The Preston Township : it's our time : honouring the African Nova Scotian communities of East Preston, North Preston, and Lake Loon/Cherry Brook

"The Black Loyalists were the first large group of people of African ancestry to settle in Halifax, in 1782. In 1796 the Jamaican Maroons arrived. Then in 1813, Black refugees fleeing the United States came. These Loyalists, Maroons, and refugees settled in the Preston area, and although some subsequently left for Sierra Leone, many stayed and established the largest community of African Nova Scotians in the province. Since then, the Preston township--comprising North Preston, East Preston, and Lake Loon/Cherry Brook--has become a web of vibrant neighbourhoods with a rich and complex history. With care and precision, award-winning writer Wanda Lauren Taylor delves into the history and development of this area, the organizations and churches that helped bolster the population, and the struggles, successes, and personal stories of several Preston-area residents. Through interviews and archival documents, Taylor shows how a resilient group of marginalized people built a thriving community that generations of African Nova Scotians can be proud of. Contains seventy-five images, both contemporary and archival, of the people and places around Preston. "-- Provided by publisher Established by the British Government in 1784 the Township of Preston was situated on the outskirts of the city of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The Black Loyalists were the Township’s first Black residents. In July 1796, between 550 and 600 Jamaican Maroons arrived in Halifax after being exiled from their homeland of Jamaica. The British assumed they would have the Marrons take up residence in the Preston Township where the Black Loyalists had once resided. The expectation being that this group of militia men could be transformed into farmers without giving any thought as to their own aspirations in their new homeland. Following the War of 1812, approximately 2,500 Black refugees came to Nova Scotia and, following a short quarantine on Melville Island in the North West Arm of the Halifax Harbour, they moved across what is present-day Halifax Regional Municipality. Over the past 235 years the distance between what was once county territory has shifted and, as a result of outmigration and residential expansion to what is now the Halifax Regional Municipality, has shortened the divide geographically between what was once considered the country to city folk and the city of Dartmouth. These communities have nurtured midwives, politicians, lawyers, artists, doctors, educators, firefighters, police and correctional officers, administrators, craftspeople, clergy, entrepreneurs, musicians, writers, world-class boxers and hockey players, and a senator. Award-winning writer Wanda Lauren Taylor delves into the history and development of the Preston area, the organizations and churches that helped bolster the population, and the struggles, successes, and personal stories of several Preston-area residents.