If you look closely at these photos you can see the remains of the old Reeve’s Mill. These remains can be found in Portobello. This Mill would have been active after the Shubenacadie Canal Company ceased operation.

It is very appropriate to have canoeing events on Lakes Banook and Micmac as canoes have been associated with these lakes for several thousand years. Long before the arrival of the first Europeans the Mi’kmaq were canoeing this waterway as a means of moving from their winter homes in the interior of land to the coast where they spent their summers. However, at that time what are now Lakes Banook and Micmac were merely part of a wide stream. It was in the late 1820s that a dam was constructed just the south of the present Banook Canoe Club and the water was backed up to form the two lakes. This work was a critical part of the Shubenacadie Canal development. The Lock which you can still see continues to serve as a dam thus keeping the water level high enough to enable the canoe races. For those wishing to go beyond these two lakes, it is possible, with several portages, to follow the waterway across the Province to the Bay of Fundy – a distance of approximately 115km.

-Bernie Hart

The competition will run from August 30, 2016 to September 4, 2016 on Lake Banook.

Click here for more information on the Canadian Sprint CanoeKayak Championships_Nationals 2016