The next destination on my Virtual Hike was Newport, Nova Scotia.

The previous destination on my virtual hike was Oak Island, which of course is an interesting place.

I had been working my way up the Atlantic Coast into Canada recently. I have been heading toward Prince Edward Island, and I am taking the time to virtually visit where several of my Canadian ancestors lived.

Looking at a terrain map you can see that there are a lot of lakes in this area and there is not a lot of settlement in the center of this area. Some of my Canadian ancestors lived in Newport which is toward the top of this map.

Stephen Chapman and Zerviah Sanger moved to Newport, Nova Scotia from Rhode Island sometime around 1760. Stephen Chapman died there in 1770 and his family over time moved back to Rhode Island. His son Nathaniel married Phoebe Rhodes, the 3rd great granddaughter of Roger Williams. Nathaniel and Phoebe Chapman are my 5th great grandparents.

Chapman was part of a group called the New England Planters who had migrated to Nova Scotia from New England after the Acadians had been kicked out of the area. There has been some speculation in the past that the New England Planters may have been involved in the works at Oak Island and in the past couple of years several episodes of the Curse of Oak Island have  talked about how perhaps the Founding Fathers (Franklin, Jefferson and Washington) had some connection to Oak Island. I do know from past research that Franklin had some involvement with the New England Planters in persuading them to take up the abandoned farms in the area.

In Street View on Google Maps there was not much to see going through Newport. Mostly just scattered homes along the highway and one intersection with a cluster of businesses around it.

Newport is more of an area than a town, and the name most likely comes from the fact that New England Planters from Newport, Rhode Island settled there.

The next stop on the virtual hike will be where I catch the ferry to Prince Edward Island. There is a bridge that goes to Prince Edward Island, but you are not allowed to walk across it, so to keep with the spirit of the virtual hike I must take the ferry.

Once I reach Prince Edward Island I will head to where one of my favorite book series is set.

Steven

Images in this post are from Google Maps and Street View.