The People of Colchester County
The Mi'kmaq. The first recorded name of what we now call Colchester was a Mi'kmaq term, "Cobequid," although the Mi'kmaq were not the first inhabitants of the land. That designation is usually given to the caribou-hunters who occupied the Debert/Belmont Paleo-Indian complex about 10,600 years ago, leaving only archeological evidence of their existence. The Mi'kmaq, though, are the region's oldest surviving human inhabitants, having lived in the area for at least two thousand years. Hunter-gatherers, the Mi'kmaq traded furs with Europeans from the beginning of the Contact Period. They suffered greatly from new European diseases and from loss of their traditional hunting and fishing grounds, and had serious difficulties with Halifax authorities, who failed to understand the effects of government policies. Nevertheless, the Mi'kmaq of Cobequid managed to trade and live with both Acadians and Irish Presbyterians, teaching early settlers some essential hunting and gathering techniques. Later, they supplied a continuing demand for containers needed for both household and industrial use.
Acadians. After their first settlement at Port Royal in 1604, Acadians extended their settlements up the Bay of Fundy, reaching the Cobequid area shortly after 1700. They built farms and dykes on the Minas Basin and constructed a Roman Catholic chapel in what is now called Masstown. From there, they followed and expanded the old Mi'kmaq canoe and portage trails across the Cobequid area, so that they could drive cattle and transport farm produce to the great Fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island.
In the troubled times leading up to their explusion by Governor Lawrence in 1755, many Cobequid Acadians left to settle on Île Saint-Jean (Prince Edward Island). Both those who left voluntarily and those who waited to be forced from their homes suffered the same fate. The authorities separated and uprooted their families, burned their houses, scattered their cattle, and broke open their dykes. These families lost everything and had to start over in far less hospitable surroundings.
Irish Presbyterians of Truro, Onslow, and Londonderry. Colchester County as we know it today can trace its beginnings to one man: Alexander McNutt, an Irish Presbyterian adventurer who had immigrated to the Americas before 1753. The key French military presence in mainland Nova Scotia was at Fort Beauséjour. In 1755, New England militiamen captured the fort, which they renamed Fort Cumberland. Captain Alexander McNutt led one militia company. When Governor Lawrence of Nova Scotia announced that fertile land—from which Acadians had been expelled—was available for settlement, McNutt saw his opportunity. A classic entrepreneur with big dreams, little cash, and a persuasive, charismatic personality, he devised an ambitious scheme for introducing settlers into vacant lands throughout Nova Scotia.
Receiving the promise of seven townships (conditional upon securing Protestant immigrants), McNutt attempted to attract settlers from among those Irish Presbyterians who had already immigrated to North America, as well as from those still living in economically-depressed areas of northern Ireland. In 1761, settlers destined for Onslow and Truro boarded government ships in Boston, picking up additional settlers at the mouth of the Merrimack River in New Hampshire. After a long and stormy passage, the boats reached Cobequid's Salmon River in late May.
McNutt, meanwhile, was busy recruiting settlers in northern Ireland. Response to his newspaper ads was so slow that the group he attracted did not arrive in Nova Scotia until October 1761. They spent the winter in Halifax, continuing on to Londonderry Township, where they settled on McNutt's land grant in the spring of 1762.
Although McNutt was fairly successful in delivering Irish Presbyterians to the Cobequid region, he failed to attract large numbers of Protestants to settle the great tracts of land that he and his associates had been granted. In the late 1760s, Halifax authorities reclaimed all land grants bearing his name, including those on the Minas Basin that had been granted to his personally. This tactic led to disputed land claims in Londonderry, slowing the development of that township.
Montbéliardians of Tatamagouche. While the Irish Presbyterians were building and repairing dykes, constructing homes with lumber sawed in repaired Acadian mills, planting grain on field the Acadians had ploughed, clearing upland, and setting up local government, churches, and schools, a different group of settlers was establishing itself on the Northumberland Shore. In 1763, Colonel J.F.W. Desbarres, a British-trained military surveyor from the Montbéliard region on the Franco-Swiss border, was employed by the Admiralty to survey and chart the coast of Nova Scotia. The accuracy and artistic beauty of his charts assured Desbarres of a permanent place in Nova Scotian history.
