Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
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| Yarmouth | |||
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| Nickname: The Gateway to Nova Scotia | |||
| Motto: Progress | |||
  Yarmouth
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Country |  Canada |
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| Province |  Nova Scotia |
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| Founded | 1761 | ||
| Incorporated | August 6, 1890 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor | Charles Crosby | ||
| - Governing Body | Council of the Town of Yarmouth | ||
| Area | |||
| - Town | 10.56 km² (4.1 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 0-43 m (0-141 ft) | ||
| Population (2006) | |||
| - Town | 7,162 | ||
| - Density | 678.2/km² (1,756.5/sq mi) | ||
| - Urban | 10,366 | ||
| Time zone | AST (UTC-4) | ||
| Postal code span | B5A, B0W | ||
| Area code(s) | 902 | ||
| Telephone Exchanges | 742, 740, 746, 748, 749, 304 | ||
| Median Earnings | $31,584 | ||
| NTS Map | 020O16 | ||
| GNBC Code | CBPIB | ||
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| Website: http://www.yarmouth-town.com/ | |||
Yarmouth is a town and major fishing and ferry port located on the Gulf of Maine in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. It is sometimes referred to as "The Gateway to Nova Scotia".
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[edit] History
The townsite may possibly have been visited by Leif Erikson and his Norsemen in 1007. A Runic Stone was found at the nearby village of Overton in 1812. It is interpreted by some to be carved by Erikkson, while others feel the markings are natural scratches gradually enhanced over the years. The stone may be seen at the Yarmouth County Museum and Archives.
The region was visited in 1604 by Samuel de Champlain, who named it Cap Fourchu, and it became a French fishing settlement. In 1759 settlers came to the townsite from Yarmouth, Massachusetts, and named it Yarmouth after their former home. The town was founded in 1761, when a larger group of settlers came from Sandwich, Massachusetts. They were then followed by Acadians in 1767 from the Grand Pré district and by United Empire Loyalists in 1785.
Initially called Cape Forchu, Yarmouth was first laid out in 1759 and incorporated in 1890. Through the 19th century it was a major shipbuilding centre, at one point making more ships per capita than any other port in the world. While steamships led to a decline of wooden shipbuilding industry in the late 1800s, they also made the port a vital connection between Nova Scotia rail lines and steamers for Boston and New York.
[edit] World War II history
Originally opened in 1940 as 3 separate training sites (the East Camp, the West Camp and the Air Base) under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, but known collectively as RCAF Station Yarmouth.The East Camp was home to a detachment of the Royal Air Force's No. 34 Operational Training Unit (from Pennfield Ridge), who trained Bomber crews, as well as the Royal Navy's No. 1 Naval Air Gunners School from 1 January 1943 - 30 March 1945. The West Camp was home to the RCAF's Anti-Submarine Bomber Reconnaissance and several Eastern Air Command Bomber Reconnaissance Squadrons. The Air Base was home to the 9th Light Anti-Aircraft Artillery, various RCAF and RAF Bomber Squadrons and an Army Co-operation Reconnaissance Flight. Its primary function was as an administrative and logistical support base to the RAF and RCAF squadrons in the area, in addition to providing a Weather Information Section, an Armament Section and a firing range. Several smaller installations associated with the air station were located in the area: a bombing range at Port Maitland, a fuel depot at Digby, and radar detachments at Plymouth, Tusket and Bear Point, Port Mouton and Rockville. In 1944, a detachment of the US Navy briefly came to Yarmouth to test the effectiveness of a blimp service. After a crash, the RCAF decided against this venture. RCAF Station Yarmouth closed in 1945. The airfield was sold to the Department of Transport in 1946 and became the Yarmouth Airport. The Infantry base (known as Camp 60) on Parade Street also trained 20000 men during the war, primarily basic training and artillery training.[1]
A Hudson bomber from Royal Canadian Air Force Bomber Reconnaissance Squadron 113 in Yarmouth became the first aircraft of RCAF's Eastern Air Command to sink a submarine, sinking U-754 about 100 miles south of Yarmouth on July 31, 1942.[2]
[edit] Tourism
Tourism has been a major industry in Yarmouth since the 1880s when Loran Ellis Baker founded the Yarmouth Steamship Company. Baker's steamships operated between Yarmouth and Boston until 1900, when the company was purchased by the Dominion Atlantic Railway. The DAR and Halifax and Southwestern Railway offered connections for passengers arriving in Yarmouth with steamship services operating to New York City and Boston. This service continued until the 1950s. Canadian National Railways instituted a ferry service to Bar Harbor, Maine in the 1950s and this was continued by CN Marine and Marine Atlantic until 1997. Access to Yarmouth is primarily by Highway 101 - North Shore, Highway 103 - South Shore, the Yarmouth Airport and The Cat - Bay Ferries: see below. In 1998 operation of the Bar Harbor route was transferred to Bay Ferries Limited which currently operates a high-speed catamaran ferry - HSC The Cat.
