"...beyond description wretched, situated on the coast in the middle of barren rocks, and partly surrounded by a thick impenetrable wood. Their huts miserable to guard against the inclemency of a Nova Scotia winter, and their existence almost depending on what they could lay up in summer. I think I never saw wretchedness and poverty so strongly perceptible in the garb and countenance of the human species as in these miserable outcasts."
:- William Dyott
The dreams of the Black Loyalists were quickly dashed by the combination of poor soil, the onset of winter, and a delay in the granting of farm lots. The geology of Birchtown is glacial, characterized by countless granite erratics and very thin topsoil, far from ideal farming country. The farm lots were not officially granted to the Black Loyalists until 1787 and they were located 5 miles away from Birchtown.
Many of the Black Loyalists had skills which were in demand in Shelburne, from labourers to harbour pilots, and they made the three-mile trek to the town every day to work. Unfortunately, a riot by ex-soldiers in 1784, in protest of competition for jobs by the people of Birchtown, made even this way of living nearly impossible..."An Extraordinary mobb or Riot has happened in Shelburne. Some thousands of People Assembled with Clubs and drove the Negroes out of the Town...." :- Simeon Perkins
Birchtown's decline mirrored that of Shelburne, begun when the King's rations were withdrawn from the people of the town. The inevitable result for the Black Loyalists of Birchtown was famine: "...some killed and ate their dogs and cats; poverty and distress pervailed on every side.":- Boston King
The situation in Birchtown was not unique for Black settlements in Nova Scotia. Most others were suffering the same fate and all were searching for a new promised land. In 1791 they were to find it in the form of the Sierra Leone Company.
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