Judique



Judique is a small community located in Inverness County on the Ceilidh Trail (Trunk 19) on the western side of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Judique is on the edge of St. George's Bay in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Judique is situated between Grahams on the Shore Road in the north, Beatons on Hwy 19, and the boundary between Long Point and Craigmore to the South. St. George's Bay on the east and General Line Road to the west.

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Contents
[hide] *1 Early settlement
 * 1.1 Origins of the name
 * 2 The Community
 * 2.1 Notable people from Judique
 * 3 See also
 * 4 External links
 * 5 References
 * }

edit] Early settlement
The first permanent European pioneers of Judique were mainly of Scots Highland descent and they moved to the west coast of Cape Breton Island from Prince Edward Island, Pictou, Guysborough, and some walked the distance from Parsborough. The ‘Judique Shores’ stretched from Long Point in the south to the Little Judique River just on the boundary of Port Hood, in the north.

Tradition has it that in 1775, poet and sea captain Michael mor MacDonald of South Uist/PEI, who attended the Glenaladale emigration to PEI, spent the winter near the Grand Judique River. He encountered Mi'kmaq during his stay. The ice came in before he had a chance to leave and he spent the winter there. His Gaelic song about the event, "O, Is Àlainn an t-Àite (pronounced: oh, iss ah-lin un t-ah-chuh) "O, Fair is the Place", is thought by many to be the first Scots Gaelic song composed in North America.

Prior to 1787, Michael Mór MacDonald of South Uist frequently landed on the coast and partially explored it. He eventually became the mason, of Blair-Athole in Indian Point, at the north end of Judique, which is now a protected archeological site. Among the early Scottish settlers were MacDonald, Robert Innes, Hugh MacEachern, wife and family of Moidart, and Allan Ban MacDonnell of Glengarry. Michael, Robert, and Allan Ban married, about the same time, daughters of Hugh MacEachern, and became among the first settlers of Judique in 1787.

edit] Origins of the name
The origin of the name Judique is disputed. Many people in Judique believe it is a First Nations (Mi'kmaw) word meaning water. However, the name is also said to mean a river or stream where the water turns swiftly forming eddies, and is French in origin.|[1]

Quebec visitors to Judique have apparently said that a “jou-jeu” is a spinning top and used for a game named jou. “Dique,” they said, “ is ‘dike’ and could relate to the dike system in the area.

Another possibility relates to Nicholas Denys, a local fisherman. One of Denys's sea captains, on a return trip to Arichat, was reading Scripture from the Book of Judith. He was passing along the coast of what is now Judique, and was overcome by the rolling hills and greenery of the area. It is said that it was recorded in his log with the name "Judic" which may have eventually became written "Judique." &nbsp