Wellington Dyke

Today the dyke is owned by the Department of Agriculture of Nova Scotia in partnership with the farmers of the Wellington Marsh Body.

A sluice with a one-way valve, known to the Acadians as the "aboiteau", allowed the river to drain but shut out the incoming tide.

The Planters repaired the Acadian dykelands and gradually began to expand the dyked areas.

The Planters carried out this work by forming "marsh bodies" which are elected associations of farmers owning dykeland fields who share the costs of building and maintaining dykes.

[6] Once built, the dyke proved solid and enduring, surviving major storms such as the Saxby Gale of 1869.

The program came to be known as the Maritime Marshlands Rehabilitation Administration in 1948 with the federal government taking ownership and maintenance of the dykes, while the marsh bodies maintained the drainage ditches behind them.

The 70 farmers of the Wellington Marsh Body continue to take care of the drainage network behind the dyke.

An annual grant from the province to the Marsh body funds regular maintenance of the dyke wall itself.

[10] A historic shipwreck is thought to lie just downstream of the Wellington Dyke, the wreck of the brigantine Montague, one of the ships which brought the New England Planters to the area but sank in the Canard River.