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Yarmouth was inhabited by the Mi'kmaq First Nations (Aboriginal) people, who called it Keespongwitk", meaning "Land's End" due to its geographic isolation - being at the southwestern tip of the Nova Scotia peninsula.
The region may have possibly been visited by Leif Ericson. An object known as the Yarmouth Runic Stone was found at the nearby village of Overton in 1812. It was interpreted by some to have been carved by Ericson, while others feel the markings are natural scratches gradually enhanced over the years. The stone is preserved at the Yarmouth County Museum & Archives.
The region was visited in 1604 by Samuel de Champlain, who named it "Cap-Fourchu", meaning "forked or cloven cape." The first Europeans to make a settlement on these shores were the French Acadians in the mid-17th century. New England Planters settled at what is now the town of Yarmouth in 1759; the grantees were from Yarmouth, Massachusetts and they requested that Yarmouth be named after their former home. Yarmouth was founded in 1761 when a ship carrying three families arrived from Sandwich, Massachusetts. During the American Revolution, some in Yarmouth were sympathetic to the rebellion. Following the war, Acadians from the Grand-Pré district who returned from exile in 1767 settled in the Yarmouth area. After the American Revolution, substantial numbers of United Empire Loyalists arrived in 1785.
Through the 19th century the town was a major shipbuilding centre, at one point boasting more registered tonnage per capita than any other port in the world. As wooden shipbuilding declined in the late 19th century, Yarmouth's shipowners re-invested their capital into factories, iron-hulled steamships, and railways.
Tourism has been a major industry in Yarmouth since the 1880s when Loran Ellis Baker founded the Yarmouth Steamship Company. Steamship and railway promotion based in Yarmouth created the first tourism marketing in Nova Scotia. Baker's steamships operated between Yarmouth and Boston. In 1939, examiners at Yarmouth's Merchant Marine Institution made seafaring history by issuing master's papers to Molly Kool, the first female ship captain in the Western World. The growth of post-war automobile-based tourism led to additional ferry service with New England, a region with many family connections to the Maritimes dating to the 18th century and which accelerated during the first half of the 20th century.
During the first year of the Second World War, Yarmouth was selected as the location for a British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) facility. RCAF Station Yarmouth was opened in 1940., closing in 1945. The airfield was sold to the Department of Transport in 1946 and became Yarmouth Airport. A Canadian Army training camp (known as Camp 60) on Parade Street provided basic and artillery training for 20,000 soldiers during the war.
We had an excellent guided tour round the town on foot: this included the museum , the exteriors of many historic houses, the Fire Museum and a monument to all those lost at sea., Also a very good lobster lunch at a local restaurant. And coffee and a cake in the Perky Owl cafe - particularly enjoyed by the Boys
Click on any thumbnail photo and get a larger photo
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