Kingsport Wharf

Kingsport Wharf, high and low tide views, with flatcars and gondola on wharf siding, circa 1900

Kingsport was served by a very large tidal wharf with a railway spur connecting Dominion Atlantic trains with steamships and schooners. The wharf also sheltered the Kingsport shipyard as well as fishing and pleasure vessels.

The wharf began as a pile pier built in the 1860s. It was taken over by the federal government after Confederation and expanded in the following stages:

• In 1873-1874, the eastern side was re-enforced with 12 feet of cribwork.
• In 1875, an extension 240 feet long and 30 feet wide was added to the outer end of wharf.
• In December 1890, the Cornwallis Valley Railway arrived laying a spur on the eastern side of the wharf which was leased from the federal government.
• In 1901-1902, the outer portion of the wharf was re-enforced and widened by 10 feet.
• 1902-1903 and 1903-1904, various repairs and redecking of earlier work
• In 1905-1906, the cribwork that protected the landward side of the wharf and attachment to the road was rebuilt
• In 1911, an extension 140 feet long by 40 feet wide was added to the end of the wharf. Work began on May 16, 1911 and finished October 14, 1911.(1)

The wharf by 1912 reached its maximum size, 850 feet long and 40 feet wide for its entire length. It was 22 feet high at the end.(2)

The Kingsport Wharf, circa 1960, showing the second DAR freight shed, now boarded up in the last days of the subdivision.

The DAR spur line ran the entire length of the wharf along the east side. Kingsport trains used the wharf daily most of the year to connect to DAR steamers beginning with the SS Evangeline from 1893 to 1903; the SS Prince Albert from 1904 to 1925 and the MV Kipawo from 1926 to 1940.(3) Freight was also shipped to and from coastal schooners and regular visits by ocean steamships freighters up to 1500 tons. The wharf was usually closed for shipping from Janauary 15 to March 1 when the Minas Basin became choked with floating ice. Railway cars were used to deliver water in tank cars and coal in gondolas to resupply ships as well as to ship freight. Apples and potatoes were the main export by the 1930s, with coal being the main import.(4)

Boxcars and flatcars were often at the very end of the wharf to deliver or receive specific freight when ships were expected, but locomotives were not allowed on the last 150 feet of the wharf.(5) At one time a siding was located on the wharf, but it was removed by 1911. The wharf spur ended beside the wharf lighthouse (built in 1891) at the very tip. A wooden post crane located halfway along the wharf was used to load and unload railway cars. A dismounted DAR boxcar first served as a freight shed. It was replaced in 1926 by a combined DAR freight shed and passenger shelter built for the introduction of the MV Kipawo. The shed and lighthouse were destroyed in a fire in 1947. A second DAR shed was built on the wharf after the fire. When rail service ended in 1961, the freight shed was moved into the village and converted to a cottage. The wharf continued to be used by small fishing craft until the early 1970s but gradually collapsed. In 2003, the stub of the wharf was stabilized as a lookoff and boat ramp and the remaining ruins were demolished.(6)

Gallery

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  Kingsport circa 1890s with wharf and shipyard.

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  Kingsport Wharf, high and low tide views, with flatcars and gondola on wharf siding, circa 1900.

• 

  Combine No. 24 (behind engine) and Combine No. 31 with Locomotive No. 12 in a detail of a Kingsport Wharf photo, c. 1911

• 

  DAR Inspection Car on the Kingsport Wharf, circa 1914-18

• 

  Automobile claim ticket for voyage from Parrsboro to Kingsport Wharf aboard MV Kipawo August 15, 1938.

• 

  Air photo of Kingsport, showing the wharf at low tide, 1945.

• 

  The Kingsport Wharf, the final terminus of the CVR, showing the second DAR freight shed on the wharf in the last days of the subdivision, circa 1960.

References

(1) Wharf Construction details from Department of Public Works Annual Report 1913, No. IV "Report of the Chief Engineer", Canadian Parliamentary Sessional Papers No. 19, Vol. 15, p.33.

(2) Plan of Wharf, Public Works Canada, June 12, 1942, Leon Barron Collection.

(3) Canning Library and Heritage Centre, Historical Calendar 2000, "March"

(4) Shipping details, Canadian Ports and Shipping Directory,1938, p. 94.

(5) *"Time Table No. 77 For Employees June 21, 1931", Dominion Atlantic Railway, p. 3

(6) Announcement of Wharf reconstruction ACOA Press Release, March 4, 2003

External Links

• N-3977, McQuinn Collection, Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa, showing Locomotive No. 12, Combines No. 24 and No. 31 in this detail of a photo of the Kingsport Wharf, circa 1911, (full photograph in Ness Vol. I, page 5.)
• A History of Kingsport, Nova Scotia by Cora Atkinson, Kingsport Community Association
• Nova Scotia Museum photograph of wharf from beach, circa 1960, (M76.27.13) MP10.196.13, 20015.tif