Following the Acadian expulsion, the lands bordering the Minas Basin remained virtually unsettled for a number of years. There were a number of Acadians remaining who had eluded the expulsion and lived among their Mi'Kmaq friends or were eventually captured and held under arrest at Fort Edward (Windsor) or Fort Cumberland (Amherst).

The British quickly realized that if they were to control this land beyond the small areas of influence of their garrison towns, they must encourage supportive English settlement and establish the 14th colony. Large tracts of land were then given to army officers and various government officials in return for their promise to utilize and defend their holdings. In addition, the Legislative Assembly in Halifax in 1758 authorized an invitation to any New England farmer in want of land to come and take up the cleared and fertile lands vacated by the Acadians.

This invitation did not go unheeded and between 1760 and 1766 dozens of new families arrived to take up possession of these prime lands. These people constituted the first real wave of English speaking immigrants to Canada and became known as the New England Planters.

Once again permanent settlement straddled each side of the Minas Basin. This time however the map bore English names such as Sackville, Cumberland, Amherst, Falmouth, Newberry, Horton and Cornwallis. The names were new but the geography was not. Parrsoboro's strategic position on the main travel and communication route going east and west between all these settlements was thus assured. Soon regular ferry service was re-established at Partridge Island (1764) followed by an inn and tavern, a store, a blockhouse, more settlers, a school and a church.

Partridge Island

The original setting of the town that was to become Parrsboro began some two miles Southwest of the present site, at Partridge Island. This site was selected because of its' protected deep water anchorage and geographic position, commanding a fine view of possible enemy approach both up and down the Minas Basin.

Initially these were the two primary conditions responsible for the creation and continued growth of the community. Unlike other areas settled by the Planters, the Parrsboro region was not desirable for agriculture. This led to the areas' first settlers being more of an entrepreneurial class, drawn from military, seamen and merchant backgrounds. They were attracted to the Partridge Island 'bar' because of its' position on the junction of the two most favoured routes of travel at that time; these being the land route from Amherst to Partridge Island, then by ferry to Windsor and on by land to Halifax, and the Minas Basin waterway, connecting communities all the way from Truro to Saint John. It was this geographical position more than any other factor which created a well-to-do merchant class and helped spawn the now famous historical lumbering, ship building and sailing heritage.

The crossroads position of Partridge Island placed it strategically in the first chapters of our nations' history. The early community with its' ferry and blockhouse formed an important link in the 'thin red line' of British held North America. The eastern bastion of that line was at Halifax with its' formidable defences of a citadel and a naval presence. Halifax, like the former French bastion of power at Louisberg, was vulnerable to land based attack which would cut off its' food supply. This point was not unnoticed by the military strategists of the troubling years of the 1770's with the revolt of the Thirteen Colonies and again later during the War of 1812. Thus a road and chain of small garrisoned blockhouses extended westward from Halifax. Principal strong points along this route were Fort Sackville, Fort Edward (Windsor), Partridge Island and Fort Lawrence (Amherst).

This route was both the lifeline and early warning defensive line. To the east over it were transported the necessary garden produce from the new "Valley" settlements, and sheep and cattle from the Tantramar region. Westward over the route pushed new settlers and troops. The Partridge Island ferry was an important but vulnerable link in this vital supply line.

The Partridge Island Grant was given in 1776 to John Avery, John Lockhart and Jacob Bacon on condition that they operate a ferry from Partridge Island to Windsor, mainly for the benefit of the military. The Lockhart family history indicates that John Lockhart lived here on his land. Later in 1776, Asa and Abijiah Scott, along with Jacob Hurd, bought John Avery's half of the Grant and operated the ferry. However, this ferry did not operate with only the usual seaman's hazards of wind, heavy seas and fog. A New England privateer believed to be under Colonel Jonathon Eddy and his rebels, seized the ferry in November of the same year to prevent communication and reinforcement from Fort Edward at Windsor as they began their attack on Fort Cumberland. However later at Advocate, Colonel Michael Franklin recaptured Scott's schooner. The privateer, described as an 8 gun schooner full of men, escaped.   Fortunately this rebellion was short lived but if Eddy had received more support from Washington, which he obviously expected, history may have written a different tale.

