Highway to everywhere: the Annapolis River

Fort Anne commanding the Annapolis River at Annapolis Royal with it's T-shaped wharf, site of arrivals and departures, military and civilian, for many decades.

"Amidst political upheaval and in times of war and peace, the focal point of early waterfront activities was a T-shaped wharf located near the glacis of Fort Anne. Known variably as the King’s or Queen’s Wharf, this facility was the terminus for all of the ordnance packets, dispatch boats, sloops, snows and transports which brought troops and supplies to the garrison and conducted other government missions.

On the civilian side of the coin, the old garrison wharf provided the first gateway to Nova Scotia for many an independent merchant trader, adventurer, and prospective settler. Prior to 1870, all steamers arriving at Annapolis docked at the King’s/Queen’s wharf (the King’s wharf changed gender in 1837 when Queen Victoria Ascended to the British throne)." **

Postcard from 1911 showing the King's (formerly the Queen's) Wharf in the upper left, the Annapolis River, and the North Mountain beyond. Foreground: Fort Anne, now a Parks Canada National Historic Site.

It was from this wharf on a December day in 1755 that hundreds and hundreds of Acadians were herded onto six British ships and expelled from their homes in L'Acadie, taking with them only what they could carry.

Where the Acadians were sent.

Map source here.

What the Acadians left behind: https://www.mapannapolis.ca/acadian-settlements

**Age of Sail in Annapolis County 1760 – 1925, Peggy Armstrong & Marguerite Wagner.