Old St. Peter’s and its first school

The old site of St. Peter’s, on St. Peter’s Bay to the east of the canal in Cape Breton, would first feel the influence of European fisher folk and traders many centuries ago.

Portuguese and then French fishermen came to catch and cure cod, trade in furs and lumber with the local Mi’kmaq nation, and carry these products back to Europe. Nicolas Denys, of La Rochelle in southwestern France, became the first permanent settler when he arrived in the mid-17th century. The village would soon be brushed by European war during the 1745 and 1758 sieges of Louisbourg. Irish, English and Scots settlers w…

Read more at Port Hawkesbury's The Reporter

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