Kingsport, Nova Scotia
Encyclopedia
Kingsport, is a small seaside village located in Kings County, Nova Scotia
on the shores of the Minas Basin
.
Kingsport is located just northeast of the mouth of the Habitant River, on the west side of Minas Basin
, a few miles east of Canning
at the eastern end of Route 221
. It is bordered by a tidal marsh
to the west and sandy beaches to the south and east. Red sedimentary cliffs carved by continuous erosion rise from the beaches to the east. The dramatic 12 metre tides produce very large sand and mud flats at low tide. The village is surrounded by large expanses of fertile farmland.
An earlier name was Indian Point, later changed to Oak Point due to the number of oak
trees that grew along the bank of the south side of the lower road, leading to the wharf. The name was finally changed to Kingsport in the 1870s, as it became the major port in Kings County
.
farming community which stretched along the Habitant River. After the expulsion of the Acadians in 1755, Kingsport was settled by New England Planters
One source indicates that Indian Point is mentioned as Lot 16, second division, Cornwallis township granted to Benjamin Newcomb in 1761. Another source says that Kingsport was founded in 1761 or 1762 by Isaac Bigelow who came from Connecticut
and was given a grant of land called Oak Point, now Kingsport.
Bigelow is the most favoured and Isaac’s son, Ebenezer, born in 1776, is thought to have built the first house in Kingsport.
emerged as a major industry in Kingsport beginning in 1833 with the launch of schooner
Emerald. "Some of the largest and finest ships ever built in Canada were designed and built by Ebenezer Cox of Kingsport," according to shipping historian Frederick William Wallace
. Starting with the schooner Diadem in 1864, Cox became the master shipbuilder for a series of partnerships which built over 30 vessels of increasing size. Most had names beginning with the letter "K" and began known as the "K Ships". The shipyard included a large mill and blacksmith and used tuboats to brings rafts of timber from the Cape Blomidon area. The Kingsport yards reached their peak in 1890 with the launch of the four masted barque
Kings County
followed by the ship Canada
in 1891, two of the largest wooden ships ever built in Canada. Launch days for these vessels were the biggest events in the history of Kingsport, some of them attracting up to 3000 people from across the Annapolis Valley
. The collapse of the wooden shipbuilding industry in Atlantic Canada
in the late 19th century led to a decline in the yard with the last major launch being the barquentine
Skoda in 1893. The final Kingsport built vessel was the schooner FBG built in 1929, the last coastal schooner built in all of Nova Scotia. The Kingsport yard refocused for a number of years on ship repair, using the massive Minas Basin tides as a natural drydock into the 1920s repairing such vessels as the American Bradford C. French, the largest three masted schooner ever built.
As wooden ships declined, shipbuilding investors in the Kingsport area re-invested in railways. The Cornwallis Valley Railway
was built in 1890 connecting Kingsport to Kentville
and the mainline of the Dominion Atlantic Railway
. Kingsport was the terminus for the eastern end of the line. A wye and engine shed were built to turn and service locomotives under the care for many years of Ephraim Hiltz. Trains ran four times a day at the peak of the line. The railway rapidly developed the surrounding apple industry and two large apple warehouses were soon constructed in the village. The line also exploited the large wharf at Kingsport as a regional shipping point for schooners and ocean steamers. It was steadily extended to over 400 feet by 1911 and received a lighthouse in 1889. Apples and potatoes were exported with coal and fertilizer being imported as well as various freight including on one occasion, horses from Sable Island
.
The railway also connected at the wharf with the "Parrsboro packets", a series of coastal steamships carrying passengers, vehicles and freight to the Minas Basin ports of Wolfville
and Parrsboro
, the last of which was the MV Kipawo
. Kingsport also became a local holiday resort. People came during the summer months to spend time at their cottages along the bank and at the "bluff". First a hotel, and in later years an ice cream parlour and a dance hall were operated near the wharf area during the summer months.
