The Wellington Dyke

Margaret Conrad is a professor of history at Acadia University. She is
the author of Intimate Relations: Family and Community in Planter Nova
Scotia, 1759–1800, and Making Adjustments: Change and Continuity in
Planter Nova Scotia, 1759–1800 and the co

This engaging little book is a valuable addition to the growing
literature on Canada’s natural and social history. It tells the story
of the Wellington Dyke, which was built between 1817 and 1825 by human
and animal power along the Canard River in King County, Nova Scotia. The
last of five dykes on the river dating back to the Acadian occupation,
it still serves as a bulwark for nearly 2400 acres of prime agricultural
land against the mighty tides of the Bay of Fundy.

While the distinctive dykeland agriculture of the Bay of Fundy region
of the Maritimes has been a much-remarked upon phenomenon since it was
first introduced by French immigrants in the 17th century, there are few
studies that trace the history of individual dykes or that explain the
social impact of this approach to farming. Whitelaw does both with
admirable clarity, taking the reader effortlessly through the dramatic
natural history of the Bay of Fundy region, the complicated technology
of dyke construction, and the cooperative arrangements whereby the
Acadians and their New England Planter successors built and managed
these reclaimed productive farmlands. Until the mid–20th century, when
mechanized equipment and government funding were brought to bear on the
difficult task of maintaining the dykes, marshland farmers worked
together to do so. According to Whitelaw, this process resulted in a
particular dykeland culture that followed its own bent, developed its
own system, and has maintained its autonomy almost in its entirety to
the present day.

Well illustrated with historical and contemporary maps and images, this
book is accessible to the general reader and should alert historians to
a topic that warrants further exploration. To that end, it is
unfortunate that the primary sources gathered to tell this story, both
written and oral, are not better documented in endnotes or a
bibliography.