Annapolis Royal

Annapolis Royal was once the capital of Acadia/ Nova Scotia and is now a rural town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. The town was known as Port Royal until the Conquest of Acadia (1710) by Britain. The settlement is the first continuous European settlement in North America, north of St. Augustine, Florida.

The town grew with the rise of wooden shipbuilding and boomed in 1869 when the Windsor and Annapolis Railway arrived and made Annapolis Royal an important steamship port. Incorporation as a town under the provincial municipalities act took place in 1893.

However the completion of the railway to Digby in 1893, followed by the creation of the Dominion Atlantic Railway to Yarmouth shifted much of the steamship commerce to Digby and Yarmouth at the same time as the wooden shipbuilding industry declined.

Tourism is a substantial industry for Annapolis Royal. Fort Anne, contained within the boundaries of the town, was designated as a National Historic Site in 1917 and is a natural tourist attraction. The French fort was renamed Fort Anne and established as a British garrison. The Fort, built originally around 1703, was designed to defend the capital of Acadia/ Nova Scotia from seaward attack. Today, much of the original earthen embankments are preserved for tours by the public, as well as some buildings original to the military facility and the Garrison Cemetery. It is the oldest cemetery in Canada, dating back to the French and later the British.