Chapter One Growth o f A Community A New Land Alone, surrounded by water and covered in dense forest, sat a million acre island. Initially, it was inhabited by the Mi'kmaq Indians. Events in Europe brought change. Although was the first European country to discover and try to settle the pristine but harsh Maritime region, Britain also turned its eye to the area in hopes of controlling the rich fisheries and fur trade. The British eventually conquered and, in 1763, by the Treaty of Paris, the French Isle St . Jean was annexed to the British colony of Nova Scotia and renamed St. John's Island. The name of Prince Edward Island was granted in 1799 in honour of the English crown's son. The British began the expulsion of the Island Acadians in 1758. Many Acadian families escaped deportation by moving across () to the area now known as Lot 16 . A 1752 French census showed thirty people living on the Belmont Peninsula .1 They struggled to keep them¬ selves alive in the harsh environment with the few resources available to them. A small Acadian family of four or five likely owned livestock consisting of two cows, two calves, three pigs, one hen, and enough clear land to sow a bushel of wheat.2 Through dyking, the fertile marshes were utilized for farming. Three hundred years later, the dykes are still discernible on the marsh to the west of Bentick or Gull Point. Fishing , rather than farming, was preferred by many Acadians. This encouraged better relationships with the Mi'kmaq because they could still move freely about the land, hunting and setting up camps. In 1764, Captain Samuel Holland surveyed the Island into sixty-seven lots which the British government granted Growth op a Community