Kingsport's social life included skating and hockey on Webb's pond and baseball during the spring and summer. Concerts, motion picture shows, pie socials, annual strawberry festivals, harvest suppers, card parties and Whist Club were among social functions. A drive-in operated in the 1930s and 40s. An Congregational (later United) and Anglican church served Kingsport along with two story school which also served as a community hall.
when Kipawo was called away to war service. The apple industry surrounding Kingsport faced a dramatic downturn with the loss of the British market after the war. This led to a steady decline in traffic on the Cornwallis Valley Railway
which ended service to Kingsport in 1961. The growth of highways also bled local shoppers to bigger stores elsewhere. The school was closed in 1963. Both of Kingsport's general stores and its gas station closed. The massive wharf steadily fell into ruins and the village lost half its population in a few decades, declining from 500 to 225 by the 1950s.
.
as a moniker for the fictional Nova Scotia town where Anne Shirley
attends university after she leaves Avonlea
. The fictional Kingsport is a larger town combining elements inspired by Halifax
and Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia
.
The famous Canadian poet Bliss Carman
wrote a classic poem of courage about a Kingsport schooner
named Scud and her fearless twelve-year-old master. Entitled "Arnold, Master of the Scud", it featured in many Canadian poetry textbooks.
Kingsport features prominently in the book Blomidon Rose, a nostalgic look at the life and landscape of 1930s Annapolis Valley
by Esther Clark Wright
.
Kings County, Nova Scotia
Kings County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.Kings County is located in central Nova Scotia on the shore of the Bay of Fundy with its northeastern part also forming the western shore of the Minas Basin....
on the shores of the Minas Basin
Minas Basin
The Minas Basin is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy and a sub-basin of the Fundy Basin located in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is known for its extremely high tides.- Geography :- Boundary :...
.
Geography
Minas Basin
The Minas Basin is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy and a sub-basin of the Fundy Basin located in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is known for its extremely high tides.- Geography :- Boundary :...
, a few miles east of Canning
Canning, Nova Scotia
Canning, Nova Scotia is a village in northeastern Kings County located at the crossroads of Route 221 and Route 358.-History:The area was originally settled by Acadians who were expelled in 1755 during the Acadian Expulsion...
at the eastern end of Route 221
Nova Scotia Route 221
Route 221 is a collector road in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.It is located in Kings County and Annapolis County in the Annapolis Valley and connects Kingsport to Spa Springs....
. It is bordered by a tidal marsh
Tidal marsh
A tidal marsh is a type of marsh that is found along coasts and estuaries of which the flooding characteristics are determined by the tidal movement of the adjacent estuary, sea or ocean . According to the salinity of the flooding water, freshwater, brackish and saline tidal marshes are...
to the west and sandy beaches to the south and east. Red sedimentary cliffs carved by continuous erosion rise from the beaches to the east. The dramatic 12 metre tides produce very large sand and mud flats at low tide. The village is surrounded by large expanses of fertile farmland.
An earlier name was Indian Point, later changed to Oak Point due to the number of oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
trees that grew along the bank of the south side of the lower road, leading to the wharf. The name was finally changed to Kingsport in the 1870s, as it became the major port in Kings County
Kings County, Nova Scotia
Kings County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.Kings County is located in central Nova Scotia on the shore of the Bay of Fundy with its northeastern part also forming the western shore of the Minas Basin....
.
Early history
As indicated by the name Indian Point, Kingsport is believed to have once been a summer settlement of the Mi'kmaq. It was also part of the AcadianAcadian
The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...
farming community which stretched along the Habitant River. After the expulsion of the Acadians in 1755, Kingsport was settled by New England Planters
New England Planters
The New England Planters were settlers from the New England colonies who responded to invitations by the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, to settle lands left vacant by the Bay of Fundy Campaign of the Acadian Expulsion...
One source indicates that Indian Point is mentioned as Lot 16, second division, Cornwallis township granted to Benjamin Newcomb in 1761. Another source says that Kingsport was founded in 1761 or 1762 by Isaac Bigelow who came from Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
and was given a grant of land called Oak Point, now Kingsport.
Bigelow is the most favoured and Isaac’s son, Ebenezer, born in 1776, is thought to have built the first house in Kingsport.
Shipbuilding and the Railway
ShipbuildingShipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
emerged as a major industry in Kingsport beginning in 1833 with the launch of schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Emerald. "Some of the largest and finest ships ever built in Canada were designed and built by Ebenezer Cox of Kingsport," according to shipping historian Frederick William Wallace
Frederick William Wallace
Frederick William Wallace was a journalist, photographer, historian and novelist. He was the author of Wooden Ships and Iron Men, a now-classic 1924 book about the last days of the Age of Sail in Maritime Canada...
