New Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
Encyclopedia
New Yarmouth is an abandoned farming and forestry community which is now part of the Cape Chignecto Provincial Park
in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia
near the village of Advocate.
. The highest point in Cape Chignecto Provincial Park is located on a summit of 900 feet just north of the New Yarmouth fire tower. McGahey Brook and Mill Brook have their source at New Yarmouth, draining south to Advocate Bay through deep ravines, while Copp Hollow Brook also begins at New Yarmouth, draining to the north.
area in the late 1800s brought more families and growth. In 1904, the community had 10 homes and a school located around the intersection of the New Yarmouth Road and Eatonville Road. The Wasson family became important landowners in New Yarmouth in this period, contracting out timber lands, running lumber camps for mills and providing horse teams. However a collapse in timber prices in the early 1920s caused many mills to close and logging operations around New Yarmouth declined. The school house closed and was moved to nearby Advocate where it was converted to a dwelling. By they early 1950s isolation and opportunities elsewhere led the last few families to leave, a similar fate also shared by nearby Eatonville
as part of a postwar abandonment of isolated farming and forestry communities in Cumberland County. The land was used for blueberry
fields and pulp wood
harvesting by Scott Paper.
acquired the land where New Yarmouth once stood. The park's main backpacking trail skirts the western edge of New Yarmouth. The old New Yarmouth Road is used by fire lookout
s and park maintenance staff.
Cape Chignecto Provincial Park
Cape Chignecto Provincial Park is a Canadian provincial park located in Nova Scotia. A wilderness park, it derives its name from Cape Chignecto, a prominent headland which divides the Bay of Fundy with Chignecto Bay to the north and the Minas Channel leading to the Minas Basin to the east...
in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia
Cumberland County, Nova Scotia
Cumberland County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.-History:The name Cumberland was applied by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Monckton to the captured Fort Beauséjour on June 18, 1755 in honour of the third son of King George II, William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, victor at...
near the village of Advocate.
Geography
New Yarmouth occupies a plateau 800 feet above West Advocate overlooking Advocate Bay, a branch of the Bay of FundyBay of Fundy
The Bay of Fundy is a bay on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine...
. The highest point in Cape Chignecto Provincial Park is located on a summit of 900 feet just north of the New Yarmouth fire tower. McGahey Brook and Mill Brook have their source at New Yarmouth, draining south to Advocate Bay through deep ravines, while Copp Hollow Brook also begins at New Yarmouth, draining to the north.
History
Land at New Yarmouth was first granted to Loyalist John Hall in 1785 and later granted to Alexander and John Grant in 1819, although neither of these families appear to have settled at New Yarmouth. By 1873, only two families the Copps and Brown families had settled in the community. The expansion of lumbering in the Cape ChignectoCape Chignecto
Cape Chignecto is a headland located on the Bay of Fundy coast of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.Cape Chignecto is located at the westernmost tip of Cumberland County and is the western limit of the Cobequid Hills, a low mountain range that is part of the Appalachian Mountains and extends...
area in the late 1800s brought more families and growth. In 1904, the community had 10 homes and a school located around the intersection of the New Yarmouth Road and Eatonville Road. The Wasson family became important landowners in New Yarmouth in this period, contracting out timber lands, running lumber camps for mills and providing horse teams. However a collapse in timber prices in the early 1920s caused many mills to close and logging operations around New Yarmouth declined. The school house closed and was moved to nearby Advocate where it was converted to a dwelling. By they early 1950s isolation and opportunities elsewhere led the last few families to leave, a similar fate also shared by nearby Eatonville
Eatonville, Nova Scotia
Eatonville is a former lumber and shipbuilding village in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. It includes a large tidal harbour at the mouth of the Eatonville Brook beside several dramatic sea stacks known as the "Three Sisters". It was founded in 1864 and abandoned in the 1940s...
as part of a postwar abandonment of isolated farming and forestry communities in Cumberland County. The land was used for blueberry
Blueberry
Blueberries are flowering plants of the genus Vaccinium with dark-blue berries and are perennial...
fields and pulp wood
Pulp and Paper
Pulp and Paper is the name of the largest United States-based trade magazine for the pulp and paper industry. See also: Paper engineering, Pulp and Paper Merit Badge...
harvesting by Scott Paper.
Today
Only abandoned fields, grassy foundations, and a few empty hunting cabins remain at New Yarmouth. The sole existing structure is a fire tower and cabin staffed seasonally by the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources. In 1989 the Cape Chignecto Provincial ParkCape Chignecto Provincial Park
Cape Chignecto Provincial Park is a Canadian provincial park located in Nova Scotia. A wilderness park, it derives its name from Cape Chignecto, a prominent headland which divides the Bay of Fundy with Chignecto Bay to the north and the Minas Channel leading to the Minas Basin to the east...
acquired the land where New Yarmouth once stood. The park's main backpacking trail skirts the western edge of New Yarmouth. The old New Yarmouth Road is used by fire lookout
Fire lookout
A fire lookout is a person assigned the duty to look for fire from atop a building known as a fire lookout tower. These towers are used in remote areas, normally on mountain tops with high elevation and a good view of the surrounding terrain, to spot smoke caused by a wildfire.Once a possible fire...
s and park maintenance staff.