Yarmouth | |||
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Nickname(s): The Gateway to Nova Scotia | |||
Motto: Progress | |||
![]() ![]() Yarmouth
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Coordinates: | |||
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Province | ![]() |
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Founded | 1761 | ||
Incorporated | August 6, 1890 | ||
Government | |||
- Mayor | Phil Mooney | ||
- Governing Body | Council of the Town of Yarmouth | ||
Area | |||
- Town | 10.56 km² (4.1 sq mi) | ||
Elevation | 0-43 m (0-141 ft) | ||
Population (2006) | |||
- Town | 7,162 | ||
- Density | 678.2/km² (1,756.5/sq mi) | ||
- Urban | 10,366 | ||
Time zone | AST (UTC-4) | ||
Postal code span | B5A, B0W | ||
Area code(s) | 902 | ||
Telephone Exchanges | 742, 740, 746, 748, 749, 304 | ||
Median Earnings | $31,584 | ||
NTS Map | 020O16 | ||
GNBC Code | CBPIB | ||
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Website: http://www.yarmouth-town.com/ |
Yarmouth is a town and major fishing and ferry port located on the Gulf of Maine in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. It is sometimes referred to as "The Gateway to Nova Scotia".
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The townsite may possibly have been visited by Leif Erikson and his Norsemen in 1007. A Runic Stone was found at the nearby village of Overton in 1812. It is interpreted by some to be carved by Erikson, while others feel the markings are natural scratches gradually enhanced over the years. The stone may be seen at the Yarmouth County Museum & Archives.
The region was visited in 1604 by Samuel de Champlain, who named it Cap Fourchu, and it became a French fishing settlement. In 1759 settlers came to the townsite from Yarmouth, Massachusetts, and named it Yarmouth after their former home. The town was founded in 1761, when a larger group of settlers came from Sandwich, Massachusetts. They were then followed by Acadians originally from the Grand Pré district who returned from exile in 1767. Substancial numbers of United Empire Loyalists arrived in 1785.
Initially called Cape Forchu, Yarmouth was first laid out in 1759 and incorporated in 1890. Through the 19th century it was a major shipbuilding centre, at one point making more ships per capita than any other port in the world. As wooden shipbuilding declined in the late 1800s, Yarmouth's shipowners re-invested into factories, steamships and railways such as the Western Counties Railway which evovled into the Dominion Atlantic Railway. While steamships had led to the decline of Yarmouth's mighty wooden shipbuilding industry, they also made the port a vital connection between the new Nova Scotia rail lines and steamers for Boston and New York,a role which continues with Yarmouth's ferry connections today. The harbour has remained a major fishing port in Southwestern Nova Scotia. In 1994, The Scarlet Letter was shot in a town an hour by highway away called Shelburne.
Originally opened in 1940 as 3 separate training sites (the East Camp, the West Camp and the Air Base) under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, but known collectively as RCAF Station Yarmouth.The East Camp was home to a detachment of the Royal Air Force's No. 34 Operational Training Unit (from Pennfield Ridge), who trained Bomber crews, as well as the Royal Navy's No. 1 Naval Air Gunners School from 1 January 1943 - 30 March 1945. The West Camp was home to the RCAF's Anti-Submarine Bomber Reconnaissance and several Eastern Air Command Bomber Reconnaissance Squadrons. The Air Base was home to the 9th Light Anti-Aircraft Artillery, various RCAF and RAF Bomber Squadrons and an Army Co-operation Reconnaissance Flight. Its primary function was as an administrative and logistical support base to the RAF and RCAF squadrons in the area, in addition to providing a Weather Information Section, an Armament Section and a firing range. Several smaller installations associated with the air station were located in the area: a bombing range at Port Maitland, a fuel depot at Digby, and radar detachments at Plymouth, Tusket and Bear Point, Port Mouton and Rockville. In 1944, a detachment of the US Navy briefly came to Yarmouth to test the effectiveness of a blimp service. After a crash, the RCAF decided against this venture. RCAF Station Yarmouth closed in 1945. The airfield was sold to the Department of Transport in 1946 and became the Yarmouth Airport. The Infantry base (known as Camp 60) on Parade Street also trained 20000 men during the war, primarily basic training and artillery training.[1]
A Hudson bomber from Royal Canadian Air Force Bomber Reconnaissance Squadron 113 in Yarmouth became the first aircraft of RCAF's Eastern Air Command to sink a submarine, sinking U-754 about 100 miles south of Yarmouth on July 31, 1942.[2]
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..[3] Baker's steamships operated between Yarmouth and Boston until 1900, when the company was purchased by the Dominion Atlantic Railway. The DAR and Halifax and Southwestern Railway offered connections for passengers arriving in Yarmouth with steamship services operating to New York City and Boston. This service continued until the 1950s. Canadian National Railways instituted a ferry service to Bar Harbor, Maine in the 1950s and this was continued by CN Marine and Marine Atlantic until 1997. Access to Yarmouth is primarily by Highway 101 - North Shore, Highway 103 - South Shore, the Yarmouth Airport and The Cat - Bay Ferries: see below. In 1998 operation of the Bar Harbor route was transferred to Bay Ferries Limited which currently operates a high-speed catamaran ferry - HSC The Cat.
