Lawlor Island

Lawlor Island is a small island near the mouth of Halifax Harbour. Measuring approximately 55 hectares, it is located opposite MacCormacks Beach in Eastern Passage and McNabs Island in the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. The island is undeveloped woodland and the protected home of deer and osprey.

History

On September 30, 1750, Thomas Bloss was granted an island in Halifax Harbour which later bore his name. Bloss Island was one of many names which referred to the island until the latter part of the 19th century when it became widely known as Lawlor Island. In 1758, the island bore the name Webb's Island. In 1792, it was referred to as Carroll's Island. In 1821, James Lawlor, into whose hands the island had passed, offered a reward for the conviction of persons who had stolen his sheep from the island. In this notice the island is referred to as McNamara's Island. Thomas Chandler Haliburton, in 1829, refers to the island as Duggan's Island. Shortly afterwards the island was referred to as Warren's Island.

In 1866, the Province acquired Lawlor Island for use as a quarantine station. In 1864, during the American Civil War, McNabs and Lawlor islands played a small but important role in an incident involving several ships from the Confederate and Union navies. One of the most interesting episodes in the island's history occurred in 1899 when 2,000 Doukhobor immigrants were quarantined there. By 1938, the quarantine station was no longer needed. The island was subsequently purchased by the Canadian government for use as a medical station during the Second World War. Today it is part of the McNabs Island Provincial Park Reserve.

ources and links

* [http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/environment/FOMIS/history/hist-s11.html Friends of McNabs Island Histoy of Lawlor Island]
* [http://www.gov.ns.ca/natr/parks/mcnabs/default.htm McNabs and Lawlor Islands Provincial Park Management Plan]
* [http://www.doukhobor.org/Lawlors-Island.htm Doukobor Quarantine]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Halifax,+NS,+Canada&t=k&om=1&ll=44.604127,-63.493681&spn=0.013933,0.053902 Photo of Lawlor Island from Space]