In the 1970s an American tourist cruise company, Prince of Fundy Cruises, began operating a conventional cruise-ferry between Portland, Maine, and Yarmouth. This operation continued as Scotia Prince Cruises until April 2005. The ferry service between Yarmouth and Portland has been resumed by The Cat (2006) on weekends.
The Yarmouth County Museum & Archives was built in 1958, founded by the Yarmouth County Historical Society which dates to 1935. Regarded as one of the best regional museums in Atlantic Canada, it boasts the 3rd largest collection of marine paintings in all of Canada and the largest community archives in Nova Scotia. Located in the heart of Yarmouth's heritage residential district, the museum is housed in is former church as well as two historic houses.[3]
The town is only located a few kilometers away from the well-known Cape Forchu Lighthouse which is located in the small village of Cape Forchu. The lighthouse is stationed at the end of the peninsula that guards Yarmouth Harbour.
[edit] Climate
| Yarmouth Climatological Data | |||||||||||||||
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| Temperature | |||||||||||||||
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year | ||
| Record high | °C (°F) | 14 (57) | 13 (55) | 17 (63) | 22 (72) | 25 (77) | 28 (83) | 30 (86) | 30 (87) | 29 (85) | 25 (77) | 19 (67) | 16 (61) | ||
| Average high | °C (°F) | 1 (34) | 1 (33) | 4 (39) | 9 (48) | 14 (57) | 18 (64) | 21 (69) | 21 (70) | 18 (64) | 13 (56) | 8 (47) | 4 (38) | 11 (52) | |
| Mean | °C (°F) | -3 (27) | -3 (27) | 0 (33) | 5 (41) | 10 (49) | 14 (57) | 17 (62) | 17 (62) | 14 (57) | 9 (48) | 5 (41) | 0 (32) | 7 (45) | |
| Average low | °C (°F) | -7 (19) | -7 (20) | -3 (26) | 1 (34) | 5 (42) | 9 (49) | 12 (54) | 13 (55) | 10 (49) | 5 (41) | 1 (34) | -4 (25) | 3 (37) | |
| Record low | °C (°F) | -21 (-6) | -24 (-10) | -18 (0) | -11 (13) | -2 (28) | 2 (35) | 2 (35) | 0 (32) | -2 (28) | -4 (25) | -9 (15) | -20 (-4) | ||
| Average Precipitation and Sunshine Hours | |||||||||||||||
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Total | ||
| Total | mm (in) | 136 (5.4) | 101 (4.0) | 114 (4.5) | 99 (3.9) | 99 (3.9) | 94 (3.7) | 85 (3.3) | 74 (2.9) | 99 (3.9) | 110 (4.3) | 130 (5.1) | 135 (5.3) | 1274 (50) | |
| Rainfall | mm (in) | 84 (3.3) | 65 (2.6) | 84 (3.3) | 90 (3.5) | 98 (3.9) | 94 (3.7) | 85 (3.3) | 74 (2.9) | 99 (3.9) | 108 (4.3) | 123 (4.8) | 99 (3.9) | 1103 (43) | |
| Snowfall | cm (in) | 65 (25.6) | 83 (32.7) | 10 (3.9) | 1 (0.4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 (0.8) | 7 (2.8) | 43 (16.9) | 201 (79) | |
| Sunshine | hours | 75 | 100 | 138 | 180 | 211 | 217 | 222 | 223 | 184 | 160 | 99 | 68 | 1876 | |
| Data recorded at Yarmouth Airport by Environment Canada. Data spans 1971 to 2000. | |||||||||||||||
- The 83 cm of snow occurred in February, 2004 in the storm White Juan.
[edit] Sports
The New York Islanders a team in the National Hockey League had their training camp for the 2005-06 NHL season and 2006-07 NHL season in Yarmouth at the Mariners Centre[2]. The team had not been to Canada for training camp since a mid-'90s visit to Kitchener, Ontario, when Don Maloney was general manager and Mike Milbury was coach. The Islanders did not return in September 2007, opting to go to Moncton where head coach Ted Nolan served as the coach of the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) in 2005-2006.
