Isle Haute

{{Short description|Island in Nova Scotia, Canada}}

{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}

{{Infobox islands

| name = Isle Haute

| native_name = Maskusetik

| native_name_link =

| native_name_lang = Mi'kmaw

| sobriquet =

| image_name = Isle Haute, Bay of Fundy.jpg

| image_size = 200px

| image_caption = Image taken at low tide at Harbourville, Nova Scotia

| image_alt = Isle Haute, Bay of Fundy, Canada

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| pushpin_map = Canada Nova Scotia

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| pushpin_map_caption = Isle Haute

| coordinates =

| etymology = "High Island" (Samuel de Champlain, 1604)

| location = Bay of Fundy

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| area_ha = 83

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| length_km = 3

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| width_m = 400

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| elevation_m = 100

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| country = Canada

| country_admin_divisions_title = Nova Scotia

| country_admin_divisions =

| country_admin_divisions_title_1 = Cumberland County

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| footnotes = [http://www.gulfofmaine.org/times/fall2002/pdfs/Page03.pdf A Fundy Island's Story]", Gulf of Maine Times Autumn 2002

}}

Isle Haute is an island in the upper regions of Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, near the entrance to the Minas Basin. It is 16 kilometers from Harbourville and eight kilometers south-southwest of Cape Chignecto. The island is part of Cumberland County, Nova Scotia and is three kilometres (1.9 mi) long and 400 metres (1,300 ft) wide. The Mi'kmaq used the island to make stone tools before Europeans arrived and called the island "Maskusetik", meaning place of wild beans, hidden oats.[https://placenames.mapdev.ca/][https://placenames.mapdev.ca/ Mi'kmaq Place Names] In 1604, Samuel de Champlain gave the present name to the island, which means "High Island" in French, when he observed the towering bluffs, timber and fresh-water springs. The steep {{convert|100|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} basalt cliffs of the island are the result from volcanic eruptions in the Jurassic period and may have been connected to the North Mountain volcanic ridge on the mainland 200 million years ago, before the Bay of Fundy was formed.

In 1878, a lighthouse was built and was staffed until 1956, when fire collapsed the lighthouse and home of the lighthouse keeper. The lighthouse was replaced by a steel tower and is unstaffed. Federally owned, the island is being transferred from the Canadian Coast Guard to the Canadian Wildlife Service to protect its unique ecosystem. The island is also protected under Nova Scotia's Special Places Act to protect early Mi'kmaq archaeological sites. Digging without an archaeological permit or removal of artifacts is prohibited.[https://ojs.library.dal.ca/NSM/article/view/3905/3572 David J. Christianson and David Keenlyside, "A First Look: The Archaeology of Isle Haute", The Nova Scotian Museum Isle Haute Expedition July 1997 Curatorial Report No. 90, Nova Scotia Museum, p. 17]