Guysborough

Guysborough is a community of about 900 people (2001) on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia. It is on the western shore of Chedabucto Bay, fronting Guysborough Harbour, and is the administrative seat of the Guysborough municipal district. It is home to the Alder Grounds, Boggy Lake, Bonnett Lake Barrens, and Canso Coastal Barrens Wilderness Areas.

Understand
The community is named after Sir Guy Carleton (Guy's borough).

History
The Mi'kmaq (Aboriginal) name for the village of Guysborough was Chedabuctou.

The village of Guysborough was settled by Europeans in 1634. Isaac de Razilly built a fort named Fort St François à Canso at the entrance to the harbour. In 1655, Nicolas Denys, governor of the new St Lawrence Bay Province, built Fort Chedabuctou on Fort Point to serve as his capital. The fort was replaced and renamed Fort St Louis in 1682 by the Company of Acadia to protect the fishery.

In 1682, a permanent settlement was started by Clerbaud Bergier. A group cleared land and planted crops in 1683. The Acadians in this region left in the Acadian Exodus of 1749–1755,cand those that remained were expelled by the British. British settlers renamed the town Guysborough after Sir Guy Carleton, commander of the British forces and Governor General of Canada in the 1780s. After the American Revolution, Guysborough was settled by Black Loyalists and soldiers of the disbanded Duke of Cumberland's Regiment and King's Carolina Rangers.

The town's fine natural harbour led to its establishment as the administrative centre for the county, and despite the diminishing role of the harbour for transport links, forestry, fishing and agriculture remain of great importance to the area.

Get in
Guysborough is 63 km from Antigonish: east on the Trans-Canada Highway, then south on Route 16. Maritime Bus provides service to Antigonish from Halifax and Moncton.

The nearest international airport is 275 km away in Halifax.