Shelburne, Nova Scotia

Shelburne is a town located in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada.

History

Shelburne lies at the southwest corner of Nova Scotia, at roughly the same latitude as Portland, Maine in the United States. The Mi'kmaq call the large and well-sheltered harbour ''Logumkeegan'' or ''Sogumkeagum.''

The first Europeans to make a settlement on these shores were the French Acadians. They set up a small fishing settlement known as Port Razoir in the late 17th century, named after the harbour's resemblance to an open razor. Early European settlers had small subsistence farms, but most of the inhabitants' income from that time to the present has been derived from the sea. The Acadian fishing settlement was abandoned after repeated raids from New England colonists during Queen Anne's War in 1705, in which five Acadians were taken prisoner, and again in 1708.

Raid on Port Roseway (1715)

On May 14, 1715, New England naval commander Cyprian Southack attempted to create a permanent fishing station at a place he named "Cape Roseway" (now known as Shelburne). Shortly after he set up a base, in July 1715 the Mi'kmaq raided the station and burned it to the ground. In response, Southack led a raid on Canso, Nova Scotia (1718) and encouraged Governor Phillips to fortify Canso.

New England fishermen knew Shelburne as "Port Roseway" and frequently used the outer harbour for seasonal shelter and repairs. Pirate Ned Low raided the New England fishing fleet at Shelburne Harbour in 1723, capturing 13 ships and taking Philip Ashton captive. After the forced expulsion of the Acadians in 1755, there were no European settlers for several decades. Alexander McNutt attempted to start a settlement in 1765 but was not successful.

American Revolution

In the spring of 1783, more than 5,000 settlers arrived on the shores of Shelburne Harbour from New York and the Middle Colonies of the Thirteen Colonies. These settlers were Loyalists (referred to later in Canada as United Empire Loyalists), Anglo-American colonists who had opposed the Revolution and remained loyal to Britain. The Crown offered them free land, tools, and provisions as compensation to lure them to settle in this relatively undeveloped area. Four hundred families associated to form a town at Port Roseway, which Governor John Parr renamed Shelburne later that year, after Lord Shelburne, the British prime minister. This group was led by the Port Roseway Associates, who had formed while still in New York and petitioned Governor Parr for the land.

The Black Loyalists, a large group of African-American slaves who escaped their masters to British lines and were promised freedom, were evacuated and transported by British forces to Shelburne Harbour at the same time. They founded Birchtown to the west of Shelburne. It became North America's largest free Black settlement. But, the Black Loyalists had to endure long waits before receiving land, were granted less than the whites, and faced discrimination from other colonists, including some who had even taken their slaves with them to Canada. In July 1784 some of the white Loyalists conducted the Shelburne Riots against the African Americans.

In the fall of 1783, a second wave of settlers arrived in Shelburne. The community was settled by Loyalists soldiers of the Duke of Cumberland's Regiment. By 1784, the population of this new community is estimated to have been 17,000, making it the fourth-largest city in North America. But, initial hopes were short-lived; the settlement suffered from a lack of viable agricultural land, poor inland transportation links, and too few pioneers who knew how to develop frontier property. These problems curtailed its economic growth. The population fell sharply by the 1790s, leaving many abandoned buildings. However, the remaining residents gradually developed the harbour potential as a fishing and shipbuilding centre.

In 1792 more than 1,000 Black Loyalists from across Nova Scotia accepted a British offer to resettle in Freetown (current Sierra Leone), a newly founded British colony in West Africa. They became the core of an ethnic group that became known as Sierra Leone Creole people, Krios (for Creoles), which included numerous Black Poor of London (many of them also African Americans resettled after the American Revolution), former slaves resettled from Jamaica, and slaves liberated from illegal trading ships after Britain and the United States prohibited the Atlantic slave trade.

Shipbuilding

Shipbuilding is a historically significant industry in the area. The first vessel launched at Shelburne was the 181-ton ''Roseway'', built for MacLean and Bogle in 1786. Commissary Island, now a peninsula, was the area from which supplies of flour, pork, and salt were dispensed to the Loyalists by the Commissary General, Mr. Brinley. Later, this area became the shipyard of Joseph McGill. The Cox family also built their own ships and conducted extensive international trade. The former MacKay shipyard was located in Shelburne at Black's Brook. Donald McKay, famous in the United States for the clippers which he built at Boston, began his shipbuilding career in Shelburne. He was born at Jordan Falls in 1810, and left the area at the age of 16 to apprentice in New York. Led by master shipbuilders such as Amos Pentz and James Havelock Harding, Shelburne shipyards built many fishing schooners in the banks fishing era, as well as a notable research yacht inspired by fishing schooners, the schooner ''Blue Dolphin'' in 1926.

