Tor Bay, Nova Scotia
Tor Bay is a small fishing community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Municipality of the District of Guysborough in Guysborough County. It is located at the south-western end of a bay of the same name.
The area was first visited by the indigenous Mi'kmaq people. Basque fishermen were frequenting the area by the 1560's. The area was settled in the early 19th century.
History
Captain Savalette was a fisherman from St. Jean De Luz, France, who used the shores and islands of Tor Bay to carry out his viable fishery by catching and drying his fish here during the 1500s and 1600s. He carried on his trade for many years from 1565 onward. Captain Zabaleta of Donibane Lohitzun had spent 42 summers at “Port Savalet” in Nova Scotia, where Samuel de Champlain met him in 1609 and named the place in his honor.William and Richard Gammon were among the first settlers, being granted land in 1803.By 1816 there were several houses and 30 acres of land cleared. In the 1830s, fishing vessels of between 40 and 120 tons were being built here. In 1866, a school house was built. An Anglican church was consecrated on 3 August 1905. A new Methodist church was opened in March of 1923. A postal way office was operating between 1864 and 1866, with a federal post office established in 1877.
Tor Bay was the termination site of an early transatlantic telegraph cable laid in 1875 to Ballinskelligs, Ireland—a distance of. A cable laid in 1874 connected Tor Bay to Rye Beach, New Hampshire, United States—a distance of. In 1874, the Direct United States Cable Company landed at Tor Bay, Guysborough County, Nova Scotia. Known as the Faraday Station, and only some thirty miles from Canso; it operated until 1887.
In 1956, the population of the community was 83.