Birchtown, Nova Scotia
| Birchtown | |
|---|---|
| Community | |
 Birchtown
|
|
| Coordinates: 43°44′40″N 65°22′57″W / 43.744444°N 65.3825°W | |
| Country |
 Canada
|
| Province |
 Nova Scotia
|
| County | Shelburne |
| Municipal district | Shelburne |
| Time zone | AST (UTC-4) |
| • Summer (DST) | ADT (UTC-3) |
| Postal code(s) | B0T 1W0 |
| Area code(s) | 902 |
| Access Routes |
 Trunk 3
|
Birchtown is a community and National Historic Site in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located near Shelburne in the Municipal District of Shelburne County. (The two other significant Black Loyalist communities established in Nova Scotia were Brindley town and Tracadie.) Founded in 1783, it is famous as the largest settlement of Black Loyalists (African-American slaves who joined the British during the American Revolutionary War and gained freedom).
It was the largest free settlement of ethnic Africans in North America in the eighteenth century. The community was named after British Brigadier General Samuel Birch, an official who assisted in the evacuation of Black Loyalists from New York. (Also named after the general was a much smaller settlement of Black Loyalists in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia called Birchtown.)
Birchtown was first settled by Stephen Blucke, who has been referred to as "the true founder of the Afro-Nova Scotian community. Birchtown was the major settlement area of the African Americans known as Black Loyalists who escaped to the British lines during the American War of Independence. These were Africans who escaped from slavery and fought for the British during the war. The majority of Nova Scotian settlers who later immigrated to the new colony of Sierra Leone in 1792 were such African Americans who had lived first in Birchtown. Most Birchtown blacks entered Nova Scotia through the nearby town of Port Roseway, soon renamed Shelburne. Many of these African-American settlers were recorded in the Book of Negroes.
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