South Harbour is an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in the

Municipality of the County of Victoria The Municipality of the County of Victoria is a county municipality on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. It provides local government to about 7,000 residents of the eponymous historical county except for the Wagmatcook 1 reserve. The ...

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

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 on the

Cabot Trail The Cabot Trail is a scenic highway on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a loop around the northern tip of the island, passing along and through the Cape Breton Highlands and the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. It is named ...

, and borders the

Cape Breton Highlands National Park Cape Breton Highlands National Park is a Canadian National Parks of Canada, national park on northern Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. The park was the first national park in the The Maritimes, Atlantic provinces of Canada and covers an ar ...

. The earliest European-descended settlers were English and Irish families who arrived around 1830. A second wave of Scottish settlers arrived in the area approximately 40 years later. A schoolhouse was established in the community in 1883. South Harbour is a misnomer since the sole outlet of the “harbour” is a channel through a sandbar, too small for commercial watercraft to traverse. The water is

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

, being fed by Effie's brook and Glasgow brook. Oysters and mussels are harvested in the harbour. A quarry and asphalt plant are also located in the community. File:Sunset over South Harbour (Nova Scotia).jpg, Sunset over South Harbour. File:South Harbour (Nova Scotia) Beach in the summer.jpg, South Harbour beach in the summertime. File:South Harbour (Nova Scotia) in the winter.jpg, South Harbour in the winter. The estuary typically freezes over every winter. File:South Harbour (Nova Scotia) on a calm day.jpg, South Harbour on a calm day.

References

External links

* Communities in Victoria County, Nova Scotia Unincorporated communities in Nova Scotia {{VictoriaNS-geo-stub