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Rivière-aux-Canards was an
Acadian The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern American region of Acadia, ...
community located at the west side of the
Minas Basin The Minas Basin () is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy and a sub-basin of the Fundy Basin located in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is known for its extremely high tides. Geography The Minas Basin forms the eastern part of the Bay of Fundy which splits ...
from 1670 until 1755. The community occupied the present-day site of Canard, Port Williams and Starr's Point, Nova Scotia. The village was established in 1670 by the name of Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rivière-aux-Canards, later, it became Rivière-aux-Canards in short form.


History

Acadians The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French colonial empire, French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern Americ ...
settled along the
Canard River The Canard River is a river in Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada which drains into the Minas Basin of the Bay of Fundy between the communities of Canard, Nova Scotia, Canard and Starr's Point, Nova Scotia, Starr's Point. It is known for its fertil ...
in the late 1600s and called it Rivière-aux-Canards after the French word for duck. They first built small dykes to claim salt water marshes for farmland at the upper reaches of the river near the communities now known as Steam Mill Village and Upper Dyke. A large cross dyke was built further down river at Middle Dyke. About 1750 an even larger cross dyke, over a mile long, was built near Port Williams. Known as the Grand Dyke it located where the current highway Route 358 crosses the river. By this date, the Acadian village on both sides of the river totaled 750 people and included the extensive dykeland farms along the river as well as several mills. A parish was established in 1670 by the name of Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rivière-aux-Canards, later, ''Rivière-aux-Canards'' in short form. The best farms were located at the mouths of 'rivière aux Canards' river and the 'Saint-Antoine' river. Rivière-aux-Canards was west of Grand-Pré. A schooner landing and ferry at Boudreau's Bank provided a connection between the two settlements. The Acadian settlement was destroyed in the 1755 Bay of Fundy Campaign of the
Expulsion of the Acadians The Expulsion of the Acadians was the forced removal of inhabitants of the North American region historically known as Acadia between 1755 and 1764 by Great Britain. It included the modern Canadian Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Br ...
. On October 27, 1755 fourteen transport ships embarked 1,600
Acadians The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French colonial empire, French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern Americ ...
from the region of Grand-Pré and ''Rivière-aux-Canards'', as well as 1,300 from
Pisiguit Pisiguit is the pre- expulsion-period Acadian region located along the banks of the Avon River (known as the Pisiquit River to the Acadians) from its confluence with the Minas Basin of Acadia, which is now Nova Scotia, including the St. Croix Ri ...
and
Cobequid The old name Cobequid was derived from the Mi'kmaq word "Wagobagitk" meaning "the bay runs far up", in reference to the area surrounding the easternmost inlet of the Minas Basin in Nova Scotia, Canada, a body of water called Cobequid Bay. Cobeq ...
. Acadian families from Rivière-aux-Canards brought personal possessions to Boudreau's Bank in ox carts where they were loaded on exile ships, leaving 60 ox carts to be found at the landing by later settlers. The deportation vessels joined up with ten other ships 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 ...
with 1,900 Acadiens from the region of
Beaubassin Beaubassin was an important Acadian village and trading centre on the Isthmus of Chignecto in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada. The area was a significant place in the geopolitical struggle between the British and French empires. It was establ ...
. Some of the ships were over crowded with standing room only. Governor Charles Lawrence had given the order to prevent the Acadians from returning. It was for this reason that the villages of Cobequid, Pisiguit, and Rivière-aux-Canards were burnt to the ground. It is not known when, or if, Grand Pré was burned. With no one to maintain the dykes, a severe storm in November 1759 breached the Grand Dyke and flooded up to the Middle Dyke which was badly damaged, returning hundreds of acres of farmland to tidal marshes. The
New England Planters The New England Planters were settlers from the New England colonies who responded to invitations by the lieutenant governor (and subsequently governor) of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, to settle lands left vacant by the Bay of Fundy Campaign ...
took up the Acadian lands along the river in 1760, discovering a handful of Acadian families at Rivière-aux-Canards who had hidden and escaped deportation. Their former lands became part of newly surveyed " Cornwallis Township" settled by New England Planters, some of whom employed the remaining Acadians to repair dykes. A government ship bringing supplies up the Canard River for the Planters, the brigantine ''Montague'' was wrecked in the lower reaches of the river in December 1760. The Planter settlement on the south bank of the river becoming known as Starr's Point and the settlement on the north becoming known as Canard. The Planters repaired the Middle Dyke and rebuilt the Grand Dyke in 1782. In 1825 they built the Wellington Dyke near the mouth of the Canard River protecting in total over 3,000 acres of farmland along the river from the tides of the Minas Basin.Marjory Whitelaw, ''The Wellington Dyke'' Nimbus Publishing (1997), pages 26, 31


See also

*
Beaubassin Beaubassin was an important Acadian village and trading centre on the Isthmus of Chignecto in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada. The area was a significant place in the geopolitical struggle between the British and French empires. It was establ ...
*
Cobequid The old name Cobequid was derived from the Mi'kmaq word "Wagobagitk" meaning "the bay runs far up", in reference to the area surrounding the easternmost inlet of the Minas Basin in Nova Scotia, Canada, a body of water called Cobequid Bay. Cobeq ...
*
Grand Pré Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor Places * Grand, Oklahoma, USA * Grand, Vosges, village and commune in France with Gallo-Roman amphitheatre * Grand County (disambiguation), ...
*
Les Mines Les Mines was the name generally applied the Acadian settlements in the western Minas Basin in Nova Scotia. They included the villages of Grand-Pré, New Minas, Rivière-aux-Canards but usually excluded the villages at Pisiguit, Cobequid, and Be ...
*
Pisiguit Pisiguit is the pre- expulsion-period Acadian region located along the banks of the Avon River (known as the Pisiquit River to the Acadians) from its confluence with the Minas Basin of Acadia, which is now Nova Scotia, including the St. Croix Ri ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riviere-aux-Canards Acadian history New France Acadia