Lawlor Island

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Lawlor Island is 55 ha in size and located opposite MacCormicks Beach in Eastern Passage and McNabs Island in the outermost limit of Halifax Harbour in the Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia.The island is primarily undeveloped woodland,and the protected home of deer and osprey.

History On September 30, 1750, Thomas Bloss was granted an island in Halifax Harbour which later bore his name. Bloss Island was one of many names which referred to the island up until the latter part of the 19th century when it became widely known as Lawlor Island.In 1758, the island bore the name Webb's Island. In 1792, it was referred to as Carroll's Island. In 1821, James Lawlor, into whose hands the island had passed, offered a reward for the conviction of persons who had stolen his sheep from the island. In this notice the island is referred to as McNamara's Island.Haliburton, in 1829, refers to the island as Duggan's Island. Shortly afterwards the island was referred to as Warren's Island.In 1866, the Province acquired Lawlor Island for use a quarantine station.In 1864, during the American Civil War, McNabs and Lawlor islands played a small but important role in an incident involving several ships from the Confederate and Union navies. One of the most interesting episodes in the island's history occurred in 1899 when 2,000 Doukhobor immigrants were quarantined there . By 1938, the quarantine station was no longer needed on Lawlor Island. The island was subsequently purchased by the Canadian government for use as a medical facility during the Second World War. Today it is part of the McNabs and Lawlor Islands Provincial Park .