Antigonish County Place Names

Photographs courtesy of Conrad Poirier

MacDonald Mount / MacInnis Lake / MacNair Cove / MacNair Point / McAdam Stream / McArras Brook / McDonald Brook / McDonald Brook* / McEachern Brook / McGillivray Brook / McGillivray Brook* / McInnes Brook / McInnis Brook / McIntosh Point / McNab Brook / McNaughton / McNaughton Brook / McNeils Brook / McPhee Brook / McPhee's Millbrook / McPherson / Mahoney Beach / Malignant Brook / Malignant Cove / Manchester Road / Maple Ridge / Marydale / Maryvale / Mayfield / Meadow Green / Meadows Brook / Merland / Merland Lake / Middle Head / Middleton / Milburn / Mill Brook / Monastery / Monastery Brook / Monk Head / Monks Head / Monk Pond / Morar / Morar Brook / Morrett Island / Morristown / Morvan / Moydart Point

MACDONALD MOUNT, Antigonish County
North east of Antigonish.
Probably named after Angus and Hugh MacDonald who had grants there.

MACINNIS LAKE, Antigonish County
A lake south west of Antigonish, named after the McInnis family who received land grants there.

MACNAIR COVE, Antigonish County
See VENUS COVE

MACNAIR POINT, Antigonish County
A point on the west shore of the Strait of Canso probably named for James and Colin William McNair who petitioned for land in 1823.

MCADAM STREAM, Antigonish County
A brook flowing N.E. into Malignant Brook.

MCARRAS BROOK, Antigonish County
[McAra's]
    A brook and a settlement N.W. of Antigonish.
    A corruption of McCara's, for it was named after James McCara who received a grant of five hundred acres there in 1796 for his loyal services to the Crown in the American Revolution. He was a native of Perthshire, Scotland, who had emigrated to New York State and had joined General Burgoyne's forces in 1777. Several other soldiers, namely Alexander McDonald, Samuel Thompson, Alexander McPherson and James Peacock settled in the neighborhood of McCara but later sold their farms and moved away.
    In 1827 there was a school at McCara's Brook and in 1865 a new school-house was erected there.

MCDONALD BROOK, Antigonish County
Flows S.E. into Georges Bay so called because its source was on the land granted to Duncan McDonald.

MCDONALD BROOK*, Antigonish County
A brook flowing north west to Northumberland Strait so named because it rose on the land grant to Angus McDonald.

MCEACHERN BROOK, Antigonish County
A brook flowing north-west into Northumberland Strait, named for the McEachern family, also called McPherson Brook.

MCGILLIVRAY BROOK, Antigonish County
Flows north west in the Ohio River, probably so named because Angus McGilvray or McGillivray lived nearby.

MCGILLIVRAY BROOK*, Antigonish County
Flows north into Northumberland Strait, called thus because it ran through the land grant to John McGilvray or McGillivray.

MCINNES BROOK, Antigonish County
A brook flowing north east into George Bays called Graham's Brook because it ran through land granted to John Graham.

MCINNIS BROOK, Antigonish County
A brook which flows north into Northumberland Strait having its source on the land granted to Angus McInnis.

MCINTOSH POINT, Antigonish County
See GREGORY POINT

MCNAB BROOK, Antigonish County
Flows south east into Lochaber Lake.
Named for Peter McNab who received four hundred acres of land there in 1813.

MCNAUGHTON, Antigonish County
    Locality south of Antigonish.
    Formerly known as Rear South River and later named after the McNaughton family.
    Among the early grantees in 1828 were Ebenezer MacAulay, Hugh McDiarmid, Alexander McGregor, John McAskill and William Polson.

MCNAUGHTON BROOK, Antigonish County
Flows into South River Lake.
Called thus because it ran through the land granted in 1830 to Donald McNaughton, Sr. and Donald McNaughton, Jr. who had emigrated from Perthshire, Scotland in 1826.

MCNEILS BROOK, Antigonish County
A brook which flows N.W. into Northumberland Strait, named after the McNeil family.

MCPHEE BROOK, Antigonish County
See POLSONS BROOK

MCPHEE'S MILLBROOK, Antigonish County
See POLSONS BROOK

MCPHERSON, Antigonish County
    A settlement south east of Antigonish.
    Named after settlers named McPherson.
    Donald, James and John McPherson, heirs of Angus McPherson, received land grants here in 1829.
    Angus McPherson was postmaster there in 1914.

MAHONEY BEACH, Antigonish County
    A beach on south shore of Georges Bay at the mouth of Antigonish Harbour.
    It was named after Samuel Mahoney, who was the first to settle there.
    Samuel Mahoney was a corporal in the Nova Scotia Regiment and received a share in the grant to Colonel Timothy Hierlihy in 1784. In 1801 he was petitioning to have some change in his grant because he was so unfortunate as to get lands which were cut to pieces with plaster of paris pits.