- Yarmouth is also home to the Yarmouth Mariners a Maritime Junior A Hockey League Team.
- South End Yarmouth is home to the only golf course in town and one of the oldest in Nova Scotia, the Yarmouth Golf & Country Club.
[edit] Education
The town of Yarmouth is home to a high school an adult high school, a junior high school and three elementary schools. It is also home to a Nova Scotia Community College campus and the Dalhousie University School of Nursing.
- Colleges
- Dalhousie University (School of Nursing) - Yarmouth Regional Hospital
- NSCC Burridge Campus
- Adult High Schools
- Yarmouth Adult High School (adults only)
- High Schools
- Junior High Schools
- Yarmouth Junior High School (7-9)
- Maple Grove Education Centre (7-9) - Hebron
- Elementary Schools
- Meadowfields Community School (pr to 6)
- South Centennial Elementary School (pr to 6)
- Yarmouth Central Elementary School (pr to 6)
- Library
The Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Library has served as the town's public library since 1963. The library offers many services including free computer and wireless Internet access to library patrons.
[edit] Neighbourhoods
- North End or Milton
- Residential. high and low income area.
- Centretown including Downtown
- Tourism area, boutiques and shops. Older historical homes, high and low income area.
- South End
- Residential. high and low income area.
[edit] Demographics
According to the Canada 2006 Census[4]:
| • Population: | 7,162 (-5.3% from 2001) |
| • Land area: | 10.56 km² (4.08 sq mi) |
| • Population density: | 678 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,760 /sq mi) |
| • National population rank (Out of 5,008): | Ranked Unknown |
| • Median age: | 42.3 (males: 41.3, females: 43.2) |
| • Total private dwellings: | 3,323 |
| • Dwellings occupied by permanent residents: | 3,129 |
| • Mean household income: | $31,584 |
Racial make-up Census 2006
Language(s) First Learned and Still Understood Census 2001
Religious make-up Census 2001
- Catholic 44.77%
- Protestant 36.48%
- Hindu 0.68%
- Jewish 0.26%
- Sikh 0.26%
- No religious affiliation 17.02%
[edit] Notable residents
- Loran Ellis Baker, founder of the Yarmouth Steamship Company
- Heather Crowe
- Alfred Fuller, founder of the Fuller Brush Company.
- Evelyn Gigantes, a former politician.
- George Kenney, a United States Army Air Forces general
- Ben Kerr, an author, broadcaster, musician and political candidate.
- Izaak Walton Killam, was one of Canada's most eminent financiers.
- Bowman Brown Law, M.P. for Yarmouth who lost his life in the 1916 Canadian Parliament fire.
- Neil LeBlanc, the former finance minister of Nova Scotia.
- John Lovitt, a ship’s captain, shipowner, shipbuilder, entrepreneur, and politician.
- Dependent Music, a Canadian independent record label that formed in Yarmouth.
- Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, a victim of the Virginia Tech Massacre.
- Jody Shelley, NHL hockey player for the San Jose Sharks.
- Kenneth G. T. Webster
- Bruce Saulnier, played for Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League from 1974-1977
[edit] Media
- 92.1 FM - CBHY (CBC Radio One)
- 93.5 FM - CJLS (The Wave)
- 94.7 FM - CJLS (The Wave)
- 95.5 FM - CJLS (The Wave)
- 104.1 FM - CIFA (Acadian community radio)
- 107.3 FM - CBAF (La Première Chaîne)
[edit] See also
- Municipality of the District of Yarmouth
- Yarmouth County
- List of places in Yarmouth County
- Nova Scotia Duck-Tolling Retriever
- Symbols of Nova Scotia
[edit] References
- ^ RCAF Yarmouth East camp/West Camp Hank Reed, (East Camp Veterans, Yarmouth, 1996)
- ^ The Creation of a National Air Force W.A.B. Douglas, (University of Toronto Press, 1986) p. 520
- ^ Yarmouth County Historical Society - Yarmouth County Museum
- ^ 2006 Community Profile
[edit] External links
| Find more about Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on Wikipedia's sister projects: | |
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Learning resources |
- Yarmouth official town government Website
- Information and Resources for the residents, businesses, and visitors to Yarmouth County And Surrounding Areas.
- Yarmouth Guide - Directory, Event Calender, News, Weather
- Yarmouth Community Forum
- Yarmouth Nova Scotia Website
- Yarmouth Nova Scotia photos
- Yarmouth Nova Scotia pictures
- Yarmouth Dining, Attractions, Shopping, Accommodations, Clubs, Tours, Transportation
- Wartime Heritage Association
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