Weymouth, Nova Scotia
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Weymouth is a
rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...
village located in
Digby County Digby County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. History It was named after the Township of Digby; this was named in honour of Rear Admiral Robert Digby, who dispatched HMS ''Atalanta'' to convey Loyalists from New York City in ...
,
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 the Sissiboo River near its terminus on Baie Ste. Marie.


History

The area was settled in the 1760s by
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 ...
. The town was formally founded by
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 Cr ...
James Moody in 1783 (the year that the Treaty of Paris was signed to end the
American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
). Current-day Weymouth was once called Weymouth Bridge, and Weymouth North was called Weymouth. Weymouth is supposed to have been named in honour of the previous settlement of the Strickland family from Weymouth,
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
. Shipping and shipbuilding were the main industry in the mid-19th century. Remnants of docks can be seen on the Northeast side of the Sissiboo today. Goods such as lumber were loaded on ships at these docks and shipped all over the world. Until recently, Weymouth housed the oldest general store in Eastern Canada. Opened in 1837, the store was called The Trading Post, but closed in 2009. The village also houses one of the original offices of the Merchants Bank of Halifax (later renamed
Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; ) is a Canadian multinational Financial institution, financial services company and the Big Five (banks), largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 20 million clients and has more than ...
). This building is now part of the aforementioned Weymouth Trading Post building. The Dominion Atlantic Railway stopped running through Weymouth in March 1990. Nearby Weymouth Falls was home to one of the world's greatest boxers,
Sam Langford Samuel Edgar Langford (March 4, 1886 – January 12, 1956) was a Canadian boxing standout of the early part of the 20th century. Called the "Greatest Fighter Nobody Knows", by ESPN, Langford is considered by many boxing historians to be one of ...
(1886–1956). Although he was never officially crowned World Champion, he held titles from England, Spain and Mexico.


Disasters

On 4 August 1909, 2 churches, a hotel, and several other buildings were destroyed by fire. On 2 October 1929 a fire started in the general store of Captain R.D. Barkhouse and swept through the downtown area destroying 25 buildings including retail shops, factories, and private homes. It was estimated that the fire caused approximately $250,000 in damages. No serious injuries or deaths occurred because of the fire. On 6 February 1958, another fire destroyed the boat and furniture plants of Weymouth Industries Ltd., and in June 1959 six businesses were wiped out due to fire. The Sissiboo River overflowed in March 2003, flooding the town under almost two feet of water. In 2017 one of the oldest buildings in Canada located in Weymouth was destroyed by fire. The blaze also consumed another building and it damaged three other buildings. It took nine Fire Departments and over 130 firefighters to contain the fire.


New France ("Electric City")

The lumber community of New France, located about inland from Weymouth, was founded by the Stehelin family who came to the area from Normandy, France in 1892. The community they established was notable for its early use of
hydroelectric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...
generation, earning it the local nickname "The Electric City". Also notable was the Stehelin family's railroad, the Weymouth and New France Railway, constructed using logs as tracks, which they used to bring lumber to the company wharf at Weymouth. As many as 1.5 million board feet of timber were shipped annually from New France to South America and England. The railway was destroyed by fire in 1907 and the business ceased not long afterwards. There is little left of New France except for the foundations of the city buildings. J.D. Irving, recent owners of the land, established walking trails and interpretive signs at the site and fixed the foundations so they are safe for visitors to explore. The lands were purchased by the Province of Nova Scotia on 3 February 2010, thus assuring the protection of this unusual part of the province.Mike Parker, ''Buried in the Woods: Sawmill Ghost Towns of Nova Scotia'', Pottersfield Press, 2010, pp. 93–118


Geography

Modern day Weymouth straddles the Sissiboo River. This river swells approximately every six hours as salt water backs up from the high tides of 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 ...
into St. Mary's Bay. Weymouth is situated on the border between the provincial electoral districts of Clare and Digby-Annapolis. It is located 33 kilometres from
Digby Digby may refer to: Places Australia * Digby, Victoria, a town Canada * Digby (electoral district), a former federal electoral district in Nova Scotia (1867–1914) * Digby (provincial electoral district), a provincial electoral district ...
, 72 kilometres from Yarmouth and 250 kilometres from the capital of Nova Scotia, Halifax. Smaller villages surrounding Weymouth proper are Weymouth Falls, Weaver Settlement,
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
, Southville, Riverdale, Danvers, Hassett, Saint Bernard and
New Edinburgh New Edinburgh is a neighbourhood in Rideau-Rockcliffe Ward, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located to the northeast of the downtown core. It is bordered on the west by the Rideau River, to the north by the Ottawa River, to the south by Beec ...
. Two exits (27 and 28) on
Highway 101 Highway 101 was an American country music band founded in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. The initial lineup consisted of Paulette Carlson (lead vocals), Jack Daniels (guitar), Curtis Stone (bass guitar, vocals), and Scott "Cactus" Moser (drum ...
are the primary access to the town. Trunk 1 runs through the village and was the main thoroughfare from the
Annapolis Valley The Annapolis Valley is a valley and region in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located in the western part of the Nova Scotia peninsula, formed by a Trough (geology), trough between two parallel mountain ranges along the shore of the B ...
to Yarmouth prior to the construction of Highway 101.


Climate

Weymouth has a
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
influenced by its maritime position. It is shielded from some Atlantic influence by having a landmass between itself and the main ocean, but it is still moderated compared to areas in the interior of the continent.


Economy

Fur farming Fur farming is the practice of breeding or raising certain types of animals for their fur. Most of the world's farmed fur was produced by European farmers. In 2018, there were 5,000 fur farms in the EU, located across 22 countries; these area ...
, especially
mink Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera ''Neogale'' and '' Mustela'' and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the A ...
, fishing, and logging are the principal industries in the area.


Demographics

The Village of Weymouth comprises many different ethnic backgrounds. Primarily populated by descendants of the loyalists, African-Canadian and White, it also is home to a few
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 ...
,
Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...
and people of German ancestry.


Weymouth in fiction

Author Josephine Leslie (pseudonym R. A. Dick) frequently summer vacationed in Weymouth North. During her visits she would imagine living during Weymouth's heyday (age of sail) and was inspired to write "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir". Weymouth and Weymouth Falls appear mythologized in
George Elliott Clarke George Elliott Clarke (born February 12, 1960) is a Canadian poet, playwright and literary critic who served as the Poet Laureate of Toronto from 2012 to 2015 and as the Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate in 2016-2017. Clarke's work addresse ...
's poetical work ''
Whylah Falls ''Whylah Falls'' is a long narrative poem (or " verse novel") by George Elliott Clarke, published in book form in 1990. As with much of Clarke's work, the poem is inspired by the history and culture of the Black Canadian community in Nova Scot ...
'' (1990).


References


External links


Village of Weymouth Official WebsiteWeymouth Church of Christ
{{Use dmy dates, date=August 2019 Communities in Digby County, Nova Scotia Villages in Nova Scotia Unincorporated communities in Nova Scotia