History

The name Tatamagouche is a French transliteration of the Mi'kmaq takumegooch (targe-me-gooch), “the place which lies across another,” referring to the meeting of the French and Waugh rivers where Tatamagouche Centre is located. This land is a sacred Mi'kmaq gathering place and burial grounds, with artifacts found on the property dating back to as early as 200 A.D.

Mi'kmaq territory was the first portion of North America that Europeans began exploiting for natural resources, with settlers setting up fishing camps as early as 1520. In the wake of the First Indian War of 1675 (also known as King Philip's War), the Mi'kmaq became members of the Wabanaki Confederacy with the Abenaki, Wolastoqiyik, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot nations, which were allied with the Acadian people of the region.

The first Acadians arrived in Tatamagouche in 1710. These settlers established farms around the area, with traces of their dykes still visible today. In 1755, soldiers under British authority were ordered to destroy their settlements as part of the Acadian Expulsion. Jon Blanchard, an Acadian settler who lived on the land now occupied by Tatamagouche Centre, had his home commandeered by Captain Abijah Willard, who gathered the heads of the local families there before soldiers burnt down their settlements. The Acadians were exiled to places such as Louisiana, where their descendants known as Cajuns now reside.

Between 1688 and 1763, inhabitants of the region called Mi’kma’ki by the Mi’kmaq, Acadia by the Acadians, and Nova Scotia by the British became embroiled in a series of military conflicts, now known as the French and Indian Wars. This warfare created widespread abuse of civilians on all sides, in which both Colonial and Indigenous settlements were attacked, their residents killed or abducted, and houses and crops burned. The Mi’kmaq, as part of the Wabanaki Territory (which includes part of present-day Maine and the Gaspé region of Québec), entered into Peace and Friendship Treaties in 1725 with the British Crown, and neither ceded nor surrendered their land at that time.

In 1770, J.F.W. DesBarres, a member of the British military and later the Lieutenant Governor of Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island, received a 20,000 acre grant for his services, which included the land of Tatamagouche Centre. Eighteen French-speaking Hugenot families arrived as tenant farmers, using the same area as the Mi'kmaq for their burial grounds. The names of these settlers included Langille, Millard, Tattrie, Mattatall, Patriquin, Jollimore, Bigney, and Grateau — names still common in the region today.

In 1823 Alexander Campbell, a Scottish immigrant, bought a large tract of land from DesBarres, which included the Tatamagouche Centre grounds. Campbell and his cousins built a home (Campbell House) on the site where Jon Blanchard's had stood a century earlier. The family operated as timber merchants, shipbuilders, and eventually general merchants; their holdings totalled 8700 acres of land, where pine, oak, spruce, black birch, and juniper trees were harvested and shipped around the world.

At the peak of their operation, the Campbells had built a blacksmith forge, a steam powered sawmill and gristmill, a lumber kiln, a shipyard, a loading wharf, and a general store. Up to 200 people employed by these industries built their homes on the surrounding land, and one of the few remaining buildings from this era is Stevens House.

In 1831, the first church-run, government-funded Indian Residential School was opened in Canada, with the intent of separating children from their families and cultures. In 1876, the Indian Act was enacted, which gave the Government the exclusive right to create legislation regarding Indians and Indian lands.

By 1877 the shipbuilding industry had dwindled, and over the next 70 years the Campbell’s property changed ownership from George Clark, to Gavin and Elizabeth Clark (née Campbell), to Victor Kenneally, to Nellie L. MacDonald, to Clark and Doris Long (née MacDonald), to G. Max Watling, to Rockwell F. Hazel.

In 1954, the property was purchased by trustees of the Atlantic Christian Training Centre (A.C.T.C), who included Don Reid, Margaret Norrie, Vera Moore, John Stewart, Aubrey Moore, Raymond Doucette, and Elton Davidge. The A.C.T.C offered adult education programs to both clergy and laity focusing on community involvement, women's issues, and contemplative spirituality under the guidance of the United Church of Canada.

From 1925 to 1969, the United Church of Canada operated a total of 15 schools within the Indian Residential Schools system, and was one of the first faith organizations to apologize to Indigenous communities; first in 1986 for colonization, and in 1998 for residential schools.

From the late 1960s into the 1980s, the A.C.T.C responded to a rapidly changing social, political, and spiritual climate around the world, gradually becoming known as an experimental outpost of the United Church.

In the 1990s, the A.C.T.C changed its name to Tatamagouche Centre and shifted its focus to include social change and environmental awareness. Out of this era came the Atlantic Jubilee program and Contemplative Pathways gatherings, the Social Justice Youth Camp which connected to African Nova Scotian communities, the development of the ASPIRE learning process, the Maritime-Guatemala Breaking the Silence partnership, as well as the Indigenous Peace and Friendship partnership; the latter two partnerships remaining active within the Centre today.

In 1992, Tatamagouche Centre became an Affirming Ministry of the United Church, committed to inclusion and justice for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, and to the creation of safe space for all. This commitment was built upon on brave gatherings of the 2SLGBTQIAS+ community beginning in the 1960s, and continues today. 

Since 2003, the United Church of Canada has worked with other denominations and survivor groups to promote a national truth-telling and healing process. Tatamagouche Centre’s Peace and Friendship partnership supported early residential school survivors’ healing and testimonies, accompanied Burnt Church communities in their struggle for their livelihood and fishing rights, and established gatherings to raise Indigenous awareness among non-Indigenous people.

As people still living under the Peace and Friendship treaties of 1775, we strive to live up to our responsibilities by telling the truth, righting relations, and making space for healing. To learn more about our efforts towards reconciliation, please read about our land rematriation journey.

It should be noted that while this brief history strives to be accurate, it is impossible to adequately summarize the complex reality of countless lives. All we truly know is that the people of the past were no different from us today; they had hearts and minds, they struggled to find security in an unstable world, and they were imperfect. It’s our duty to learn from these stories, and shape our moment of history with wisdom and compassion.