Kentville

Kentville owed its location to the Cornwallis River which downstream from Kentville becomes a large tidal river. Kentville was the limit of navigation of sailing ships and more importantly was the most accessible crossing place on the river. The ford and later the bridge at Kentville made the settlement an important crossroads for settlements in the Annapolis Valley.

The area was first settled by Acadians, who built many dykes along the river to keep the high Bay of Fundy tides out of their farmland. These dykes created the ideal fertile soil that the Annapolis Valley is known for.

Agriculture, especially fruit crops such as apples, remain a prominent industry in the Kentville area, and throughout the eastern part of the Valley. Kentville is home to one of the largest agricultural research facilities in Nova Scotia founded in 1911.

Kentville shares its northern boundary along the Cornwallis River with Camp Aldershot, a military training base founded in 1904. At its peak during World War II, the camp housed approximately 7000 soldiers. Kentville native Donald Ripley wrote a book chronicling Camp Aldershot and its effect on the town entitled “On The Home Front”. Today the camp functions as an army reserve training centre and is the headquarters of The West Nova Scotia Regiment.