Shelburne County, Nova Scotia

Shelburne County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

History

Shelburne County was founded in 1784 shortly following the influx of Loyalist settlers evacuated from the newly independent United States. It was originally named Port Roseway, until it became a very busy town and was considered to be the capital of Nova Scotia, in which the name was changed to Shelburne in an attempt to please Lord Shelburne, the British Prime Minister from 1782 to 1783. The boundaries of Shelburne County were established by Governor and Council on December 16, 1785.

The first Loyalists arrived in May 1783. They were faced with a somewhat bleak environment in which to make their homes. The land is rocky with acidic soil. There is also much forest.

The area had previously been settled by French-speaking Catholic Acadians, many of whom had been deported to British Colonies. The new arrivals included Black Loyalists who were given substandard land, particularly around Birchtown. In 1796 about 600 Jamaican Maroons were deported to this area of Nova Scotia as well.

In 1824, at a time when the lines of a number of counties were being cut out and marked, the boundary between Queens and Shelburne Counties was surveyed.

In 1836 Shelburne County was divided into two separate and distinct counties with Yarmouth County being formed out of what had been part of Shelburne County.

In 1854, Shelburne County was divided into two districts for court sessional purposes - Shelburne and Barrington. In 1879, these districts were incorporated as district municipalities.

A 2023 wildfire near Barrington Lake became the largest wildfire in the history of Nova Scotia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Demographics

As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Shelburne County had a population of Template:Nts living in Template:Nts of its Template:Nts total private dwellings, a change of Template:Percentage from its 2016 population of Template:Nts. With a land area of Template:Convert, it had a population density of Template:Pop density in 2021.<ref name=2021census>Template:Cite web</ref>

Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2 Population trend<ref>Censuses 1871-1941</ref><ref>Statistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006 census</ref>

Census	Population	Change (%)
2021	13,704	Template:Loss1.9%
2016	13,966	Template:Loss3.7%
2011	14,496	Template:Loss6.7%
2006	15,544	Template:Loss4.2%
2001	16,231	Template:Loss4.5%
1996	17,002	Template:Loss2.0%
1991	17,343	Template:Loss1.0%
1986	17,516	Template:Gain1.1%
1981	17,328	N/A
1941	13,251
1931	12,485
1921	13,491
1911	14,105
1901	14,202
1891	14,956
1881	14,913
1871	12,417	N/A

Template:Col-2 Mother tongue language (2011)<ref>Statistics Canada: 2011 census</ref>

Language	Population	Pct (%)
English only	14,050	97.91%
French only	155	1.08%
Non-official languages	110	0.77%
Multiple responses	30	0.21%

Template:Col-2 Ethnic Groups (2006)<ref name="SC2006-Ethnicity">2006 Statistics Canada Census Ethnocultural Portrait of Canada: Shelburne County, Nova Scotia</ref>

Ethnic Origin	Population	Pct (%)
Canadian	9,335	60.6%
English	5,145	33.4%
Scottish	3,115	20.2%
Irish	1,915	12.4%
German	1,805	11.7%
French	1,235	8.0%
Métis	970	6.3%
Dutch (Netherlands)	680	4.4%
North American Indian	630	4.1%

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Communities

Template:Main

Towns

District municipalities

Access routes

Highways and numbered routes that run through the county, including external routes that start or finish at the county boundary:<ref>Atlantic Canada Back Road Atlas Template:ISBN Page 89</ref> Template:Col-begin Template:Col-4