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291 WATER ST
Westport,
Nova Scotia
B0V 1H0
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Nova Scotia Tourism Region : Bay of Fundy & Annapolis Valley
Description From Owner:
- The first settlers were David Welch and Robert Morrell who came from ME in search of fish in 1769.
- A group of Loyalists joined them in the 1780s. The origin of the name is not clear. On a 1775 chart it appears as Bryer Island.
- In 1809 when the Nova Scotia legislature passed an act to provide support for a lighthouse on the island, the spelling was Brier. It is likely Brier was derived from the wild brier rose which grows in profusion here.
- A lighthouse was erected at West Point in 1809.
- Freeport: First called Long Island or Lower Cove but the name was changed to Freeport in 1865, possibly after Freeport, ME. Borden Thurber, one of the first settlers, came here from Weymouth in 1765.
- With permission from 'Nova Scotia Place Names' David E. Scott 2015
Address of this page:
http://ns.ruralroutes.com/WestportNS
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Great Location For Whale-Watching
Twenty-one species of whales, and dolphins and porpoises are in Nova Scotia waters along with six species of seals.
Walrus used to breed on Sable Island but were hunted so aggressively for their oil that they disappeared by the late 1800s.
One of the best places for watching minke, fin, right and humpback whales is the Bay of Fundy.
Capt. Joshua Slocum
First to solo circumnavigate the world Capt. Joshua Slocum (1844-1909) lived his boyhood years in Westport, the fifth of 11 children born to a Quaker family.
He ran away from his disciplinarian father at age 12 to work as cabin boy on a fisherman's ship. At 16 he made his first trip across the Atlantic and by 25 was in charge of a large schooner operating between San Francisco and Seattle.
He is best known for being the first person to solo circumnavigate the globe, which he did between 1895 and 1898 in an 11.3 metre (36-ft.) sloop-rigged former fishing boat named Spray.
In 1900 his marine classic book, Sailing Alone Around the World, was published.
In 1909 he set sail for South America and never returned. His death remains a complete mystery.
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