Gourt Home::Gourt :: Amherst, Nova Scotia
Amherst is a town in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada, approximately 194 kilometres northwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia and 3 kilometres from the New Brunswick border. As of 2001 the population was 9,470. Amherst is located at the exact geographic center of the maritimes making it a very important town in the local transportation industry especially with imports/exports going through the New Brunswick/Nova Scotia border. The town is a two hour drive from Nova Scotia's capital Halifax, a one and a half hour drive from the Halifax International Airport, a one hour drive from Prince Edward Island and a forty minute drive from Moncton, New Brunswick. Amherst is the largest town in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia.
According to Dr Graham P. Hennessey, "The Micmac name was Nemcheboogwek meaning "going up rising ground". The Acadians who settled here as early as 1672 called the village Les Planches. It was named Amherst by Colonel Joseph Morse, the first settler, in honor of Lord Jeffrey Amherst, Commander of the British forces in America." The town was first settled in 1764, originally three kilometres west along the Bay of Fundy, after the Expulsion of the Acadians. They were joined by British Loyalists during the American Revolution. A mill was built on the current townsite, and the residents moved to be closer to work. Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky was incarcerated at a detention center in Amherst after he was arrested in Halifax, Nova Scotia in April 1917.
Amherst is located within the Atlantic Time Zone, UTC -4. During World War II the Royal Canadian Navy named a Flower class corvette HMCS Amherst.
Businesses
Amherst is the business hub of Cumberland County. The town has several big-box stores, including Wal-Mart, Sobeys, Atlantic Superstore, Zellers, and Kent Building Supplies. There are also small-town shops in the downtown area. Due to the town's location on Nova Scotia provincial highway 104 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway), the many fast food restaurants in the downtown area are a popular place to stop.
Sports Teams
The most popular sports team in Amherst is the Amherst Ramblers.
Notable Natives
- Willard Boyle, inventor of the charge-coupled device (CCD).
- Bill Casey
- Rocky Johnson
- Peter Myles
- Charles Tupper
- Leslie Feist
- Sandy Goss
- Johnny Kaiser
- Christian Cardell Corbet
External links
Communities in Nova Scotia | Cumberland County, Nova Scotia
"Amherst, Nova Scotia"