Still the Minas Basin communities lay in fear of more rebel attacks.   In March 1777, a petition signed by Silas Crane Jr was sent from Horton to Halifax asking for a naval vessel to protect the Minas Basin.   The armed schooners "Loyal Nova Scotian" and "Rainbow" were sent.   Silas began a new ferry service using a fourty-two ton sloop as a packet and continued this service until his death in April 1792.

In June 1780, another privateer from Machias, Maine, sailed up the Basin to raid the store of James Shannon, a former resident of Machias who had earlier come to settle at Partridge Island and establish himself as a successful merchant. Fortunately the landing party consisted of only 8 men and they were surrounded by a group of soldiers led by Lieutenant Wheaton. The leader and two others of the landing party were killed and the remainder captured; however, the vessel escaped.

This was not the last privateer to 'visit' the Partridge Island region.   Also, in June of 1780, another American privateer arrived.   This one was a shallop bristling with guns, and accompanied by two armed whaleboats.   They captured a small schooner on the Horton side of the basin, loaded with goods for British posts on the Saint John River.   Lieutenant Colonel Jonathon Crane and Captain William Bishop confronted this group with about 30 militiamen in an old schooner armed with a single six-pound brass cannon.   Oddly enough it was the schooner that ran out of gunpowder and with her rigging in tatters was forced to surrender.   Fortunately a Lieutenant Belcher soon arrived in the armed sloop "Success" and in a spirited battle off Cape Split, he defeated the raider whose crew escaped ashore in the whaleboats.   Belcher captured five of the raiders the next day and then pursued and recaptured the schooner and later that night Colonel Crane was able to free his men and retake his ship.

The following poem given to Kings Historical Society by Ms. Belle Belcher Robinson refers to Benjamin Belcher who was born in Gibraltar in 1743 and died in Cornwallis in 1802. Others mentioned in the poem -- Amos Sheffield, Will Bishop and Jonathan Crane -- are well known in the history of Cornwallis and Horton.

Battle of Blomidon May 21, 1781

Marauders from Maine on our shores made a swoop;
The cannon were seven that spoke from their sloop;
And hands that were greedy clutched gladly upon
A ship Amos Sheffield had filled for Saint John.

Though thirty-five Planters pushed out in a schooner,
Their sally was smashed in ten minutes or sooner;
Yanks captured Will Bishop and Jonathan Crane
And all of their party who struggled in vain.

Thus loaded with loot and captives galore,
Three vessels set out from Cornwallis shore,
Then Benjamin Belcher, once born at Gibraltar,
Was fit to be tied in an over-sized halter;
He learned where a vessel with guns might be got,
And rode like a madman to Horton Town Plot.

We were twenty-eight strong in the schooner Success,
Militiamen bold who with Belcher did press
By horse out to Horton and clambered on board,
And sailed on the track of our foe-men abhorred.

The season was May and the orchards were white;
It seemed a grand day for a wonderful fight.
With the tide running in, they were caught at the Cape;
We hammered their sloop, and in haste to escape
Some took to their dories and scrambled to land
While others lay dead in the ship they had manned.

Still slowed by the tide was the schooner they'd taken
And this by its captors was quickly forsaken,
And promptly Will Bishop and Jonathan Crane
Discomfit their guards and a victory gain.

Thus over the Basin by noon we withdrew
With three captured ships and our jubilant crew.
"The blow that we struck at the Cape was a squelcher!"
Remarked our stout commodore, Benjamin Belcher.

This and numerous other raids along the Basin very likely turned a formerly sympathetic population against the American cause.   Thus was determined the loyal course for the new crown colony and its' eventual evolution to separate nationhood.

The History and Geography of Nova Scotia by John B. Calkin, published in 1878, has a chapter on the American Revolution (1775-1783). In the paragraph "Nova Scotia During the War" he states:"During the war the coast settlements were kept in constant alarm by privateers fitted out in New England. Yarmouth, Annapolis, Cornwallis, Lunenburg, and other places were plundered. Two armed vessels came up Annapolis Basin. The invaders seized the block-house, spiked the cannon, and then loaded their vessels with whatever they found of value in the houses and shops. A militia force from Cornwallis captured a privateer in the Bay of Fundy, and brought in the crew as prisoners." (pp.148-149).