Mulgrave, Nova Scotia
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Mulgrave is a town on the Strait of Canso in
Guysborough County Guysborough County is a county in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia. History Taking its name from the Guysborough, Nova Scotia, Township of Guysborough, which was named in honour of Sir Guy Carleton, 1st B ...
,
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. Located along the
Marine Drive Marine Drive may refer to: Roads Bangladesh * Cox Bazar-Tekhnaf Marine Drive, world's longest marine drive road. Canada *Marine Drive (Nova Scotia), a scenic route in Nova Scotia * Marine Drive (Greater Vancouver), a number of roadways in Metro ...
, Route 344 traverses the community. The town's current name was adopted in 1859 to honour the colonial Lieutenant Governor, the
Earl of Mulgrave The title Earl of Mulgrave has been created twice. The first time as a title in the Peerage of England and the second time as a Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation was in the Peerage of England in 1626 for Edmund Sheffield, 3r ...
. Lying opposite to the town of
Port Hawkesbury Port Hawkesbury (Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Chlamhain'') is a municipality in southern Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. While within the historical county of Inverness, it is not part of the Municipality of Inverness County. History ...
, the community is located along the western shore of the
Canso Strait The Strait of Canso (also Gut of Canso or Canso Strait, also called Straits of Canceau or Canseaux until the early 20th century) is a strait located in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It divides the Nova Scotia peninsula from Cape Breton Is ...
. It was established as McNair's Cove in the early 19th century, and the name Port Mulgrave was adopted in 1859, later shortening to its current form. The early industry of the community relied on ferry service between the Nova Scotia mainland and
Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...
. Ferry service began in the 1810s and rail service reached the area in the 1880s. The ferry services lasted until the opening of the Canso Causeway in 1955, dealing a major blow to the local economy. As of 2016, Mulgrave has a population of 722 and a population density of , within an area of .


History

First settled as McNair's Cove by British Loyalists fleeing from the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, the community soon became a part of the lumber trade with the English in the early part of the nineteenth century. The area was known to the
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 ...
as ''Wolumkwagagunutk'', translating as "lobster ground". Regular ferry service across the Canso Strait was established in the late 1810s. The ferry made an important contribution to the local economy. The community adopted the title Port Mulgrave in 1859, in honour of the colonial Lieutenant Governor, the
Earl of Mulgrave The title Earl of Mulgrave has been created twice. The first time as a title in the Peerage of England and the second time as a Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation was in the Peerage of England in 1626 for Edmund Sheffield, 3r ...
, and the name was gradually shortened to its present form. Rail service reached the community in the 1882 and rail cars were transported across the strait by 1893. The economy was badly affected however, when in 1870 trade agreements in the fishing industry were cancelled to protect the American fish market, and the local fishing industry collapsed. Gradually, people began moving away, and by 1880 more than a third of the population moved, mainly to
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
in search of employment. By the turn of the 20th century, the railways has risen to become the main industry in Mulgrave, and the community was becoming a bustling rail terminal, equipped with several auxiliary services to the existing railways. Adding to the economy were a new lobster factory and a new rail ferry, which further increased capacity across the Strait of Canso to
Port Hawkesbury Port Hawkesbury (Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Chlamhain'') is a municipality in southern Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. While within the historical county of Inverness, it is not part of the Municipality of Inverness County. History ...
. Mulgrave served as a link between mainland Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island, as well as Newfoundland. In 1923, the community was incorporated as a town. In August 1955, the community suffered a major economic blow with the opening of the
Canso Causeway The Canso Causeway (''Cabhsair Chanso'' in Gaelic) is a rock-fill causeway crossing the Strait of Canso, connecting Cape Breton Island by road to the Nova Scotia peninsula. Its crest thickness is , carrying the two vehicle traffic lanes o ...
which immediately removed both road and rail traffic through the town.


Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by
Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...
, Mulgrave had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.


Public services

The headquarters of the
Eastern Counties Regional Library Eastern Counties Regional Library (ECRL) is a regional public library system, providing free public library services to the counties of Guysborough, Richmond and Inverness in Nova Scotia, Canada. The library system is governed by the Eastern ...
is in Mulgrave.


Notable residents

*
Wallace MacDonald Wallace Archibald MacDonald (5 May 1891 – 30 October 1978) was a Canadian silent film actor and film producer. Biography MacDonald was born in Mulgrave, Nova Scotia, Canada, and attended school in Sydney, Nova Scotia. He started as a m ...
(1891–1978), silent film actor and director *
Robyn Meagher Robyn Adair Meagher (born June 17, 1967) is a retired Canadians, Canadian athlete competing in the Middle-distance running, middle and Long-distance running, long-distance events. She represented her country at the 1992 Summer Olympics, 1992 and 1 ...
, Olympian


See also

*
List of municipalities in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is the seventh-most populous province in Canada with 969,383 residents as of the 2021 Census of Population, and the second-smallest province in land area at . Nova Scotia's 49 municipalities cover of the territory's land mass, a ...


References


Citations


Bibliography


External links


Town of Mulgrave
{{Authority control Communities in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia Towns in Nova Scotia