This is the village of Kempt on the Avon River of Hants County, Nova Scotia, the beginning of that area once known as “Man of War’s Land.” Kempt was settled about 1792, partly on the land grant of Loyalist Captain John Grant and partly on the Hutchinson
grant which later became known as the Hutchinson-Hall grant. Kempt Shore, as it originally was called, follows the shoreline from the Summerville-Kempt boundary north-westerly to the line dividing it from Cheverie near the top of Manganese Hill. Eventually named for Sir John Kempt, this village was earlier
known as part of the district called “Man of War’s Land” because land grants in this section had been awarded to the fighting men of both army and navy in the Loyalist days; literally “men of war.” Some of this land had been purchased by the Haliburton family, then divided and resold to individual owners. Most of these early land owners were of Scottish or English origin, and the industries they introduced thrived for years, including farming, shipbuilding, quarrying and the operation of saw mills
Author: Edith Mosher
Published and bound by West Hants Historical Society.
19 pages.
