Kluskap Ridge RV Campground is situated on the western side of the sacred mountain of Mukla’quti (Kelly’s Mountain)The campground was one of the locations of the ancient Mi’kmaw community. The current campground is the location of the winter camp, due to the shelter it provides from the cold winds that blows across St. Ann’s Bay during the winter. During the summer they would move to Jersey Cove.
The Mi’kmaw spent their summer harvesting salmon, cod, herring, mackerel, lobster, crab, and eels. This community remained here until the mid eighteen eighties when the Indian Act relocated our peoples to reserves. Our campground overlooks the beautiful and historic St Ann’s Bay which is one kilometre before the Englishtown Ferry that leads to the spectacle Cabot Trail. Englishtown is the location of Fort Saint Anne which was built in 1629 and it is considered one of the earliest Jesuit Missions in North America. Fort Saint Anne was built by Scottish prisoners of war that were captured during the battle of Baliene. Fort Saint Anne was later replaced by Fort Dauphin in 1713 - 1758. It’s importance declined with the decision to make Louisbourg as the capital in 1719. Port Dauphin was destroyed during summer of 1745 by the English, burning 40 houses and equal amount of boats. Mukla’qati is very culturally significant to the Mi’kmaw . It is the location of an ancient community and it is also the location of the Kluskap Caves and one of the ancient stories of Kluskap. The legend of Kluskap and his broken canoe form Sisipawey ( Bird Island), a sanctuary for many unique sea birds. This is one of the many stories of Kluskap that is told around the fires at the campground. During the summer of 1993 local people in the area were protesting the destruction development of the quarry on the mountain. They had asked the Mi’ kmaw for help, and many Mi’kmaw elders were involved. A well known traditional Mi’kmaw drum group called Sons of Membertou was asked to participate in the ceremonies that took
place on the mountain. The development has stopped at that time. While searching for a place that we could build a small campground in the summer of 2016. We had discovered the beautiful campground of Englishtown Ridge and decided that we would purchase this campground and we renamed it to Kluskap Ridge, our hero of the great legends. It had been built in the early 1980’s, it had beautiful gardens and an incredible lodge building. The owners at Kluskap Ridge have developed programming focused on family. We added a heated pool, bounce tent, paved driveway, and cleaned and painted almost everything. We modernized the drinking water system by removing the chlorine system and replaced it with UV light System and therefore the taste of the water is back to its natural sacred mountain taste. We feel that we have been very lucky to be able to share our culture, our songs and a few stories and legends with those that would like to learn a bit about our people. We are happy to welcome you to our campground. Come sit by the fire and hear the legends of Kluskap and how Bird Island was formed. Hear ancient songs and stories of the Mi’kmaw people. Cook some four cents bread on a stick over an open fire and learn about our games of Waltes and Lacrosse. Let us share our stories with you.
