Chester

From its rolling hillsides to its nearby green pastures to the blue of the sea, the Village of Chester is a combination of natural beauty that has been attracting and seducing visitors to the region since the 18th century and — in all likelihood — long before.

Located on the waters of Mahone Bay, Chester has been one of the South Shore's pillar communities since it was first founded in 1759.

Prior to the arrival of settlers, the local Mi'kmaq knew the Chester area as Meneskwak, or "marshy place."

The first settlers in the area named their community Shoreham, but within a year that name had fallen out of use and was replaced with Chester, when immigrants began coming to the area en masse from New England.

Like many other communities in our region, the ocean played a key part in Chester's growth. For many years, fishing and shipping were major parts of Chester's economic existence and, even today, the local waters are the lifeblood of the community's annual trademark festival — Chester Race Week.

Chester's waters also have a special place in the mythology of the Young Teazer — it is said that the privateering vessel met its fate in waters that were easily visible from Chester and that the ghost of the ship occasionally peers through the fog, still trying in vain to find a way back out of the waters of Mahone Bay into the freedom of the Atlantic.

Today, the Village of Chester is the administrative and cultural centre of the greater Municipality of Chester.