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Wolfville is a Canadian town in the Annapolis Valley, Kings County, Nova Scotia, located about northwest of the provincial capital, Halifax. The town is home to Acadia University and Landmark East School.
The town is a tourist destination due to its views of Cape Blomidon, the Bay of Fundy and Gaspereau Valley, as well as its wine industry. The downtown portion of Wolfville is home to pubs, bars, cafes and shops. Wolfville is also home to the Acadia Cinema Cooperative, a non-profit organization that runs the local movie/performance house. In the past few years, several Victorian era houses in Wolfville have been converted to bed and breakfast establishments.
For the next 36 years, until the establishment of Halifax in 1749, the British remained at Annapolis Royal and Canso. The French-speaking Catholic population grew over the intervening years to well over 10,000 and the Minas region (Wolfville and environs) quickly became the principal settlement. Acadia was a borderland region between the British and French empires, and this caused a complex socio-political environment to develop for the Acadians. Both the British and the French coaxed and threatened the Acadians in attempts to secure their loyalty, as is evidenced by the various oaths of allegiance each side attempted to extract from them. This complex situation led many Acadians to attempt to maintain a neutral path; while others openly supported either the French or the British. During the War of the Austrian Succession, the Acadians in the Wolfville area were implicated in the Battle of Grand Pré, during which a French military force, reinforced by Mi'kmaq and Acadian allies, defeated a British force.Charles Morris. "A Brief Survey of Nova Scotia". The Royal Artillery Regimental Library, Woolwich, UK.
After the outbreak of the Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France, the Acadians in the Wolfville area, along with all Acadians in peninsular Nova Scotia, were involved in the deportations which took place as part of the expulsion of the Acadians (see also the Bay of Fundy Campaign). Beginning in September 1755 and continuing into the fall, approximately 2,000 Acadians were deported by the British from the area around Wolfville. The villages lying beyond Grand-Pré were burned by British forces, and still more buildings were destroyed by both sides during the guerrilla war that took place until 1758.
The New England Planters set up a primarily agricultural economy, exporting cattle, potatoes, and grain, and later apples, as well as developing lumbering and shipbuilding. They settled and re-used the same dyke-lands as the Acadians had used before them, repairing and later expanding the agricultural dykes. They developed a major expansion in 1808, the three-mile-long Wickwire Dyke, which connected the Wolfville and Grand Pre dykes. This allowed the agricultural development of an additional 8,000 acres.Sherman Blakeney, Sods, Soils and Spades, McGill Queens University Press (2004) p. 140 The town site for Horton was initially surveyed in the Grand-Pré area at Horton Landing near the mouth of the Gaspereau River. However, the town developed around the sheltered harbour on the Cornwallis River at Wolfville, at first known as Mud Creek.
The first official record of a Baptist church in Canada was that of the Horton Baptist Church (now Wolfville), established on October 29, 1778. The church was established with the assistance of the New Light evangelist Henry Alline. The Baptist movement remained strong in the area. In 1838 Acadia University was founded as a Baptist college.Bumstead, J. M. Henry Alline, 1748–1784. Lancelot Press, Hantsport, NS. 1984. p.62
In 1830, the town of Mud Creek changed its name to Wolfville, in honour of Elisha DeWolf, the town's postmaster at the time. In the mid-19th century, Wolfville was renowned as the world's smallest port. The town became part of Canada with Confederation in 1867.
In 1985, the town was declared a nuclear free zone. Wolfville was declared Canada's first Fairtrade Town on April 17, 2007. In May 2016, Wolfville was designated as the third Cittaslow in Canada.
With Acadia University having a full time student population of 3,765, the population can fluctuate greatly with the school semesters.
The Al Whittle Theatre operated by the Acadia Cinema Cooperative has for generations served as a nexus of culture and entertainment for the town's populace. Opened in 1911 and operating as an opera house until 1923 when it became a community theater and cinema, the theater underwent various changes in ownership until 1997 under the management of Acadia Cinems. With the retirement of its long-serving manager Al Whittle (1929–2021), the theater closed in 2000. In 2004, the theater was re-opened by the Acadia Cinema Cooperative Ltd. and named in honour of Al Whittle. The theater has continued to serve as a local gathering place and centre for the arts ever since, from hosting local theater productions to screening international independent films.
Wolfville has a farmers market located in the DeWolfe building, a former apple packing warehouse. In July 2022, the town hosted the first Annapolis Valley Pride Festival.
It has a library called Wolfville Memorial Library.
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