His contribution to Colchester County was more direct. As a result of his association with Halifax authorities, he obtained a large grant of land in the Tatamagouche area. He sought settlers from among the "Foreign Protestants" who had arrived in Nova Scotia in 1753. While the majority of these settlers were German-speaking, the group did include French-speaking families from Montbéliard. Desbarres was able to persuade some of these to become tenants on his estate near Tatamagouche where they remained isolated from other Nova Scotians until the arrival of Scottish settlers.
Settlers from Scotland. The Scots began to arrive in Colchester in the 1770s. Displaced by economic hardship and the "Clearances," they poured into Nova Scotia over the next 50 years. Colchester's first arrivals were from Lowland Scotland. These included three individuals who would have major influence in Colchester throughout the century: the Reverend Daniel Cock, Presbyterian minister of Truro and Onslow; the Reverend David Smith, Presbyterian minister in Londonderry; and Wellwood Waugh, the Presbyterian leader of the Scots on the North Shore. Later arrivals settled the backland areas inland from Tatamagouche. New Annan was founded by Lowland Scots in 1812 and Earltown by Highland Scots in 1816. Salmon River, now known as Kemptown, was settled by both Lowland and Highland Scots in the 1820s.
Black Nova Scotians. Although people of African descent have been documented in Colchester County as early as the 1770s, it was not until the mid-nineteenth century that they began to settle in and around Truro. Primarily descended from the Black Loyalists who settled in Guysborough County following the American Revolutionary War, they formed three distinct communities in Truro—the Island, the Hill, and the Marsh—as well as the community of Jollytown, located in what is now Upper Brookside/North River. In 1896, Zion Baptist Church was established, which has served as the hub of Truro's Black Community.
Founding of the Colchester Historical Society
In January 1954, a circular letter appeared in the Truro Daily News suggesting that a Truro or Colchester Historical Society be formed to preserve and promote local history. It was written by Dr. Loran Arthur DeWolfe, a retired educator who was for many years a professor at the Provincial Normal College and Director of Rural Science Schools for Nova Scotia. “I am not a self-appointed chairman,” he wrote, “I merely take the liberty of throwing the first ball. I hope we have a number of good catchers.”
And he did. The response to DeWolfe’s letter was enthusiastic, and he soon called a meeting
for the 22nd of February, to be held in the Normal College. When the day came, 29 citizens
gathered to show their support, including Grace Archibald, Arnold E. E. Blackburn, Mayor John G. Glassey, Dr. Nelson B. MacLeod, Frank H. Patterson, and Lloyd K. Smith. The discussion
centred around various historical documents scattered in attics and basements throughout the county—if only a building could be dedicated to the safe-keeping of these precious records.
A motion was made to form a society, to be called the Colchester Historical Society.
The society soon began to hold monthly meetings and amassed 74 members in it’s first year.
A typical meeting consisted of one or two historical talks and a period of general discussion.
A cast of characters began to form, with their passion for local history uniting them: Newsman William Foster told the story of Colchester’s earliest newspapers; Arnold Blackburn brought in
a century-old account book belonging to a Clifton merchant; Lena Elliot shared her history of Lower Onslow and Belmont; and it was common to see photographer James E. Sponagle
arriving with a bundle of old pictures tucked under his arm.
In 1976, the society opened the Colchester Historical Museum, located in the former science building of the Normal College—finally, a depository for Colchester’s precious artifacts and historical documents. Like many of the society’s founding members, DeWolfe did not live to see the museum, but it was an apt location in which to fulfill the dream of an old science professor, and the dream of so many citizens who left us their stories and records, so that our history may not be forgotten.
Our Building
Our building was constructed in 1900 to serve as the Science Building for teachers-in-training at the Provincial Normal School (est. 1855). It was also used by the School of Agriculture (est. 1885) and featured a greenhouse at the south end for botanical studies.
The Science Building served teacher education until 1961—the year that the Teachers College relocated to the site of the present-day NSCC Truro Campus. After 1961, the building continued to be used by the local school system for
industrial arts classes.
Since 1976, this building has been the home of the Colchester Historical Society. Because of its important link to the educational and architectural heritage of Colchester County and Nova Scotia, the building became a Registered Heritage Property in 2004.
With its subtle polychrome finish, unique combination of building materials
and a respect for all things symmetrical, the Science Building is a good example of the Beaux-Arts Movement in Canadian architecture. Amherst red sandstone, combined with red brick and cast iron detail, would have been an unusual sight on earlier neoclassical structures. By mixing local materials and European forms, this building represents a truly North American style.