In May 1945, following Germany's surrender, U-889 surrendered to the Royal Canadian Navy at Shelburne, Nova Scotia.

Buildings

Many of Shelburne's buildings date back to Loyalist times. The Shelburne County Museum is a restored home built in 1787 by David Nairn, a cooper from Scotland. The present-day Christ Church (Anglican) is on the site of the original building of the same name, which was designed by Loyalist Isaac Hildreth and consecrated by Bishop Charles Inglis in 1790. The original structure was destroyed by fire in 1971. Tottie's Store is thought to have been built by John Tottie about the year 1800. At each corner of the intersection of Water Street and George Street, sit dwellings that were built in 1783.

In 1787, government distribution of provisions to the new settlers was terminated. As the settlement was not yet self-supporting, many settlers put their houses up for sale or abandoned them. They left for England, New Brunswick, Upper Canada, and the United States. About half the population of African Americans left, many going to the new colony of Freetown in West Africa (now Sierra Leone). By the 1820s, the population of Shelburne had dwindled to about 300.

Present day

Shelburne was incorporated as a town on April 4, 1907. Some descendants of the first-generation immigrant Loyalists still live in the area today.

Fishing remains the primary industry with approximately 9.5 million pounds of fish passing through the port annually. Other economic activities include tourism, aquaculture, fish processing, and the manufacture of barrels, granite monuments, and marine supplies.

In 2011, Halifax-based Irving Shipbuilding completed the renovation of the Shelburne Shipbuilding facility, which included the installation of North America's largest marine railway. In late 2011, Irving was awarded the largest-ever government shipbuilding contract, valued at approximately $35 billion. This is chiefly for work at their Halifax Shipyard, but some work is expected to be done at the Shelburne yard over the 30-year term of the contract.

Cooke Aquaculture chose Shelburne as a site for a salmon farming operation. Plans are to increase the number of farms in the area to eight or more and construct a fish processing plant employing 350 people. In February 2012, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency quarantined one site due to a suspected outbreak of infectious salmon anemia (ISA).

The area is served by a weekly newspaper, ''The Tri-County Vanguard'' out of Yarmouth, a large online news operation, radio stations east and west of the town and CBC radio from Halifax, and the regional version of ''The Chronicle Herald''.

Previous local newspapers included ''The Coast Guard'', published in a building at the same intersection where newspapers were to have been published starting in 1784. Prior ones include the ''General Advertiser'', the ''Port Roseway Gazetteer'' and ''Shelburne Advertiser'', and the ''American Gazette''.

Climate

Shelburne has a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification ''Dfb'') that is similar to many locations in southern Nova Scotia and coastal locations of northern New England. Due to its coastal location and the moderating influence of the Atlantic Ocean, Shelburne's climate is relatively temperate without major extremes in temperature. Winters are wet and cold, with snow, freezing rain, and rain frequent from mid-December to the end of March. Despite this, average Maximum temperatures averages above every month of the year, unusual for any location in Eastern Canada. Snow is common in the winter months; however, it rarely accumulates on the ground for extended periods of time. Snowstorms often change through freezing rain and then rain, thus melting accumulated snow. Following a winter storm, the air often turns clear but cold. Spring is cool and frequently damp, while summer features heavy morning fogs in June and early July, usually followed by clear, warm days until the end of September. Autumn weather features pleasant days and cool nights, which can extend well into November. Due to the moderating influence of the Atlantic Ocean, autumn weather can often extend into late November or early December. Snowfall that lies on the ground is uncommon until January and Shelburne is susceptible to strong coastal storms called Nor'easters, which bring heavy rains, pounding surf and damaging winds. These can occur from mid-autumn to spring. Shelburne is also susceptible to hurricanes, which can occasionally affect the area from August to October.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Shelburne 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.

Environmental hazards

In the 1940s, the Morvan Road Landfill was established in direct proximity to the African Nova Scotian community living in the south-end of town. The roots of these communities were established after the 1776 American Revolutionary War which forced the relocation and settlement of Black Loyalists to Canadian lands. The placement of this landfill in direct proximity to minority communities represents an issue of environmental racism, especially when these communities face disproportionate effects to these hazards and have less political power to fight against the issue.

