Kentville is a town in Kings County, Nova Scotia. It is one of the main towns in the Annapolis Valley, and it is the county seat of Kings County.
Kentville owes its location to the Cornwallis River which downstream from Kentville becomes a large tidal river.
The Mi’kmaq name for the location was “Penooek”.
The area was first settled by Acadians, who built many dykes along the river to keep the high Bay of Fundy tides out of their farmland.
The town was originally known as Horton’s Corner but was named Kentville in 1826 after Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, who resided in Nova Scotia from 1794 to 1800.
The Apple Blossom Festival, founded in 1933 is held each May to celebrate the blossoming of the local apple industry, one of the region’s richest forms of agriculture.
The Estimated Population of Kentville is 6,271.
Kentville is twinned with Camrose, Alberta, Canada & Castel di Sangro, Abruzzo, Italy.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Kentville was 37.8 °C on 12 August 1944. The coldest temperature ever recorded was −31.1 °C on 1 February 1920.
Kentville developed a reputation for rowdy drinking and horseraces in the early 19th century, earning the nickname “the Devil’s half acre.”
