Chester Basin

The community of Chester Basin was founded around 1760.

Originally, grants were given out to about a half-dozen families. The first school in the area was established in 1812, with Joseph McCord serving as the first headmaster.

Schools were subsequently constructed in 1870, 1892, 1910 and, lastly, in 1957, when the community's elementary school opened — after decades of serving the community's youth, Chester Basin Elementary School ultimately closed its doors in the 1990s under the weight of fiscal constraints.

The school building itself still stands and many residents and former students hope that one day it will find a second life as a hub of activity for the community's youth.

As a safe harbour along the shores of Mahone Bay, near where the Gold River empties into the Atlantic, Chester Basin's citizens have long had a complementary relationship with the ocean, with many engaged in shipping and fishing-related trades.

Chester Basin Shipbuilders Ltd. was one such business engaged in the vessel-construction trade, although that company was not formally incorporated until May of 1917.