Some farming and a local forest industry supported the livelihood of the dominant Scottish population. As an early 19th-century ferry terminus and later a railway centre, the town suffered the loss of these activities from the building of the Canso Causeway in the mid-1950s at nearby Port Hastings. A pulp mill was built in 1960 at nearby Point Tupper relieving unemployment. Subsequent construction of an oil refinery created a boom-town atmosphere but planned economic diversification failed to materialize, and today the refinery stands silent.
Author L.D. MCCANN
Links to Other Sites
Port Hawkesbury
The official website for the Town of Port Hawkesbury.
Strait-Highlands Regional Development Agency
The website for the Strait-Highlands RDA, which represents the County of Inverness, the Town of Port Hawkesbury and the County of Richmond on the south western side of Cape Breton Island. An information source for communities and the business sector.
Atlantic Provinces Chambers of Commerce
The website for the Atlantic Provinces Chambers of Commerce (APCC), formerly the Maritime Board of Trade. Formed in 1896, this organization promotes and supports business and economic development in Atlantic Canada. Click on "Chambers" for links to local Chambers of Commerce.
Nova Scotia: Community Profiles
Search for statistical profiles of communities in the Province of Nova Scotia.


The Dominion government's advertisement asked for volunteers "able to read and write either the English or French language" with "good antecedents" who were good horsemen...
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