Woodville is a community in Kings County of about 200 people located in 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 ...

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 ...

. The community is situated north of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

and Waterville at the foot of the North Mountain. Centred along Route 221, Woodville has a volunteer

fire department A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organi ...

, a Baptist church, two auto body shops, a home run automotive mechanic business, and many family-run farms. It is administratively part of the village of Cornwallis Square. A community centre is located in the former school, built in 1942. The former Wesley Knox United Church, built in 1921, was sold in 2006 is now a residence and artist's workshop. Each spring during the

Annapolis Valley Apple Blossom Festival The Annapolis Valley Apple Blossom Festival is an annual agricultural and heritage celebration held in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley usually the last weekend of May. The festival draws tourists to the area to take in a number of festival events ...

, the community comes together to stage a chicken

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to coo ...

on Boates' farm the Sunday of the festival, which is known for its chicken recipe that draws visitors from nearby towns. The community was settled in the early 1800s 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 ...

who were spreading westward from their initial settlements in the

Canning Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although under ...

area. It was first known as Kinsmans Corner, after the Kinsman family who ran an early store in the centre of the community but it was renamed "Woodville" in 1864 by residents who voted to name it after Samuel Wood, an early settler, who purchased land there in 1807. Samuel Wood's house is one of the oldest houses in Woodville located on the south side of Rte 221 across from the Boates farm. Woodville became a stop on the Cornwallis Valley Railway branchline of the Dominion Atlantic Railway in 1914 which greatly stimulated apple production and export. Four large apple warehouses and a station were built in Woodville. The railway operated in Woodville until 1961. The apple industry declined after the Second World War and farmers diversified into other crops, although many large orchards remain in operation around Woodville. Major apple growers in the past included Howard Bligh, W. B. Burgess and Robert Leslie, who became a major leader in apple marketing in Nova Scotia. In later years, the Foote and Boates families became noted apple growers. Margaret Dorothy Atwood (née Killam), the mother of the famous Canadian writer

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...

, was born in Woodville. Margaret Dorothy's father, Dr. Harold Edwin Killam, served as community doctor for many years.Hazel Foote, ''The Homes of Woodville'', M.A. Jorgenson, Woodville, NS (1997), p. 109

References

Woodville Community Centre WebsiteWesley-Knox United Church of Canada (Woodville)
{{coord, 45, 5, 33.2, N, 64, 39, 15.6, W, display=title Communities in Kings County, Nova Scotia Unincorporated communities in Nova Scotia