MALIGNANT BROOK, Antigonish County
A brook which flows north west into Malignant cove named after the ship Malignant which was wrecked there.
See MALIGNANT COVE and MARYVALE

MALIGNANT COVE, Antigonish County
    A settlement N.W. of Antigonish.
    Named for a war vessel the Malignant bound for Quebec during the American Revolution which was driven ashore in a storm in the cove called after her. Most of the crew managed to reach the shore but as there were no inhabitants to succour them, many perished before they reached Pictou where they were provided for during the winter through the efforts of Squire Patterson. In 1915 the name of Malignant Cove was changed to Milburn but this was not adopted by popular usage.
    The first settlers in the Cove were soldiers who had served in the 82nd Regiment. John McNeil (Breac), John McNeil (Brown), Roderick McNeil, Robert Stewart, Malcolm McLean, John French McNeil, Angus MacDonald and Alexander Chisholm. John McNeil (Breac) and John McNeil (Brown) moved there in 1789.
    In 1793 a small log chapel was built near the shore where the Indians also came to worship and here Rev. Father James McDonald said mass.
    A school was held in October, 1815, with William Keating as schoolmaster; in 1848, Alex. McNeil was teaching twenty-seven children at the Cove. The school section formerly extended east and southward consisting of a large part of what later became Maryvale. It was while teaching at the Cove in 1850 that John Boyd made the first real start at his printing business which two years later resulted in the issue of the Casket at Antigonish. At Malignant Cove John Boyd printed a twenty page pamphlet titled "A Short Memoir of the Mission of Strathglass."
    There was a postal way office at Malignant Cove from 1838 to 1867 and Donald McLean was the keeper there in 1868.
    A grist mill was built at the Cove about 1800 for wheat, the miller's name probably being Taylor. In 1839 the farmers were raising oats and barley and the miller John McDonald had provided a pair of shelling stones and a kiln.
    In 1898 there was one store, one saw mill, one grist mill and one lobster factory and a population of 200.
    The Maritime Rock Products Crushing Plant opened in 1960.
    The population in 1956 was 59.

MANCHESTER ROAD, Antigonish County
See MARYDALE

MAPLE RIDGE, Antigonish County
    Locality N.W. of Antigonish.
    Descriptive term because of the abundant maple trees that grew on the hills.
    See EIGG MOUNTAIN

MARYDALE, Antigonish County
    South east of Antigonish.
    Formerly Manchester Road, the name was changed in 1871 to this descriptive term because of the dale lying between the branches of the Pomquet River. It was called Manchester Road because of the highway which ran to Manchester the old name for Guysborough.
    The first settlers were Angus McDonald (McBride) and a native of Knoydart and Roderick Chisholm a native of Strathglass who came to clear farms when there was not a tree cut down from the Gulf Shore to Manchester Road. About 1801 they were joined by immigrants who had come to Nova Scotia on the ship Nora.
    There was a school as early as 1827 and the boundaries of the Manchester Road district underwent many changes before being consolidated with St. Andrew's in 1957.
    Manchester Road became a postal way office in 1867 and Colin Chisholm was the postmaster in 1871 when the name was changed to Marydale.
    In 1898 the population was about 140 and there was a cheese factory.
    In 1956 the population was 78.

MARYVALE, Antigonish County
    Settlement N.W. of Antigonish.
    Known as Malignant Brook because of its location on this brook until the name was changed to Maryvale by statute in 1871.
    Among the early settlers were Allan MacDonald and John McGillivray, piper, son of Andrew McGillivray of Dunmaglass, and Roderick McDougall (Ruaridh Cleireach). Among the first grantees in the district were Donald and John Cameron, Angus Boyd, Hugh and Angus McDonald, Archibald McDougald, John Gillis, Sr. Hugh and John McGilvray, Roderick McDougald, Donald, John, Alex and Duncan McDonald, Robert Murray and Alexander Chisholm. Ronald McKinnon son of John McKinnon, pioneer, bought two hundred acres of forest land at Malignant Brook from a soldier named Angus Boyd and with the assistance of his wife built a log shelter in the wilderness.
    Alexander McDonald was teaching at Malignant Brook in 1828 and later John MacGillivray, piper, was teaching in the old log schoolhouse where one of his pupils was Ronald McDonald, later Roman Catholic Bishop of Harbor Grace, Newfoundland.
    The first log school was located on what was called the Old Gulf Road, but other school-houses were built on the west side of the brook. In 1887 the school district was named Maryvale. The North Shore Consolidated School was built in the section in 1963.
    James G. Ross was postal way office keeper in 1871.
    In 1898 the settlement had one church and one store and a population of 170.
    The population in 1956 was 87.

MAYFIELD, Antigonish County
A locality south west of Antigonish, formerly part of the Keppoch district. The present descriptive name was given about 1888. In 1898 it was a farming settlement with a population of 60.
See KEPPOCH

MEADOW GREEN, Antigonish County
Settlement S.E. of Antigonish.
A descriptive term for a rich tract of land on the Pomquet River which was taken up by John McDonald and his three sons, Angus, Donald and John.

MEADOWS BROOK, Antigonish County
A brook flowing east into Monastery brook, a descriptive term.

