Industry

Oxford is considered the wild

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'' with the genus ''Vaccinium''. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) ...

capital of Canada as it is centred in a large blueberry growing region. Oxford Frozen Foods Ltd., a wild blueberry processor, is the largest employer in the town, processing up to three million pounds of berries a day during peak season. The plant and over 12,000 acres of blueberry land are owned by local businessman,

John Bragg John Bragg may refer to: * John Bragg (politician) (1806–1878), United States politician * John Bragg (businessman) (born 1940), Canadian businessman * John Bragg (climber), United States rock climber and alpine climber * Johnny Bragg (1925� ...

, who added in 2014 another 15,700 acres in the Acadian region of northern

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

. Historically, the town was home to a vibrant manufacturing industry with a woollen mill and foundry being key employers.

Transportation

Centrally located in Cumberland County, Oxford is well connected to the provincial and national road network. The

Trans Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...

( Highway 104) passed near just south of the town and provincial routes 204,

, and 321 all travel through town via Pugwash Road, Birchwood Road, Water Street, Upper/Lower Main Street and Little River Road. In terms of public transport, the town is serviced by Maritime Bus, which stops at the Irving gas station not far off the highway. Historically, the town had freight and passenger rail service via CN's Oxford Subdivision, known locally as the 'Short Line', which ran from Oxford Junction to

Stellarton Stellarton is a town in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is adjacent and to the south of the larger town of New Glasgow. In pioneer times the area was called Coal Mines Station, and from 1833 until 1889, it was known as Albion Mines. The ...

. Passenger service was discontinued in 1960 and the line was abandoned in the 1990s. The abandoned rail line has been reborn as a part of the Trans Canada Trail system. This section of the trail extends 127-km (78-mi) from Oxford to

Pictou Pictou ( ; Canadian Gaelic: ''Baile Phiogto'' Miꞌkmawiꞌsimk: ''Piktuk'') is a town in Pictou County, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Located on the north shore of Pictou Harbour, the town is approximately 10 km (6 miles) nor ...

. It winds through farms, fields and forests for all season recreational use.

Footnotes

External links

Official Oxford website
{{Authority control Communities in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia Towns in Nova Scotia Populated places established in 1791 Unincorporated communities in Nova Scotia