This Community Memory
exhibit traces the settlement
of East Lake Ainslie from its
beginning in 1820. Located on
Cape Breton Island, Nova
Scotia, the settlement began
at the shores of and in the
hills above the lake.
   The settlers were
Scottish, Presbyterian

immigrants from the Western
Islands of Scotland. They
came in the hope of finding
free land and a better life.
   They were subsistence
farmers, able to support
themselves off the land. They
pushed the forest back from
the shore. They learned to
withstand the weather.

   Sometime after 1871, the
farms began to be less
productive. Large families
began to break up and leave
in the last part of the
1800s.
   By the turn of the
century, farms became less
viable. In the 1950s, land
began to be subdivided among

families and sold to others.
The change in land use
brought new people of other
cultures who brought with
them their skills, talents
and traditions. A sense of
community exists and remains
strong.
   The Lake Ainslie
Historical Society and