Joggins is a rural community located in western Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada. On July 7, 2008, a 15-km length of the coast constituting the Joggins Fossil Cliffs was officially inscribed on the World Heritage List.
History
The area was known to the Mi'kmaq as "Chegoggins" meaning place of the large fish weir, a name modified by French and English settlers to Joggins. Situated on the Cumberland Basin, a sub-basin of the Bay of Fundy, Joggins was a long established coal mining area. Its coal seams which are exposed along the shore of the Cumberland Basin were exploited as early as 1686 by local Acadian settlers and by the British garrison at Annapolis Royal in 1715.
The first commercial mine was set up by Major Henry Cope in 1731, but was destroyed by the Mi'kmaq in November 1732. In 1819 Samuel McCully opened a mine with much of his production being shipped by sea to Saint John, New Brunswick and other markets, but the mine went out of business in 1821 having mined less than 600 tons. Large-scale industrialization came to Cumberland County under the General Mining Association, which held the rights to the area's coal fields. Commencing at Joggins in 1847, production increased after the construction of the Intercolonial Railway in the 1870s, followed by the 1887 opening of the Joggins Railway, a 12-mile rail line from mines at Joggins to the Intercolonial mainline at Maccan, through River Hebert. Old coal mine working are eroding out of the sea-cliffs at Joggins. Recently dendrochronology had been employed to date the timber pit props. A late nineteenth century age has been inferred, with most props dating from the 1860s and 1870s. The coal mines attracted a diverse number of workers, some as young as 12 years. French-speaking Acadians returned from New Brunswick, and were joined by Irish and Scottish immigrants. Joggins Mines expanded rapidly to include three churches, two cemeteries, a hotel, a roller ring, movie theatre, fire department, general store, post office, railway station and school. Coal mining grew in such importance that the community was incorporated as a town in 1919, a status that it maintained until 1949, when the decline of local coal mines resulted in out migration and economic decline. Coal mined at Joggins during the first decades of the 20th century primarily fed two electrical generating stations near Maccan, however these plants were outdated by the 1950s and the mines closed shortly after the Springhill Mining Disaster in 1958. Rail service was abandoned to the community in the early 1960s. The Joggins area was well known in the 19th and early 20th century for the quarrying of limestone grinding wheels, lumber, fishing and dairy production. The Bay of Fundy also boosts a rich tradition of shipbuilding. In the 1800s, wooden coastal schooners were built on the shore to carry coal and mill stones to the United States. Several of the older homes in the Joggins area display the sturdy, practical, yet handsome woodworking of craftsmen trained in shipbuilding. Many of the beaches along the Bay of Fundy are still littered with stone ballast from the hulls of old ships. Today in addition to tourism, the area is known for the commercial cultivation of wild blueberries and agricultural food processing. The roads and bridges to Joggins were improved in the 1980s and 1990s and area has become popular for tourism, summer homes and retirees. Joggins is a destination on the Nova Scotia Economic and Rural Development and Tourism Glooscap Trail, a spectacular twisting drive of soaring cliffs and deep valleys along the Bay of Fundy. Mi'kmaq legend tells of the a mythical transformer, Glooscap, who created Nova Scotia and controlled the great tides with his magical powers. The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world. Visitors can walk on the ocean floor at low tide, or go rafting on the tidal bore. The high tides have shaped the landscape into one of singular beauty; pristine beaches, dramatic rock outcrops, sea cliffs, waterfalls, and rugged forests. The Joggins area is ecologically diverse and rich in wildlife. Eagles, osprey, and moose are common sights. In the fall the area is popular with birdwatchers; the rich marshes, originally diked by the Acadians in the 1600s, attract hundreds of thousands of migrating birds. Joggins has been known for its fossils since the early 19th century. The fossils are found in the exposed Pennsylvanian coal seams in the cliffs that overlook the shore. The fossils consist mainly of Late Carboniferous seed ferns, lycopsids, horsetail, early tetrapods and sea life. The daily high tide erodes the cliff, the stone fossils fall out of the coal and are left on the shore when the tide recedes. Fossils have also been found in the area deep shaft mines and in drilling core samples hundreds of feet down. Joggins is one of the easiest places in the world to find early Pennsylvanian coal fossils. In 2008, the Joggins Fossil Cliffs were designated as a UNESCO natural heritage site. The Joggins Fossil Centre is the museum built on the fossil cliff to display the fossils. Exhibits include the geological history of the Joggins Cliffs, the history of scientific discovery at Joggins, and how area coal mining affected the community. Interpretive tours of the cliffs are offered. The centre is open seasonally.
Joggins Fossil Cliffs
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