Chignecto Bay

At the head of the Bay of Fundy, Chignecto Bay divides into Shepody Bay and Cumberland Basin. Its great tides expose extensive mudflats and marshes beneath the low isthmus separating Fundy from Northumberland Strait. Acadian settlers called the region Beaubassin and enclosed large stretches of marsh with dikes for farming. To defend the contested isthmus, the French built Fort Beauséjour in 1751, opposite the British Fort Lawrence; British forces captured it in 1755.