Location is Important

Place Names Richmond County Atlantic Ocean Main Land Nova Scotia Bras d'Or Lakes Cape Breton Island St. Peter's Chapel Island Reserve Barra Head

Why were people so interested in the Richmond County area hundreds of years ago? It was because of its location. If you look on a map you will see that one side of Richmond County is on the Atlantic Ocean close to mainland Nova Scotia. The other side of the county is on the Bras d’Or Lakes. Of course, there were no roads here hundreds of years ago. Most travel was by water.

Mi’kmaw people were the first to see the importance of the area as far back as 10,000 years ago. From this area they could travel to other parts of Cape Breton Island by canoe on the Bras d’Or Lakes. To travel to the mainland they paddled to a thin strip of land called an isthmus at St. Peter’s. Then they portaged over the isthmus and set their canoes into the Atlantic Ocean. The mainland wasn’t very far away. The location was so important to them that Mi’kmaq from many places met regularly near where the Chapel Island Reserve is now.