Donkin, Nova Scotia

Donkin is a Canadian rural village with a population of 573 people. It is located on the picturesque coastline of Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island. The smaller communities of Port Caledonia and Schooner Pond are directly adjacent to the village proper, connected by a single strip of road called the Donkin Highway.

As part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Donkin is located 11 km east of the town of Glace Bay and 32 km east from the city of Sydney. The nearest village is Port Morien which is 10 km away.

Donkin sits on the northeastern-most tip of Cape Breton, along the Marconi Trail which stretches from Glace Bay to Louisbourg.

Its coastline offers scenery and several sandy beaches as well as vantage points for bird watching. It is not uncommon to spot whales, seals and other marine life from the shore as well as passing cargo ships and fishing boats.

The community of Donkin was once known only as Dominion No. 6, after the Dominion Coal Company colliery that operated from 1904-1934. In an effort to correct errors in postal delivery, the community was given its own name. In 1940, at a community meeting, the village was named "Donkin", in honour of Hiram Donkin, who was the second General Manager of the Dominion Coal Company and later became the Deputy Minister of Mines for Nova Scotia.

At the turn of the twentieth century, most families were settled in Schooner Pond. When the Dominion No. 6 colliery opened in 1904, people from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds came from all over the globe in search of work.

The area saw active development with the construction of numerous mining buildings, homes and businesses. Businesses included a barbershop, post office, shoemaker, blacksmith, dry goods store, hardware store, a credit union, and a farming goods store. Later, there was also a pool hall, taxi and movie theatre. The S&L Railway provided daily transportation through 5 miles of the community.

Historically a coal mining area, Donkin is home to a colliery developed by the Cape Breton Development Corporation (DEVCO). One of the first mining operations in the area was in Schooner Pond in 1863, when the Acadia Mines opened and began production from the Emery coal seam. The coal was exported by ship until trains began to take coal to the docks at Sydney in 1874. In 1863, the Clyde Mine opened in the area now known as Port Caledonia. All mining operations in the area ceased after the miners' strike of 1925.

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