. Starting with the schooner Diadem in 1864, Cox became the master shipbuilder for a series of partnerships which built over 30 vessels of increasing size. Most had names beginning with the letter "K" and began known as the "K Ships". The shipyard included a large mill and blacksmith and used tuboats to brings rafts of timber from the Cape Blomidon area. The Kingsport yards reached their peak in 1890 with the launch of the four masted barque
Barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...
Kings County
Kings County (barque)
Kings County was a four masted barque built in 1890 at Kingsport, Nova Scotia on the Minas Basin. She was named to commemorate Kings County, Nova Scotia and represented the peak of the county's shipbuilding era...
followed by the ship Canada
Canada (ship)
Canada was a full rigged ship built in 1891 at Kingsport, Nova Scotia on the Minas Basin. She was one of the largest wooden sailing vessels ever built in Canada...
in 1891, two of the largest wooden ships ever built in Canada. Launch days for these vessels were the biggest events in the history of Kingsport, some of them attracting up to 3000 people from across the Annapolis Valley
Annapolis Valley
The Annapolis Valley is a valley and region in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is located in the western part of the Nova Scotia peninsula, formed by a trough between two parallel mountain ranges along the shore of the Bay of Fundy.-Geography:...
. The collapse of the wooden shipbuilding industry in Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia – and Newfoundland and Labrador...
in the late 19th century led to a decline in the yard with the last major launch being the barquentine
Barquentine
A barquentine is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts.-Modern barquentine sailing rig:...
Skoda in 1893. The final Kingsport built vessel was the schooner FBG built in 1929, the last coastal schooner built in all of Nova Scotia. The Kingsport yard refocused for a number of years on ship repair, using the massive Minas Basin tides as a natural drydock into the 1920s repairing such vessels as the American Bradford C. French, the largest three masted schooner ever built.
As wooden ships declined, shipbuilding investors in the Kingsport area re-invested in railways. The Cornwallis Valley Railway
Cornwallis Valley Railway
The Cornwallis Valley Railway was a historic Canadian railway in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. It was built in 1889 and ran from Kentville to Kingsport serving the Cornwallis Township area of Kings County...
was built in 1890 connecting Kingsport to Kentville
Kentville, Nova Scotia
Kentville is a town in Kings County, Nova Scotia. It is one of the main towns in the Annapolis Valley, and it is the county seat of Kings County. As of 2006, the town of Kentville had a population of 5,815 people....
and the mainline of the Dominion Atlantic Railway
Dominion Atlantic Railway
The Dominion Atlantic Railway was a historic Canadian railway which operated in the western part of Nova Scotia, primarily through an agricultural district known as the Annapolis Valley....
. Kingsport was the terminus for the eastern end of the line. A wye and engine shed were built to turn and service locomotives under the care for many years of Ephraim Hiltz. Trains ran four times a day at the peak of the line. The railway rapidly developed the surrounding apple industry and two large apple warehouses were soon constructed in the village. The line also exploited the large wharf at Kingsport as a regional shipping point for schooners and ocean steamers. It was steadily extended to over 400 feet by 1911 and received a lighthouse in 1889. Apples and potatoes were exported with coal and fertilizer being imported as well as various freight including on one occasion, horses from Sable Island
Sable Island
Sable Island is a small Canadian island situated 300 km southeast of mainland Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean. The island is a year-round home to approximately five people...
.
The railway also connected at the wharf with the "Parrsboro packets", a series of coastal steamships carrying passengers, vehicles and freight to the Minas Basin ports of Wolfville
Wolfville, Nova Scotia
Wolfville is a small town in the Annapolis Valley, Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada, located about northwest of the provincial capital, Halifax. As of 2006, the population was 3,772....
and Parrsboro
Parrsboro, Nova Scotia
Parrsboro is a Canadian town located in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia.The town is known for its port on the Minas Basin, the Ship's Company Theatre productions and the Fundy Geological Museum.-History:...
, the last of which was the MV Kipawo
MV Kipawo
MV Kipawo is a historic Canadian passenger and freight ferry.Kipawo was launched on December 5, 1924, by the St. John Drydock & Shipbuilding Co., the first ship ever built by that yard, for the Dominion Atlantic Railway and commissioned into service on April 1, 1926...
