Tufts Cove, Nova Scotia
| Tufts Cove | |
|---|---|
| Neighbourhood | |
|
Mi'kmaq people at Tufts Cove, NS, ca. 1871 | |
  Location within Nova Scotia | |
| Coordinates: 44°40′35.60″N 63°35′46.80″W / 44.6765556°N 63.5963333°WCoordinates: 44°40′35.60″N 63°35′46.80″W / 44.6765556°N 63.5963333°W | |
| Country |
 Canada |
| Province |
 Nova Scotia |
| Municipality | Halifax Regional Municipality |
| Community | Dartmouth |
| Community council | Harbour East - Marine Drive Community Council |
| District | 6 - Harbourview - Burnside - Dartmouth East |
| Postal code | B3A |
| Area code | 902 |
| GNBC code | CBMLN |
Tufts Cove is a Canadian urban neighbourhood in the Dartmouth area of Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality. It is situated on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour in the North End of Dartmouth. The neighbourhood boundaries of Tufts Cove are approximately from Albro Lake Road in the south to Highway 111 in the north, and from Victoria Road in the east with the harbour to the west.
The area was named after the prominent Tufts family of Boston. Gershom Tufts came to Dartmouth in 1749. The land was also the site of a small Mi'kmaq settlement known as Turtle Grove. The settlement dated at least to the late 18th century. A painting from the 1790s shows a Mi'kmaq family at the cove and an oil painting c. 1837 by William Eager shows a Mi'kmaq encampment at Tufts Cove.
The entrance to the cove was crossed by a railway trestle in the 1880s connecting to the short-lived railway bridge across the Narrows. The tracks were relocated to the head of the cove in the 1890s when the bridge collapsed.
The village was destroyed in the Halifax Explosion on December 6, 1917.Chief William Compagnon Prosper was a self proclaimed Mikmaq Chief who came from Newfoundland during the Beothuk Genocide. He was an original full blood Beothuk Indian who practiced the Beothuk traditions from the time he left Newfoundland in the 1820's until he died in the 1920's. Jerry (Bartlett) Lonecloud was from the state of Maine,USA and wrote in his journal that Chief William Prosper also known as Soolien Bill, was Jeremiah's best friend and he learned many of the Beothuk ways and medicine from Chief William Prosper. Chief William Prosper a full blooded Beothuk who hid his Beothuk identity under the guise as a Mi'kmaq Chief at Trurtle Grove ,also known as Tufts Cove, Chief Prosper hid his Beothuk identity due to the genocide and extermination of his Beothuk tribe of Newfoundland; and He was the only Chief that resided at Turtle Grove ,Darmouth, NS. He and his brother James Prosper can be located on the 1871 Mi'kmaq Census. One of the Mi'kmaq families that were living at Tufts Cove during the explosion was Jerry Lonecloud's, who lost two daughters and one of his eyes. The Turtle Grove settlement was never rebuilt after the explosion. Survivors mentioned in Jeremiah (Bartlett) Loneclouds Journal which held in a Toronto Mikamq Museum were the : Nevins, Christmas, Googoo family surnames and they were settled in other Nova Scotian reserves. Chief William Compagnon Prosper ( Soolien Bill ) resided at and was buried at Truro Reserve.
The dominant feature of Tufts Cove is the Tufts Cove Generating Station, whose smokestacks tower over the area. The construction of the plant required the purchase and subsequent destruction of a large number of the neighbourhood's homes by the Nova Scotia Light and Power Company, Limited in 1964. The plant is now operated by Nova Scotia Power Inc., a subsidiary of Emera Inc.
Shannon Park, a large military housing complex was built beside the cove in the 1950s. It closed in 2004. Disposal of the land is being planned by the Canadian federal government's Canada Lands Company. Mi'kmaq from the Millbrook Reserve near Truro have applied for a portion of the former Shannon Park military housing development beside the cove.
References
External links
- Destination Nova Scotia
- Google Maps image of Tufts Cove
- "Turtle Grove Explained" Video: Museum Curator Explains effects of Halifax Explosion on Tufts cove and Turtle Grove