Pomquet

Pomquet's beginnings date back thousands of years, when the Mi'kmaq settled the land and made use of the richness of the harbours, the bay and the forests.

Acadians affected by the Great Expulsion of 1755 and French settlers came to the area in the late 18th century and cleared the land bordering the two harbours for farmland.

The Ta’n Weji-sqalia’tiek Mi’kmaw Place Names Digital Atlas and Website Project, launched in 2010, lists the translation as "poqmkek" meaning "holes made for fishing".

It also cites Silas Rand's Micmac Place-Names in the Maritime Provinces and Gaspé Peninsula (1919) which translates "pogumkek" as "raining along" and "dry sand".

The families likely initially arrived in the Acadian community of Arichat and then traveled to Tracadie and Havre Boucher, before moving westward along the coastline to Pomquet Harbour.

The first families to arrive and settle on the shores of Pomquet Harbour were named Broussard, Duon (now Deon, D'Eon and DeYoung), Doiron, and Vincent (all Acadians) and Louis Lamarre, a Frenchman.

In 1789, these five families were issued land grants along Pomquet Harbour and Taylor Creek (located near the present community hall) by the Nova Scotia government.

These families were named Brosard (Broussard), Landry, Boudrot (now Boudreau), Melançon (now Melanson), Rosia (now Rogers), and Daigle, and accompanied by Louis Morell of Quebec.

In 1817, two soldiers (likely originally from Belgium), captured by the British during the Napoleonic Wars and imprisoned on Georges Island in Halifax Harbour made their way to Pomquet.