Wellington is a

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

community 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 ...

on Fletcher's Lake on Trunk 2 approximately from Halifax.

History

Wellington is situated on the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

line approximately north of the city of Halifax. It was formerly known as Fletcher's Bridge on Fletcher's from the Fletcher family who resided there. Two thousand acres were granted to William Shaw on September 16, 1784. Other early grantees included James Oram, John Lees and John Gay. Shortly afterwards William Fletcher Sr. purchased land on both sides of the head of what is now Lake Fletcher from Peter McNab, Senior. His son Robert Fletcher who had been living at Fletcher's Bridge since 1795, purchased William Fletcher's rights but there were difficulties over the title. Robert Fletcher received a grant of 250 acres in 1812, bordering the road from Halifax to

Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...

, and merchants of Halifax, James and William Cochran, received 500 acres each in the same year. The

Intercolonial Railway The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canada, Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also compl ...

was built through the community in 1856 and a station was established. The name "Wellington" was bestowed in honour of the

Duke of Wellington Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ar ...

by Lieutenant-General

John Wimburn Laurie Lieutenant-General John Wimburn Laurie, (1 October 1835 – 19 May 1912) was a soldier and political figure in Nova Scotia, Canada for thirty years and then returned to England. Military career He was born in London, England, the son ...

(1835–1912), who established the large estate of " Oakfield" nearby in 1865. There had been a previous settlement named Wellington in the 1820s along the Halifax – Annapolis military road of veterans who had served under the " Iron Duke" in the

Peninsular Wars The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain, it is considered to ...

but it was abandoned about 1860 after large scale forest fires. A new

United Church A united church, also called a uniting church, is a denomination formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestantism, Protestant Christian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinc ...

was dedicated on October 30, 1955. In 1836 there was a schoolhouse opposite Fraser's Inn on the Truro Road, and, in May 1936 a site was purchased for a new Junior High School. Lumbering and farming were the basic industries for many years; now there is some tourism to Laurie Park which was opened in 1961. Many residents are employed in the metropolitan Halifax area. The population in 1956 was 100. Originally Wellington was an area where cottages were located. Today the cottages are winterized and the residents commute to jobs in

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 ...

, Dartmouth, Halifax or the

Halifax International Airport Halifax Stanfield International Airport is a Canadian airport in Goffs, Nova Scotia, a rural community of the Halifax Regional Municipality. It serves the Halifax region, mainland Nova Scotia, and adjacent areas in the neighbouring Maritime pr ...

.Alfreda Withrow, ''One City Many Communities'', Nimbus Publishing (1999) p. 116

Communications

* First three digits of the

postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

- B2T *

Telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

902 __NOTOC__ Year 902 (Roman numerals, CMII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Adalbert II, Margrave of Tuscany, Adalbert II, margrave of March of Tuscany, Tuscany, revol ...

854, 861, 860 -

Aliant Bell Aliant is a brand name used by Bell Canada for telecommunications services in Atlantic Canada. Prior to 2015, Bell Aliant Inc. (formerly Aliant Inc.) was a separate company providing telecom services in the Atlantic provinces and a few othe ...

576 - Eastlink *

Cable Internet access In telecommunications, cable Internet access, shortened to cable Internet, is a form of broadband internet access which uses the same infrastructure as cable television. Like digital subscriber line (DSL) and fiber to the premises, cable Internet ...

- Eastlink, Bell, CityWide, Purple Cow

References

Destination Nova ScotiaExplore HRMNova Scotia Archives
{{Communities_of_Bedford/Sackville Communities in Halifax, Nova Scotia Unincorporated communities in Nova Scotia