Windsor
Located in central NS, at the mouth of the Avon and St. Croix rivers. Its short distance from Halifax (66km) has long made Windsor a town of commuters. It was first settled by Acadians in 1684 and was called Pisiquid, a name of Micmac origin. The English township of Windsor (after Windsor, Eng) was established in 1764, and wealthy Halifax businessmen and politicians were granted land here. During the American Revolution, troops were kept at Windsor’s Ft Edward to ensure the loyalty of Annapolis Valey residents. Following the war, many loyalists came to the town. They farmed, traded and opened shops, disrupting the pastoral luxury of the big Windsor estates. In 1789 Bishop Charles Inglis established University of King College, the oldest university in Canada. It is now located in Halifax. Windsor thrived during the 1800s, gaining sawmills, furniture and fertilizer factories, foundry, tannery, cotton mill and plaster mine. The arrival of the first train to Windsor in 1858 tied the town closer to Halifax. Today, Windsor is mainly residential. Light manufacturing and tourism are the main industries. Visitors may see the remains of Ft. Edward and “Clifton”, the home of Judge Thomas Chandler Haliburton, the famous 19th-century author and creator of Sam Slick.
