Arichat is an unincorporated place in the

Municipality of the County of Richmond The Municipality of the County of Richmond is a county municipality on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. It provides local government to the eponymous historical county, except for the Chapel Island 5 reserve. The municipality also con ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, Canada. It is the main village on

Isle Madame Isle Madame is an island off southeastern Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. It is part of the Municipality of the County of Richmond. Once part of the French colony of Île-Royale (New France), Île-Royale, it may have been named for Franço ...

on the southeastern tip of Cape Breton Island.

Toponym

The name derives from a

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the nort ...

word meaning camping ground, or worn rocks.

History

Arichat has a deep and protected natural harbour which made it an important fishing and shipbuilding centre in the 1800s. Jerseyman Island, which protects the harbour, was visited by Europeans fishermen as early as the 1500s. The village was sacked by

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, after which two cannons were installed above the village. The LeNoir Forge was an important boat building site and is now a museum. The first classes of

St. Francis Xavier University St. Francis Xavier University is a public undergraduate liberal arts university located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a member of the Maple League, a group of primarily undergraduate universities in Eastern Canada. History St. Franc ...

began at Arichat in 1853, later moving to

Antigonish , settlement_type = Town , image_skyline = File:St Ninian's Cathedral Antigonish Spring.jpg , image_caption = St. Ninian's Cathedral , image_flag = Flag of Antigonish.pn ...

. The Catholic Cathedral of Notre Dame de l'Assomption was constructed in 1835, having since been rebuilt. It is the oldest surviving Roman Catholic Church in Nova Scotia. St. John's Anglican Church was built in 1828, destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1895. Considered to be the second oldest Anglican congregation in Cape Breton, the Church is noted for its amazing acoustic properties, a signature of its architect. Lighthouses were built in the 1850s, since replaced with replicas in 2017-2018. In 1970, struck Cerberus Rock, releasing over 10,000 tons of oil, devastating the fishing industry. It is now a popular dive site.

Gallery

ArichatGuns.jpg, Arichat seen from Cannon Look-Off. Cap Auguet Lighthouse.jpg, Lighthouse of Marche Point, standing at the edge of Cap Auguet St John's Anglican Church, Arichat.jpg, St John's Anglican Church, the second building, completed in 1895 and designed by William Harris. Notre Dame de L'Assomption Arichat.jpg, Notre Dame de L'Assumption

References

{{Coord, 45, 30, 40.17, N, 61, 0, 46.5, W, region:CA_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title Communities in Richmond County, Nova Scotia 1785 establishments in Nova Scotia Populated coastal places in Canada