Mahone Bay (town)

Mahone Bay
Village

The town viewed from the east with its three churches visible

Seal
Motto: "A Treasure Since 1754"
Mahone Bay

Location within Nova Scotia

Coordinates: 44°26′56″N 64°22′55″W / 44.44889°N 64.38194°W / 44.44889; -64.38194Coordinates: 44°26′56″N 64°22′55″W / 44.44889°N 64.38194°W / 44.44889; -64.38194
Country  Canada
Province  Nova Scotia
County Lunenburg County
Founded 1754
Incorporated March 31, 1919
Government
 • Mayor C. Joseph Feeney
 • Governing Body Mahone Bay Town Council
 • MLA Suzanne Lohnes-Croft Liberal
 • MP Bernadette Jordan (L)
Area
 • Total 3.13 km2 (1.21 sq mi)
Highest elevation 24 m (79 ft)
Lowest elevation 0 m (0 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Total 943
 • Density 301.4/km2 (781/sq mi)
Time zone AST (UTC-4)
Postal code span B0J
Area code(s) 902
Telephone Exchanges 521, 624, 627
Median household income (2005) $36,374
Total private dwellings 5,876
Website townofmahonebay.ca

Mahone Bay is a town located on the northwest shore of Mahone Bay along the South Shore of Nova Scotia in Lunenburg County.

History

Mahone Bay was first settled during Father Le Loutre's War. The first to arrive were those who lived in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and had farm lots throughout the peninsula, including Mahone Bay. The people who settled on the Lunenburg Peninsula, including the present-day village of Mahone Bay, were foreign protestants who were German, Swiss, and Montbéliardais settlers.[1]

During the French and Indian War (which included the Expulsion of the Acadians), there were nine Native and Acadian (Catholic) raids against the protestant settlers on the Lunenburg Peninsula. The French, Acadians and natives were resisting the British control over Nova Scotia and Acadia. One such raid – the Raid on Lunenburg (1756) – happened just off the shores of Mahone Bay on present-day Covey Island and [John] Rous Island.

HMS Hogue, which trapped the Young Teazer

Another raid happened on 24 August 1758 in the village of Mahone Bay, when eight Mi'kmaq attacked the family homes of Lay and Brant. While they killed three people in the raid, the Mi'kmaq were unsuccessful in taking their scalps, which was the common practice for payment from the French.[2]

During the War of 1812, the American privateer schooner Young Teazer was trapped off the shores of Mahone Bay by the HMS Hogue (1811). To avoid capture, a crew member of the Young Teazer destroyed his own ship, killing most of the crew.[3]

The town prospered with wooden shipbuilding in the 19th century. While shipbuilding decline with the arrival of steel and steam vessels, Mahone Bay became known for its boatbuilding. World War I and II brought brief revivals of shipbuilding with construction of schooners, tugs and barges. After the war, the ship yard became known for innovative production of moulded plywood boats.

Today

Mahone Bay town centre

The town is also known for a history of wooden boat building, it was the main industry of Mahone Bay in its earlier years. The Mahone Bay Museum explains and shows this history in detail. Until recent years the town's shipbuilding and boatbuilding heritage was celebrated by the "Mahone Bay Wooden Boat Festival".

The view across the harbour is of three prominent churches: St James' Anglican; St John's Evangelical Lutheran; and Trinity United. It has become an iconic image of Nova Scotia, frequently photographed and featured on postcards and calendars.[4] The town has a number of upscale shops and restaurants which almost universally are designed to appeal to the tourist trade, and sometimes shut down during the winter months. The town also has a plastics factory.

Demographics

Historical population
YearPop.±%
1901866—    
1911951+9.8%
19211,177+23.8%
19311,065−9.5%
19411,025−3.8%
19511,019−0.6%
19561,109+8.8%
19611,103−0.5%
YearPop.±%
19811,228+11.3%
19861,093−11.0%
19911,096+0.3%
19961,017−7.2%
2001991−2.6%
2006904−8.8%
2011943+4.3%
[5][6][7][8][9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Among the settlers were the Hyson, Zwicker, Keddy, Eisenhauer/Eisner, Weinacht/Whynot, Ernst, and Veinot families. All these names can be found in the area today. The old cemetery, known as Bayview Cemetery, has some 18th-century slate gravestones engraved in German.
  2. ↑ Bell, Wintrop Packard (1961). The "Foreign Protestants" and the Settlement of Nova Scotia: The History of a Piece of Arrested British Colonial Policy in the Eighteenth Century. University of Toronto Press. p. 511.
  3. ↑ Archibald MecMechan. Sagas of the Sea.
  4. ↑ Pacey, Elizabeth; Comiter, Alvin (1994). Landmarks: Historic Buildings in Nova Scotia. Nimbus Publishing. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-55109-071-9.
  5. ↑ , Censuses 1871-1931
  6. ↑ , Census 1941-1951
  7. ↑ Census 1951-1961
  8. ↑ , Census 1961
  9. ↑ , Censuses 1981-2001
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