Grand Desert, Nova Scotia

Grand Désert is a small Acadian community of the Halifax Regional Municipality in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia on Route 207 situated between West Chezzetcook and Seaforth. It is one of the five villages located along the Chezzetcook Inlet. The name of the community came from the Acadian word Désert meaning "land of no trees". The population in 2003 was 315.

Ancestors of the native Mi'kmaq lived along these shores for thousands of years prior to the arrival of the Europeans.

It is known that Vikings traveled in this part of the world in the year 1000 and that Portuguese, French and Basque fishermen were frequenting these shores in search of the plentiful cod in the late 15th century and early 16th century. In 1524 Giovanni da Verrazzano explored the coastline from Cape Breton to Florida for King Francis I of France and Jacques Cartier followed in 1534-36. In 1604 Henry IV granted a monopoly on these lands to Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons and the entire area was known as La Cadie or L'Acadie.

It has been suggested that Acadians were living in this area as early as 1740 and by the 1750s the Chezzetcook Inlet was home to 10 Acadian families. It is also known that by the beginning of the 1770s, there were 12 Acadian families who had made their way here.

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