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From the meagre information which we now have of the Acadian village of Tatamagouche, it appears that it never at one time consisted of more than twelve families. There were perhaps four families on the French River at about the head of the tide and two or three families on the intervales of the Waugh’s River above the tide. A hole in that River yet known as the "Field Hole", about a mile below Murdock’s Bridge, took its name from a small French clearing the first settlers found on their arrival, and in which a few apple trees were then growing. There were also families at Dewar’s River, at McConnell’s Creek and probably elsewhere at Barrachois and along the shore at Brule. Further away the French had made settlements at Cape John and as far West as Remsheg, the modern Wallace. It is also believed that they had clearings and had planted apple trees near Golden Brook, on the South Malagash shore. It would seem that their main settlement was near the junction of French and Waugh’s Rivers and on the high ground to the Southeast of the meeting of these two Rivers. This gave the French a commanding view of the waters, from Campbell’s Point down to the Harbour and of the Harbour itself across to Malagash. Thus, neither friend nor foe could enter or leave Tatamagouche Harbour by either river, without being observed by the French from their vantage point on the high ground. The junction, too, of rivers when communications were so largely restricted to water was a location of great advantage. Back |
