Accommodations Nova Scotia
Your Guide To Accommodations In Nova Scotia
Havre Boucher , Nova Scotia
There is some discontent on how the village of Havre Boucher
received its name. One argument is "Boucher" is derived from the
French word bouche, which translates to blocked or closed. This may
relate to the geography of the area because the harbour entrance is
almost closed by an island. It is also said that the village of
Havre Boucher received its name from an ocean voyager that found
refuge there during a harsh winter in the middle of the 18th
century. The following excerpt from A.A. Johnson's, "A history of
the Catholic Church in Eastern Nova Scotia" tells that tale.
"When Bishop Plessis visited Havre Boucher in 1812, he said that the
settlement there seemed to be of recent origin, and that the place
took its name from a Captain Francois Boucher of Quebec, who had
been overtaken by the winter of 1759 and had to stay there until
spring. According to a local tradition, Captain Boucher returned to
the place the following year, married there, and established a
family. A legend still current in Havre Boucher relates that, 'there
once stood on a prominent western point of the harbour a chapel
built of logs, which was served by French missionaries and attended
by Indians. The early Acadians, few in number, also took advantage,
as the occasion offered, of attending mass at the Chapel.'"
There is a tradition that the chapel in reference was the one
existent in 1790. In 1816 this chapel was replaced by another and
the first school in Havre Boucher was started by Father Manseau.
The collection of people who would form the original residents were
a small group of original Acadian settlers, French settlers from
Arichat, and in the early 1800's some Irish families settled in the
region. Before 1785, John and Paul Bushee were living in the
vicinity of the harbour in addition to the Decoast or DeCost family.
In 1811 these individuals who previously lived in "Harbour au
Bouchee" were given grants of land by the Crown - Philistine, John
Baptist and James De Coast, Bernard Benwaugh (Benois) and Paul
Bushee, Charles LeBlanc and John Baptist Melon and George Minette.
On December 1, 1858, Havre Boucher became a separate parish with
Father Hugh MacDonald serving as the first pastor. On June 30, 1861
Bishop MacIntyre of Charlottetown laid the cornerstone of the new
Church at Havre Boucher. St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church was
constructed in 1916 and a convent (Immaculate Conception) of the
Sisters of Charity built in 1890.
There were thirty families when Bishop Plessis of Quebec paid his
official visit in 1812. The harbour was important for fishing and by
1818 some small fishing vessels were being built by people from
Arichat. These vessels would ultimately find their way into the
local harbour. Some lobster and scallop harvesting was also done at
this time. The village population grew rapidly through the years
from 1812-1858 as more than one hundred families were present when a
parish was created to serve the area in 1858.
A post office was constructed just prior to the creation of the
parish in 1855. In 1868 Edmund Corbett was postmaster. The most
recent post office building replaced the original building and its
construction was completed August 10, 1964.
HHistorically, the majority of local residents have made a living
through seasonal fishing activities off our coast. Currently, the
majority of residents are employed in the towns of Antigonish
and Port Hawkesbury.
