Directory of Ships Built Along the Avon River and Hants Shore
Painting by David MacIntosh of the Barque John A. Harvie built by John A. Harvie in 1876 and registered in Windsor. Wrecked near Wexford, Ireland in 1880.
During the 1800s “Golden Age of Sail” the Avon River area became one of the great square-rigged wooden ship-building centers in Nova Scotia. Hundreds of wooden vessels built along the Avon visited ports all over the world. Here in Newport Landing, over 165 vessels were built in two shipyards that were located on the lands of this park. Before this time, Mi’kmaq canoes and Acadian-made chaloupes plied the waters of the Avon River.