Weymouth Falls is a

Black Nova Scotian Black Nova Scotians (also known as African Nova Scotians, Afro-Nova Scotians, and Africadians) are Black Canadians whose ancestors primarily date back to the Colonial United States as slaves or freemen, later arriving in Nova Scotia, Canada dur ...

settlement within the District of Clare 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 ...

, located in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

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 ...

History

The community was established by African-Canadians in the 1780s, near the village of Weymouth. Initially established by Black Loyalists, they were later joined by Maroons and other groups of Caribbeans of African descent. The original Baptist church in Weymouth Falls was among the first seven established in the province as part of the African United Baptist Association (AUBA) in 1854. Its replacement, Mount Beulah Baptist Church was erected in 1921. St. Matthew’s Anglican Church was purchased from a Yarmouth congregation in 1902. The building was moved to Weymouth Falls and reassembled by Anglican members of the community. St. Matthew's has a unique designation as the only

Anglican Church in Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2016, the Anglican Church of ...

to have an all black congregation. The area was once home to a prosperous lumber industry, with the community remaining agriculturally based to this day.

Demographics

The number of black residents in Weymouth Falls has declined from 295 in 2001, to 115 in 2016.

Notable residents

Weymouth Falls is the birthplace of 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. In 1972, Weymouth Falls erected a plaque to his memory at its community centre. In 1996, the

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada () are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being of national historic significance. Parks C ...

recognized his contribution to Canadian sports by rating Langford as one of the top ten boxers of the 20th century.

In popular culture

*In 1985, the community was thrust into the national spotlight when Graham Jarvis, a black man, was shot and killed by Jeff Mullen, a white man from nearby Weaver Settlement. Both Mullen and Jarvis had been drinking and playing pool at Mullen’s house when Mullen went to his outhouse, retrieved a shotgun borrowed from his brother-in-law and fired Jarvis from roughly two metres away. The shot punctured Jarvis’s leg near the waist, and severed an artery. Jarvis stumbled, then crawled into the middle of Highway 340, where a crowd of onlookers gathered as he bled to death. Mullen was found not guilty after a four-day trial in front of an all-white jury. Presiding Judge John J. Nichols told the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

that he would not have allowed the case to go to trial if he had known all of the facts and stated, "You know what happens when those black guys start drinking." *

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), a poetic novel written by author

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 ...

takes place in Weymouth Falls.

Climate

References

{{Reflist Communities in Digby County, Nova Scotia Unincorporated communities in Nova Scotia Black Canadian settlements Black Canadian culture in Nova Scotia