Liverpool has a long and varied history. Long before Samuel de Champlain came near these shores, this area was a Mi’kmaq seasonal meeting place. Named for a time “Port du Rossignol”, Liverpool was given its current name after the expulsion of the Acadians and the arrival of the New England Planters.
Initially sympathetic to the American Revolution, residents eventually rebelled against the rebellion – in some cases it is said against their own family – when American privateers repeatedly attacked local shipping, and even the town itself.
During the remainder of the Revolution and through the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, Liverpool Privateer vessels preyed on enemy vessels in the West Indies and the North Atlantic.
An important harbour for timber export, ship building and fishing, Liverpool enjoyed a comfortable existence until the mid-19th Century. The new star of the ship building world, steel, ruined the area’s wooden ship industry and the collapse of the Bank of Liverpool further weakened the town.
Prohibition in the United States allowed Liverpool to become a rum running centre in the 1920’s and at the end of that decade the Mersey Paper Company (later Bowater Mersey) in Brooklyn marked a new beginning.
Today, in addition to the traditional industries, Liverpool is renowned for its cultural and natural landscape and is the home to international festivals, artists and musicians.
Liverpool, at exit 19 on Highway 103, is the main hub for Queens County for business, finance and government.
GPS (Visitor Centre – approx): 44.039640, -64.717036