The landfill was used for various types of waste including: industrial, medical, and residential. The burning of waste over decades created ample amounts of air pollution which were breathed in by surrounding communities, raising major health concerns. This directly affected the quality of life for these communities as the burning of the waste gave off wretched smells causing the inability to breathe, unable to go outside, needing to change their clothes multiple times, and unable to perform daily acts. Considering the waste dump was uphill of residential homes, run-off from waste would contaminate water resources used by the community. This again raised concerns regarding the health of citizens, questions surrounding increased carcinogens, and cancerous death rates within the community.

The Environmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequities & Community Health Project (the ENRICH Project), conducted research within the community to display that waste dumps are disproportionately located in African Nova Scotian and Miꞌkmaq communities throughout Nova Scotia. They found evidence that these communities suffer from increased rates of cancer, respiratory illnesses, and other chronic diseases. The collaboration of the ENRICH Project with local communities sparked ideas of creating a grassroots movement amongst community members. They founded the South End Environmental Injustice Society (SEED), a nonprofit community initiative that represents a response to establishment of the landfill near the African Nova Scotian and low-income community in Shelburne.

SEED allowed members of the community to express their concerns regarding the Morvan Road Landfill, forming partnerships to address these issues. Further raising awareness about health concerns, they conducted research to determine the link between cancer rates within the African Nova Scotian communities in the south end. Their community map discovered the higher prevalence of cancer amongst African men in comparison to the general community, pushing them to discover why the proximity impacts both physical and mental health concerns. SEED collaborated with the ENRICH project to conduct research on the water quality, in search of contaminants that might explain the increased cancer rates. This collaboration not only provided statistical evidence but allowed their voices to be heard at a government level. After the completion of inspections in June 2016, they closed the dump to waste outside of community disposal. SEED, along with other community members, continued their efforts after concern of the landfill still affecting community health, eventually leading to the closure of the landfill in December 2016.

This has since moved toward combating environmental racism in Canada as a whole, leading to the establishment of Bill C-230, a National Strategy to Redress Environmental Racism. This bill is still in the works of approval but if it passes through the Senate it would be Canada's first legislation to combat environmental racism.

Film production

In 1992, Dock Street was the location for the filming of ''Mary Silliman's War'', based on the life of Mary Silliman and depicting Fairfield, Connecticut during the American Revolution. In 1994, Dock Street was the location of the film ''The Scarlet Letter'', based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel about Puritan New England in the mid-17th century. Some of the buildings on Dock Street still retain the grey-tone paint finishes used for the film.

Other movies made in Shelburne have been ''Virginia's Run'' and ''Wilby Wonderful''. In 2008 an old naval station in the Shelburne area was sold to a group who planned to make more movies at a sound stage located on the station; they sold the complex for other purposes. In 2009, filming for portions of the two-part TV miniseries, ''Moby Dick,'' was carried out in Shelburne. A recreation of the Whaleman's Chapel was constructed on the waterfront and the Spouter's Inn constructed as a set in Cox's Warehouse. The series stars William Hurt as Ahab, Gillian Anderson as his wife Elizabeth, Ethan Hawke as Starbuck and Donald Sutherland as Father Mappel.

In 2014 filming for '' The Book of Negroes'' occurred on historic Dock Street, with Shelburne being featured as itself. Parts of the 2019 documentary ''There's Something in the Water. It joined the Western Counties Regional Library on June 5, 1969 but it did not have a physical location in Shelburne until the first branch opened on February 15, 1970. The branch relocated to its present site on July 21, 1989.WCRL – McKay Memorial Library
Retrieved August 13, 2010.

Parks

*The Islands Provincial Park is located nearby in the Municipality of the District of Shelburne.

Notable people

*Jody Holden, beach volleyball player
* Gideon White, politician and captain in the Duke of Cumberland's Regiment

See also

* List of municipalities in Nova Scotia

References

External links

*

{{Coord, 43, 45, 48, N, 65, 19, 25, W, name=Shelburne Nova Scotia, region:CA-NS_type:city(1879)_scale:100000, display=title

Communities in Shelburne County, Nova Scotia
Towns in Nova Scotia
Populated coastal places in Canada
General Service Areas in Nova Scotia