Tantramar Marshes

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A view of the Tantramar Marsh showing one of the many barns that once dotted the marsh. Used for storing hay, the characteristic barns have mostly disappeared as more modern harvesting and storage methods have been adopted.

The Tantramar Marshes are a National Wildlife Area on the southern part of the Isthmus of Chignecto, which joins Nova Scotia to New Brunswick and the Canadian mainland.

The marshes penetrate inland from the Bay of Fundy for 10 kilometers. Acadians, who called the region Beaubassin^[1], built dykes in the early 1700s to stop the tidal influx of salt water, creating rich agricultural land on the deep sedimentary soils.

The name Tantramar is derived from the Acadian French tintamarre, meaning 'din' or 'racket', a reference to the noisy flocks of birds which feed there. The marshes are an important stopover for migrating waterfowl such as semi-palmated Sandpipers and Canada Geese. Today the marshes are the site of two bird sanctuaries.

In the past, the Tantramar Marshes were called the "World's Largest Hayfield". The hay was shipped for commercial sale along the Eastern Seaboard and to Europe as late as the 1930s. As the salt marsh had rich, sticky, red mud and soil, the hay grown there is high in iodine. In a world where food additives were not yet being used, iodine-rich hay made the Tantramar a valuable source for healthy, high-quality fodder.

A few historic hay barns still dot the landscape. In the 1930s, more than 400 post-and-beam hay barns were still scattered across the marsh. Today there are fewer than 30.

The following rivers drain from and around the marshes:

• Aulac River
• LaPlanche River
• Missaguash River
• Tantramar River

[edit] Tantramar Region

Over time, the marshes have come to identify the overall inter-provincial region and include the following communities:

Nova Scotia

• Amherst
• Amherst Point
• East Amherst
• Fort Lawrence
• West Amherst

RCI transmitter station outside Sackville, New Brunswick

New Brunswick

• Aulac
• British Settlement
• Halls Hill
• Jolicure
• Middle Sackville
• Midgic
• Mount Whatley
• Point de Bute
• Sackville
• Upper Point de Bute
• Upper Sackville
• Westcock

The Tantramar Heritage Trust is a charity dedicated to preserving heritage resources related to this region.

[edit] In the arts

The landscape of the Tantramar Marshes has inspired such artists as the poets Charles G.D. Roberts and Douglas Lochhead, and the photographer Thaddeus Holownia.

[edit] Broadcasting Transmitter

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation operates a shortwave broadcasting transmitter in Sackville, New Brunswick next to the Transcanada Highway for its Radio Canada International Service. The transmitters is also used by Radio Japan, China Radio International, Voice of Vietnam, Radio Sweden,BBC World Service ,Deutsche Welle and Radio Korea as part of a transmitter time exchange agreement.

[edit] Transportation

The Tantramar Marsh forms most of the border of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Two of the three crossings between the two provinces go through the marsh.

The Transcanada crosses the Missaguash River where Nova Scotia Highway 104-Nova Scotia Trunk 2 meets New Brunswick Highway 2 and the main highway transportation link between the two provinces . The Mount Whatley Road Bridge is a side road that runs between Mt. Whatley, New Brunswick and Fort Lawrence, Nova Scotia. The highway runs parallel to the CN railway track from Halifax to Montreal, Quebec.

[edit] External links

• Southeastern Tantramar Tourism Association
• Photography of the Tantramar Marshes.
• Marshland: Records of Life on the Tantramar | MTA Archives.
• Placeopedia.com Map of the Tantramar Marshes
• Bill Hamilton, history and people of the Tantramar region
• History of CBA Sackville

[edit] Further reading

• Maritime dykelands: The 350 Year Struggle, published by the Province of Nova Scotia, 1987

[edit] References

Coordinates: 45°51′34.1″N 64°16′34.7″W / 45.859472°N 64.276306°W / 45.859472; -64.276306

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