Black Loyalist Experience National Historic Event
Birchtown, Nova Scotia
Black Loyalist Experience
(© None)
Address :
Birchtown, Nova Scotia
Recognition Statute:
Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date:
1994-11-24
Other Name(s):
-
Black Loyalist Experience
(Designation Name)
Research Report Number:
1993-025
Importance:
Commemorates Black Loyalists in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
Plaque(s)
Existing plaque: In front of Birchtown Community Centre Birchtown, Nova Scotia
After the American Revolution, at least 3500 free Black Americans loyal to the Crown settled in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. They formed the first substantial African communities on Canadian soil. The most influential of these settlements was Birchtown, founded in August 1783, which became the largest free Black community in North America. Its population declined after many Black Loyalists, frustrated by their treatment in the Maritimes, emigrated to Sierra Leone in West Africa in 1792. Birchtown nevertheless remains part of a proud heritage for Blacks with Loyalist roots.