The name Cumberland was applied by Lieutenant-Colonel
Robert Monckton to the captured
Fort Beauséjour on June 18, 1755, in honour of the third son of King
George II,
William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, victor at
Culloden in 1746 and Commander in Chief of the British forces. The
Mi'kmaq name for the area was
Kwesomalegek meaning "hardwood point". Cumberland County was founded on August 17, 1759, the largest of Nova Scotia's five original administrative divisions. It included the Passamoquody, Wolastoq and Mi'kmaq nations north of the Bay of Fundy which formed the mainland part of the province and former
Acadia, including all of what would become the province of New Brunswick. 1765 saw for the partitioning of
Sunbury County, Nova Scotia out of the western-most part of Cumberland, roughly dividing the county in half along Passamoquody/Wolastoqiyuk and Mi'kmaq territorial lines. At the partitioning of the province, Cumberland county was severed by the provincial boundary at Chignecto isthmus, where the county now forms the northern-most part of the Province. When the Township of Parrsboro was divided in 1840, one part was annexed to Cumberland County and the other part annexed to
Colchester. The dividing line between Cumberland and Colchester was established in 1840. In 1897, a portion of the boundary line between the Counties of Colchester and Cumberland was fixed and defined. The county thrived in the 19th century with the development of lumbering, shipbuilding and coal mining.
Deforestation and rural outmigration in the 20th century led to the abandonment of some communities such as
Eatonville and
New Yarmouth. ==Geography==