In the 1970s an American tourist cruise company, Prince of Fundy Cruises, began operating a conventional cruise-ferry between Portland, Maine, and Yarmouth. This operation continued as Scotia Prince Cruises until April 2005. The ferry service between Yarmouth and Portland has been resumed by The Cat (2006) on weekends, whereas on weekdays the Cat sails between Yarmouth Nova Scotia and Bar Harbor Maine daily.
Yarmouth is home to the Yarmouth County Museum & Archives which preserves the history of the town and surrounding county from a reconstructed former church as well as two historic houses and the Killam building on the Yarmouth waterfront.[4] The Nova Scotia Firefighters Museum and Sweeney Fisheries Museum are also located in Yarmouth.
The town is only located a few kilometers away from the well-known Cape Forchu Lighthouse which is located in the small village of Cape Forchu. The lighthouse is stationed at the end of the peninsula that guards Yarmouth Harbour.
In 2007, Yarmouth became part of a new travel region called "Yarmouth & Acadian Shores." The new region was oficially recognized by the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage and encompasses the Municipalities of Argyle, Clare, Yarmouth and the Town of Yarmouth.
Yarmouth Climatological Data | |||||||||||||||
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Temperature | |||||||||||||||
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year | ||
Record high | °C (°F) | 14 (57) | 13 (55) | 17 (63) | 22 (72) | 25 (77) | 28 (83) | 30 (86) | 30 (87) | 29 (85) | 25 (77) | 19 (67) | 16 (61) | ||
Average high | °C (°F) | 1 (34) | 1 (33) | 4 (39) | 9 (48) | 14 (57) | 18 (64) | 21 (69) | 21 (70) | 18 (64) | 13 (56) | 8 (47) | 4 (38) | 11 (52) | |
Mean | °C (°F) | -3 (27) | -3 (27) | 0 (33) | 5 (41) | 10 (49) | 14 (57) | 17 (62) | 17 (62) | 14 (57) | 9 (48) | 5 (41) | 0 (32) | 7 (45) | |
Average low | °C (°F) | -7 (19) | -7 (20) | -3 (26) | 1 (34) | 5 (42) | 9 (49) | 12 (54) | 13 (55) | 10 (49) | 5 (41) | 1 (34) | -4 (25) | 3 (37) | |
Record low | °C (°F) | -21 (-6) | -24 (-10) | -18 (0) | -11 (13) | -2 (28) | 2 (35) | 2 (35) | 0 (32) | -2 (28) | -4 (25) | -9 (15) | -20 (-4) | ||
Average Precipitation and Sunshine Hours | |||||||||||||||
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Total | ||
Total | mm (in) | 136 (5.4) | 101 (4.0) | 114 (4.5) | 99 (3.9) | 99 (3.9) | 94 (3.7) | 85 (3.3) | 74 (2.9) | 99 (3.9) | 110 (4.3) | 130 (5.1) | 135 (5.3) | 1274 (50) | |
Rainfall | mm (in) | 84 (3.3) | 65 (2.6) | 84 (3.3) | 90 (3.5) | 98 (3.9) | 94 (3.7) | 85 (3.3) | 74 (2.9) | 99 (3.9) | 108 (4.3) | 123 (4.8) | 99 (3.9) | 1103 (43) | |
Snowfall | cm (in) | 65 (25.6) | 83 (32.7) | 10 (3.9) | 1 (0.4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 (0.8) | 7 (2.8) | 43 (16.9) | 201 (79) | |
Sunshine | hours | 75 | 100 | 138 | 180 | 211 | 217 | 222 | 223 | 184 | 160 | 99 | 68 | 1876 | |
Data recorded at Yarmouth Airport by Environment Canada. Data spans 1971 to 2000. |
The New York Islanders a team in the National Hockey League had their training camp for the 2005-06 NHL season and 2006-07 NHL season in Yarmouth at the Mariners Centre[2]. The team had not been to Canada for training camp since a mid-'90s visit to Kitchener, Ontario, when Don Maloney was general manager and Mike Milbury was coach. The Islanders did not return in September 2007, opting to go to Moncton where head coach Ted Nolan served as the coach of the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) in 2005-2006.
The town of Yarmouth is home to a high school an adult high school, a junior high school and three elementary schools. It is also home to a Nova Scotia Community College campus and the Dalhousie University School of Nursing.
The Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Library has served as the town's public library since 1963. The library offers many services including free computer and wireless Internet access to library patrons.
According to the Canada 2006 Census:[5]
• Population: | 7,162 (-5.3% from 2001) |
• Land area: | 10.56 km2 (4.08 sq mi) |
• Population density: | 678 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,760 /sq mi) |
• National population rank (out of 5,008): | Ranked Unknown |
• Median age: | 42.3 (males: 41.3, females: 43.2) |
• Total private dwellings: | 3,323 |
• Dwellings occupied by permanent residents: | 3,129 |
• Median household income: | $31,584 |
Racial make-up Census 2006
Language(s) First Learned and Still Understood Census 2001
Religious make-up Census 2001
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Digby |
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Atlantic Ocean | ![]() |
Barrington & Shelburne | |||||
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Plymouth & Wedgeport |
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