|
The earliest inhabitants of
the park were Maritime Archaic Indians moving
through the area about 4500 years ago. The nomadic
Woodland Indians traveled the inland waterways
between the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic coast,
using seasonal campsites along the shores of
Kejimkujik’s rivers and lakes. Their descendants,
the Micmac, who have lived here for at least
the last 2000 years, hunting, fishing and camping
along the canoe routes, almost disappeared when
the Europeans arrived around the 1820’s.
Petroglyphs, images inscribed in soft slate,
depict the dress, family life and hunting and
fishing activities of the Micmac culture in
the 18th and 19th centuries. The European settlers,
who cultivated the richer soils on the eastern
portion, farmed nearly half of the land in the
park. All the parklands were logged at one time,
the lakes and rivers providing access to sawmills
on the coast. The pits, iron boilers and miners’
cabins mark the three small gold mines within
the park.
The coastal elements of the natural
region are represented by the 22 square kilometre
Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct, added to the park
in 1988. Located about 25 kilometres southwest
of Liverpool and 100 kilometres from the inland
portion of the park, it is one of the least
disturbed shoreline areas on the south coast
of Nova Scotia. The Port Mouton peninsula features
extensive brackish ponds and broad tidal flats,
two spectacular white sandy beaches, salt lagoons,
secluded coves and a nutrient productive salt
marsh. Dense scrub alder and sheep laurel dominate
the coastal tundra-like vegetation. The inland
terrain is rugged - a wilderness of century-old
spruce and fir, granite boulders and exposed
bedrock carved by glaciation. On the barren
uplands, boardwalks have been built over the
marshy areas. The endangered piping plover,
which nests on the beaches between late April
and early August, is one of the many protected
species that make up the wealth of birdlife.
Waterfowl can be sighted in the lagoons, seaducks
just offshore, and shorebirds on the tidal flats.
|