MERLAND, Antigonish County
    A post office south east of Antigonish.
    Formerly called Rear Tracadie, back settlement of Tracadie, the Irish Back settlement from its location on lands to the rear of Tracadie and further from the water and from the Irish immigrants named Boyle, Daley, Coffey, Power, Hagan and Dunn who settled there about the end of the 18th century.
    In 1868 the name of the "Back Settlement of Tracadie" was changed to Merland in honour of Father Vincent de Paul Merle, the founding Trappist monk at the nearby Monastery at Tracadie.
    Among the early grantees were families named Delorier or Delorey, Landry, Pettipas, Benois or Benwaugh, Cote, de Bassio, Boyle, Casey, Christian, Carrol, Coffey, Dunn, Dueney, Durliegh and Walsh.
    By 1898 it had one church and a population of 150.

MERLAND LAKE, Antigonish County
See HEALEY LAKE

MIDDLE HEAD, Antigonish County
A head on Delory Island.
As one approaches Tracadie Harbour by sea this is the middle head between Bowman Head and Barris Head.

MIDDLETON, Antigonish County
    A locality south of Antigonish.
    Named after a town in England.
    The school section was originally Goshen, formed from the districts of Rear Lochaber and Argyle. In 1907 the section was joined to Copper Lake but transferred to North Lochaber in 1948 as the farms were practically deserted.

MILBURN, Antigonish County
In 1915 the name of Malignant Cove was changed to Milburn.
See MALIGNANT COVE

MILL BROOK, Antigonish County
Flows north into Northumberland Strait.
A descriptive term because a mill was located there in the early days.

MONASTERY, Antigonish County
    A rural area east of Antigonish.
    Named because of the location there of the Trappist monastery, Petit Clairvaux, See Tracadie.
    A new post office building was completed June 3, 1965.

MONASTERY BROOK, Antigonish County
A brook which flows north into Tracadie Harbour so called because a Trappist monastery was built there.
See TRACADIE

MONK HEAD, Antigonish County
A head of land on the south shore of Georges Bay.
See MONKS HEAD

MONKS HEAD, Antigonish County
    A settlement on a point of land, North East of Antigonish Harbour which was named after George H. Monk of the Royal Nova Scotia Volunteer Regiment who obtained a thousand acre grant of land there in 1784. He acted as Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Nova Scotia and was a Justice of the Supreme court of Nova Scotia, 1801-1816.
    John, Allen, Ronald and Annie MacDonald emigrated from Moidart, Scotland in 1827 and settled at Monks Head.
    In 1898 it was a fishing and farming settlement with a population of 90.
    The population in 1956 was 151.

MONK POND, Antigonish County
    A lake south of George Bay.
    Named after Major George Henry Monk who had a land grant here. See Monk's Head.
    Also called Duns Lake, from the Dunn family which was living here in the 1890's.

MORAR, Antigonish County
    Locality north of Antigonish.
    Known as "North Side Cape George" until the name was changed by the legislature in 1888 in honour of the district of Morar in Inverness-shire, Scotland, from which many of the settlers came.
    Among those first receiving land grants in the area were Donald McLean, Angus McDonald, Donald McKinnon, Alexander, Donald and Hugh McDonald, Angus Gillis, Donald McIsaac and John (Ban) McDougald.
    There was a school on the "north side Cape George" in 1827 and a new school house was built about 1865.
    The first Roman Catholic Church in the parish was located here.

MORAR BROOK, Antigonish County
Flows N.W. into Northumberland Strait.
See MORAR

MORRETT ISLAND, Antigonish County
An island in Pomquet Harbour.
A corruption of Morrell. The island was granted in 1793 to Lewis Morrell.

MORRISTOWN, Antigonish County
    A settlement N.E. of Antigonish.
    The township of Morristown was established in 1856. It was probably named after John Morris who had surveyed the farms in the district. Among the first grantees were Nathaniel Roy Thomas, Mrs. Sarah Thomas and Benjamin Ogden. About 1800 immigrants from the Highlands began to arrive in the district and to buy the farms of the former loyalist soldiers. Among these Highland immigrants were Angus Ban McGillivray and William McGillivray of Arisaig, Scotland, Ewan McGillivray and Angus and John McIsaac, Angus Kennedy and Donald, Angus and Alexander MacDonald.
    There was a school there in 1827 and a new school-house was built about 1880.
    There was a postal way office from 1855 to 1867.
    The population in 1956 was 89.

MORVAN, Antigonish County
Part of the Keppoch district but became depopulated. In 1933 the Morvan school was closed and consolidated with Keppoch. Named after a mountainous parish on the coast of the mainland of Argyleshire.

MOYDART POINT, Antigonish County
    A point N.E. of Merigomish Island on the Northumberland Strait.
    Named after the district in the southwest of Inverness-shire, Scotland, from which the early settlers came. A number of emigrants from Moydart came to Pictou in 1791 on the ship Dunkeld. Among those who settled in Antigonish County were Dougald Ban McDonald, John Smith, Donald Smith, Donald McPherson and his son John and John McDonald (Ban) and his father Angus McDonald who had taken part in the battle of Culloden. Dougald McPherson also fought at Culloden.
    Patrick O'Brien was teaching school at Moydart in 1828.
    The name Moydart for the village was dropped and the post office called McArras Brook.