Lawrencetown (1986 population: 2,680) is a Canadian

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 typically are de ...

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, t ...

in the

Halifax Regional Municipality Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. Th ...

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. The settlement was established during the eve of

Father Le Loutre's War Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755), also known as the Indian War, the Mi'kmaq War and the Anglo-Mi'kmaq War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia. On one side of the conflict, the Br ...

and at the beginning of the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...

History

Lawrence Town by John Brewse (inset of A map of the surveyed parts of Nova Scotia, 1756)

began when

Edward Cornwallis Edward Cornwallis ( – 14 January 1776) was a British career military officer and was a member of the aristocratic Cornwallis family, who reached the rank of Lieutenant General. After Cornwallis fought in Scotland, putting down the Jacob ...

arrived to establish Halifax with 13 transports on June 21, 1749. By unilaterally establishing Halifax, the Mi'kmaq believed the British were violating earlier treaties (1726), which were signed after

Father Rale's War Dummer's War (1722–1725) is also known as Father Rale's War, Lovewell's War, Greylock's War, the Three Years War, the Wabanaki-New England War, or the Fourth Anglo-Abenaki War. It was a series of battles between the New England Colonies and the ...

. The British quickly began to build other settlements. To guard against Mi'kmaq, Acadian and French attacks on the new Protestant settlements, British fortifications were erected in Halifax (1749), Bedford (

Fort Sackville During the 18th and early 19th centuries, the French, British and U.S. forces built and occupied a number of forts at Vincennes, Indiana. These outposts commanded a strategic position on the Wabash River. The names of the installations were chan ...

) (1749), Dartmouth (1750), Lunenburg (1753) and Lawrencetown (1754). CharlesLawrenceNovaScotiaHistoricalSocietyc

In 1754,

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Charles Lawrence, offered land grants to twenty families, who referred to their settlement as Lawrence's Town, which became Lawrencetown. The Acadians and natives resisted the British occupation of Nova Scotia and Acadia by raiding the various communities. In late April 1754, at the outbreak of the

Joseph Broussard Joseph Broussard (1702–1765), also known as Beausoleil ( en, Beautiful Sun), was a leader of the Acadian people in Acadia; later Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick. Broussard organized a Mi'kmaq and Acadian militias against th ...

and a large band of Mi'kmaq and Acadians left Chignecto for Lawrencetown. They arrived in mid-May and in the night open fired on the village. Broussard killed and scalped four British settlers and two soldiers. By August, as the raids continued, the residents and soldiers were withdrawn to Halifax. By June 1757, the settlers had to be withdrawn completely again from the settlement of Lawrencetown because the number of Indian raids eventually prevented settlers from leaving their houses. (Throughout the war, the Mi'kmaq and Acadian militias were also successful in containing the British settlements of Dartmouth, Lunenburg as well as Fort Edward and

.) It is located on the Eastern Shore, 8 kilometres due east of the entrance to Halifax Harbour. The community name of Lawrencetown was adopted on October 4, 1921, but changed to ' East Lawrencetown' on July 3, 1952. It was reinstated as Lawrencetown on April 5, 1961.

Notable residents

Lesley Choyce Lesley Choyce (born 21 March 1951) (m. Linda Choyce) is a Canadian author of novels, non-fiction, children's books, young adult novels, and poetry. He is the author of more than 100 books for adults, teens and children, and teaches in the Englis ...

, author, professor, and TV host. * Captain Parker of the Welsford-Parker Monument

References

Sources

* * * * {{coord, 44, 39, 17.26, N, 63, 21, 36.77, W, region:CA-NS_type:city, display=title Communities in Halifax, Nova Scotia 1754 establishments in the British Empire