The area is believed to have been first settled in 1798 by people who migrated from Horton, Nova Scotia. (The township of Horton NS no longer exists as such; its approximate location is in the vicinity of Grand Pré and Wolfsville, King's County.)
Following the Acadian Deportation of the 1750s and 1760s, both shores of Chignecto Bay were quickly populated by Loyalists from New England and Irish immigrants. Farming settlements sprang up as more land became available; by the mid-1800s the area around New Horton supported a population of about 150 people, and the town itself boasted a post office and church. Historical maps show that at one point, much of the acreage west of the town was owned by two men: Robert Dickson and Jesse Converse.
Like so many of its contemporaries, the community dwindled as farm automation made menial workers unnecessary, families became smaller, and people moved elsewhere in search of better opportunities. Today the area comprises a few farms, cottages, a bird sanctuary, and campgrounds. A great deal of the farmland has returned to forest, and a kilometer-long body of water noted on maps as Long Marsh Lake is now mostly dry - likely a casualty of climate change-related drought.
* Photo courtesy of Andrew MacDonald, 2019
