Sometimes I think I photographed nearly every islet in Canada. I liked the flag and eyes on this one
We spent one dreary rainy day circling the Aspotogan Peninsula. It is a lovely area but the rain and gray clouds were depressing. This is the eastern part of Lunenburg County and separates St. Margarets Bay in the east from Mahone Bay in the west. The original inhabitants here were, of course, the Mi’kmaq First Nation. These people were primarily nomadic. Now not so much. For example, they could be found in North West Cove, the village of Aspotogan and East River. They lived on the coast in summer and moved inland during the winter. They lived here until 1939 when the Second World War began. I am not sure why they left. Maybe, they became nomadic again.
The name Aspotogan is a derived from the world Ashmutogun or Ukpudeskakun which means either “block the passageway” or “where the seals go in and out” depending on whom you believe. I like the reference to seals. The land on the coast here was fairly high compared to others on the south coast of Nova Scotia so it was used as a marker for sailors coming from Europe or the West Indies on their way to Halifax.
In addition to the Mi’Kmaq the next immigrants to this region were first Newfoundland Irish in the 1750s and next New England Planters who arrived from Chester in the 1760s. After that French Protestants came from French village, not far away. After that Germans arrived on the west side. Around 1762 there were 62 English living here as well. They had been invited to help assimilate the Acadians who the British feared might be disloyal to the British crown. Between 1750 and 1753, 2,500 “Foreign Protestants” arrived to settle. Lunenburg was built for them.
Although Acadians never lived on the peninsula, they had a strong influence on it. Even 40 years after their arrival, 10,000 of them lived in Nova Scotia and they dominated the region. As the Americans are now finding, expulsion is not as easy as it looks, even without pesky courts. The English were more ruthless than modern Americans, even under Trump, and they couldn’t accomplish it. We’ll see how Trump does.
During the American Revolution (1776 to 1783) Americans plundered Lunenburg, burning buildings and taking prisoners. The Americans at that time were terrorists in other words. And they came here from their country to terrorize the locals.
Naturally the Germans exported sauerkraut until the end of the 20th century. Fishing was an important enterprise for European settlers as well as industries that supported fishing, such as shipbuilding.
Besides the Jesse Stone shows that were filmed in the area, many other Hollywood and CBC films were made here including the CBC series Black Harbour and Blackfly as well as Hollywood films High Tide at Noon in 1957, which was shot at Northwest Cove. The outstanding film based on an outstanding book, The Shipping News starring Kevin Spacey was filmed here rather than Newfoundland. I don’t know why. Probably they got some government breaks. Kirsten Dunst and Lynn Redgrave were in the film Deeply that was also shot here.