Aspotogan Peninsula - History: Eighteenth Century - Newfoundland Irish

Newfoundland Irish

The Acadians never lived on the Aspotogan Peninsula; however, their presence in Nova Scotia significantly influenced immigration to the colony. Even forty years after the British conquest of Nova Scotia (1710), the population of Nova Scotia was still dominated by Catholic Acadians (population 10, 000). To off set the Catholic population, with the founding of Halifax (1749), the British created an immigration policy to attract Protestants to the colony.

Apart from the Foreign Protestants, the first immigrants to settle the Aspotogan Peninsula may have been Newfoundland Irish, who were Catholics. By 1750, there were 3500 Newfoundland Irish in Nova Scotia. By 1767, there were 22 Newfoundland Irish Catholics living on the Peninsula. Those who settled in the Aspotogan Peninsula seemed to have left the area after a short time. There are only three family names that remain: Murphy, Keating and Carroll. The only other evidence of these early immigrants that remains are landmarks named after them such as Riley Point and Riley’s Lake in New Harbour, Nova Scotia and Hollahan Lake in Deep Cove, Nova Scotia. These Newfoundland Irish are sometimes referred to “three boaters”, moving from Ireland to Newfoundland, then to Nova Scotia, before finally settling in Boston.