A mystery in Loyalist Port Mouton

Mersey Heritage Society President, Craig Chandler says the group has been trying to find out if anyone owns the piece of land in Port Mouton.

The Guysborough Township site rests over several properties that were settled by Loyalists after the American Revolution.

The colonial government established a settlement in Shelburne, he explains, with a smaller one in Port Mouton.

The 40-acre Guysborough site mainly housed the British legion that fought in the war and was populated by between 800 and 2,300 people.

Chandler says between 2001 and 2003 society members and an archeologist completed a survey of several hectares in the area after obtaining permission from the landowners involved and a permit from the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage.

They found about a dozen home sites and stone walls from the 1783 loyalist settlement.

Bits of ceramics were among the dozen or so artifacts found at the site, Chandler adds.

Since 2005, the Mersey Heritage Society has been working with the Archaeological Land Trust of Nova Scotia to try and protect the site, he says.

The Mersey Heritage Society has talked with residents, the Region of Queens Municipality and the provincial government but nobody knows who owns the section of the land.

He says the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage is taking another look and will “hopefully do something to sort out the land ownership,” he says.

Because the Guysborough area is an archaeological site, it is automatically protected under the Special Places Act, explains Chandler.

The site is now receiving some unexpected publicity that may help the society’s efforts.

A television crew was in the community last month filming a new mini series airing this fall on CBC.

Major General Lewis MacKenzie, a retired peacekeeper, was in Port Mouton as part of the show.

They were following his family’s history, which told the story of Israel Wharton settling at the Guysborough Township after the war.

Chandler is hoping his visit will “help raise the profile of the site and get people interested in protecting some of it.”

For more information visit www.mersey.ca.