old lake rossignol - Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute

Sent March 10, 2009
OLD LAKE ROSSIGNOL
Have you ever wondered what Lake Rossignol looked like a hundred years ago
before the large hydro dam was built, when the Tent Dwellers paddled on
through? Below is a map that may give you an idea of what Lake Rossignol
would have looked like from a passenger pigeon's perspective years ago when it
was likely laden with what are now rare coastal plain flora.
In the early 1600s, the lake was named after a French fellow named Rossignol
who wandered these parts, looking for fur pelts. He was later captured and
imprisoned for trading without a permit, or so the story goes. The lake, especially
the Indian Gardens, had been important to the Mi'kmaq as well, until disease
devastated the community around the year 1750. An early explorer named Titus
Smith found only a cross in 1801 when he ventured through the Gardens. Many
notables fished the lake for beautiful speckled trout, such as Albert Paine, Eddie
Breck, and Zane Grey, who was having such a good time fishing he forgot his
boat at the mouth of the Shelburne River. Rossignol Lake was dammed in the
late 1920s, and as a result, today's Lake Rossignol is about a dozen lakes in one
and is the largest freshwater lake in Nova Scotia. It should be paddled with
extreme caution. MTRI is working with the Nova Forest Alliance and the
Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve to put this and other historic information on
modern maps and make them accessible from MTRI's website. Stay tuned for
updates!
Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute
Phone: 902-682-2371
Fax: 902-682-2760
[email protected]