Hantsport



Hantsport is a rural Canadian town and seaport located in the western part of Hants County, Nova Scotia. Hantsport is located just south of the county boundary with Kings County, and sits on the west bank of the Avon River in a tidal estuary.The town is most best known for its history of shipbuilding, its high-speed tidal gypsum terminal and as the resting place of Victoria Cross winner William Hall. Hantsport distinguished itself in 2008, becoming the first municipal unit in Nova Scotia to offer a free wireless high speed Internet service for the community.

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Contents
[hide] *1 History
 * 2 Industry
 * 3 References
 * 4 Further reading
 * 5 External links
 * }

[edit] History
The area around Hantsport was known to the Mi'kmaq as Kakagwek meaning "place where meat is sliced and dried" and the town is still home to a small reserve known as the Glooscap First Nation or Pesikitk.[1]

The town was settled by Loyalists after the American Revolution (about 1786). English settlers first named the locale "Halfway River" after the river beside the town which marked the halfway point between Grand Pre and Windsor.[2]

Shipbuilding emerged as a major industry in the 19th century and the town produced a large number of wooden sailing vessels and some steam vessel before the decline of wooden shipbuilding in the late 1800s. Notable vessels included the barque Hamburg, the largest three masted barque ever built in Canada, and the barque Plymouth, famous for the diaries of Alice Coalfleet, who raised a family aboard her.

The arrival of the Windsor and Annapolis Railway in 1869 stimulated a number of local manufacturers. Gypsum exports emerged as a major employer in the 20th Century, followed by the mills of the Minas Basin Pulp and Power Company established by the Jodrey family.

William Hall, an African-Canadian mariner born near Hantsport, won the Victoria Cross in 1857 and is buried at a monument at the Hantsport Baptist Church.

Artifacts from the town's history are preserved at Churchill House, Hantsport, the restored mansion of the Churchill shipbuilding family which serves as a community centre and museum.

[edit] Industry
Hantsport train station (no longer in use as a passenger facility).The port is used exclusively for shipping gypsum which is quarried at two locations east of Windsor and shipped to Hantsport using the Windsor and Hantsport Railway. The loader used to move gypsum from the storage building to waiting ships is one of the fastest ship-loaders in the world, necessitated by the fact that the extreme tides in the Minas Basin require ships to enter and leave the port within a four to five hour period.

The largest employer is CKF Inc., which produces Royal Chinet paper plates, as well as egg cartons, cup carriers and other molded pulp products at its plant in Hantsport. Minas Basin Pulp and Power's paper mill, and the Canadian Gypsum Company's (a subsidiary of the USG Corporation) ship loading facility are also major employers.