. Kingsport also became a local holiday resort. People came during the summer months to spend time at their cottages along the bank and at the "bluff". First a hotel, and in later years an ice cream parlour and a dance hall were operated near the wharf area during the summer months.
Kingsport's social life included skating and hockey on Webb's pond and baseball during the spring and summer. Concerts, motion picture shows, pie socials, annual strawberry festivals, harvest suppers, card parties and Whist Club were among social functions. A drive-in operated in the 1930s and 40s. An Congregational (later United) and Anglican church served Kingsport along with two story school which also served as a community hall.
Postwar
The Minas Basin ferry service ended during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
when Kipawo was called away to war service. The apple industry surrounding Kingsport faced a dramatic downturn with the loss of the British market after the war. This led to a steady decline in traffic on the Cornwallis Valley Railway
Cornwallis Valley Railway
The Cornwallis Valley Railway was a historic Canadian railway in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. It was built in 1889 and ran from Kentville to Kingsport serving the Cornwallis Township area of Kings County...
which ended service to Kingsport in 1961. The growth of highways also bled local shoppers to bigger stores elsewhere. The school was closed in 1963. Both of Kingsport's general stores and its gas station closed. The massive wharf steadily fell into ruins and the village lost half its population in a few decades, declining from 500 to 225 by the 1950s.
Recent years
However Kingsport remained a popular local holiday location for cottagers and in the 1970s emerged as a bedroom community for the growing towns of Eastern Kings County. In 1977, the Kingsport Community Association was organized to improve life in Kingsport. Social events such as pie socials and card parties were held to help bring the residents together and to raise funds to build a playground, clean up the beach and provide steps and picnic tables. In 2003, the Kingsport Community Association began reconstruction of the ruins of the wharf. The outer portions were demolished and the inner portion was rebuilt into a boardwalk, boat ramp, and floats to encourage recreational boating. The association rebuilt a former general store in 2004 as a community centre and public access point for internet useNova Scotia C@P
Nova Scotia Community Access Program is a Government of Canada initiative, administered by Industry Canada, which aims to provide Nova Scotians with affordable public access to the Internet and the skills they need to use it effectively...
.
Popular culture
L.M. Montgomery used the name Kingsport in her novel Anne of the IslandAnne of the Island
Anne of the Island is a the third book in the Anne of Green Gables series, written by Lucy Maud Montgomery about Anne Shirley.Anne of the Island was published in 1915, seven years after the bestselling Anne of Green Gables...
as a moniker for the fictional Nova Scotia town where Anne Shirley
Anne Shirley
Anne Shirley is a fictional character introduced in the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Montgomery wrote in her journal that the idea for Anne's story came from relatives who, planning to adopt an orphaned boy, received a girl instead...
attends university after she leaves Avonlea
Avonlea
Avonlea is a fictional community located on Prince Edward Island, Canada, and is the setting of Lucy Maud Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables, following the adventures of Anne Shirley, as well as its sequels, and the television series Road to Avonlea.Montgomery drew much of her inspiration for...
. The fictional Kingsport is a larger town combining elements inspired by Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
and Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia
Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia
Annapolis Royal is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. Known as Port Royal until the Conquest of Acadia in 1710 by Britain, the town is the oldest continuous European settlement in North America, north of St...
.
The famous Canadian poet Bliss Carman
Bliss Carman
Bliss Carman FRSC was a Canadian poet who lived most of his life in the United States, where he achieved international fame. He was acclaimed as Canada's poet laureate during his later years....
wrote a classic poem of courage about a Kingsport schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
named Scud and her fearless twelve-year-old master. Entitled "Arnold, Master of the Scud", it featured in many Canadian poetry textbooks.
Kingsport features prominently in the book Blomidon Rose, a nostalgic look at the life and landscape of 1930s Annapolis Valley
Annapolis Valley
The Annapolis Valley is a valley and region in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is located in the western part of the Nova Scotia peninsula, formed by a trough between two parallel mountain ranges along the shore of the Bay of Fundy.-Geography:...
by Esther Clark Wright
Esther Clark Wright
Esther Isabelle Clark Wright, was a notable Atlantic Canadian historian who at the end of her life received the Order of Canada for her lifetime contributions to Canadian scholarship...
.