Melville Island is a small island in Halifax’s Northwest Arm. In a little over 250 years it has been a storehouse lot, a fishing station, a prison hospital, a prison for prisoners of war, a refuge for Black people who escaped slavery during the War of 1812, a quarantine station, a recruiting depot, a military prison, a detention barracks and internment camp, and, since 1947, the home of Armdale Yacht Club.
Melville Island Heritage tells that history in nine stories, in the order it happened. Start with the timeline and read the stories one after another, or jump to any period.
About this project
Melville Island Heritage is a project of Armdale Yacht Club under the direction of the Vice Commodore (Development).
The stories were researched and written by University of King’s College student Meir Straus during the summer of 2026. Meir’s contributions to this project were supported through the University of King’s College’s Internship in Public and Applied Humanities.
The stories draw on archival records, published histories, first-hand accounts written by people who were held on the island, and interviews with longtime club members.
Historical images are credited where they appear. Many come from the Nova Scotia Archives, the Halifax Municipal Archives, or from within Armdale Yacht Club’s own archival materials.
Where we are
Melville Island is in Kjipuktuk (Halifax), in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq.
Further reading
Print resources
- Brian Cuthbertson, Melville Prison and Deadman’s Island: American and French Prisoners of War in Halifax
- Iris Shea and Heather Watts, Deadman’s: Melville Island and its Burial Ground
- Heather Watts and Michele Raymond, Halifax’s Northwest Arm: An Illustrated History
- Thomas H. Raddall, Halifax: Warden of the North
- Thomas Beamish Akins, History of Halifax City
Online/web resources
- Melville Island – Historic Nova Scotia (Lisa Pasolli, with research support from the Nova Scotia Museum, 2018)
- Melville Island and Deadman’s Island National Historic Site of Canada – Parks Canada
- The Melville Island Prison: French POW Francois Bourneuf’s Experiences and Austen Family Associations – Sheila Johnson Kindred (2026)
- The Many Faces of Melville Island – Canadian Geographic (Harry Wilson, 2014) interview with historian, Brian Cuthbertson
- The Little-Known History of Halifax’s Island Hoosegow – Canadian Geographic (Harry Wilson, 2014)
- Shaping a Community: Black Refugees in Nova Scotia – Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 (Lindsay Van Dyk, 2020)
- Melville Island – Nova Scotia Historical Quarterly (Marjorie Taylor, 1974, Vol 4, No 3, pp – 253-272
- Melville Island and Deadman’s Island – Historical Research Report (Cuthbertson & White, Clavus Research, 2002)
- Armdale Yacht Club: A Modern-Day Yacht Club with a Spooky Past – Canadian Boating (Katherine Stone, 2016)
- History of Armdale Yacht Club – Armdale Yacht Club.
Help us tell the story
Do you have photographs, documents or family stories connected to Melville Island, or have you spotted something we should correct? Please get in touch.