The place name is taken from the river that flows through the village and is of Mi'kmaq origin, meaning either "land of the rising sun" or "white water".

[citation needed] The oldest farmhouse on the entire coast continuously inhabited by one family, the Old Homestead, was built early in the first decade of the 1800s.

[citation needed] The founding of Shigawake is described in The Alford Saga, an eight book series of a romantic adventures by Paul Almond, an officer of the Order of Canada.

[4][not specific enough to verify] It is believed that the first settlers were probably sailors on a ship transporting slaves at the end of the 18th century.

[1][5] Mother tongue (2021):[3] List of former mayors:[5] Major Sydney Valpy Radley-Walters of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers has lived in Shigawake, who in World War II was credited with putting out of action 18 enemy tanks and assault guns.