The village was once part of the Acadian settlement of
Rivière-aux-Canards who created dykes along the river beginning in the late 1600s. These dykes protect valuable farm land that is used by the local agriculture industry every year, and is considered very productive farm land.
18th Century After the
Expulsion of the Acadians in 1755, the area around Port Williams was settled by the
New England Planters in 1760 as part of
Cornwallis Township. The Terry and Lockwood families took up land at the site of Port Williams and the location became known as Terry's Creek. A small wooden bridge was built at Port Williams in 1780, followed by more permanent bridge in the 1830s which attracted more settlement. ,
Canada , Lieutenant
Benjamin Belcher is the namesake of Belcher St., Port Williams, Nova Scotia During the
American Revolution the local fortification
Fort Hughes (Nova Scotia) was decommissioned in 1780. In the spring of 1781, Samuel Bayard (promoted to major on February 9, 1781) was ordered to take a detachment of
King's Orange Rangers overland from Halifax to Cornwallis (near present-day Port Williams) to overawe local Planters who were planning to erect a
Liberty Pole and thereby break with the King. There they fixed bayonets and "with bright weapons glittering, colours flying and drums beating, they marched up Church Street and back to Town Plot, where the barracks stood." This show of force brought the locals back in line. Months after the arrival of the King's Orange Rangers, American privateers were captured by the local militia in the
Battle of Blomindon. Bayard took an interest in the
Annapolis Valley, and after the war he took up a grant of at
Wilmot Mountain. The reputation of the Regiment grew in these later years. A few months before disbandment, Brigadier-General
Henry Edward Fox expressed: ... the great satisfaction he has received in seeing the two provincial battalions of
Royal N.S. Volunteers and the King's Orange Rangers, and highly approves of their discipline and military appearance ... The King's Orange Rangers were disbanded in the autumn of 1783.
19th Century Port Williams became an important regional shipping point for lumber and agriculture. In the days of sailing vessels, the river was used extensively to bring ships into the port to transport apples, lumber and potatoes, to be shipped to the world market, especially Great Britain.
20th Century Port Williams became a focus of the apple industry with a larger barrel making factory and a processing plant for apple exporter W.H. Chase. The wharves were rebuilt so serve large steamships in 1930 and continued in use until the 1970s. Although the apple industry declined after World War Two, several apple processing plants remained in Port Williams. Pulpwood was actively shipped from the port in 1950-1971, from the field behind the Port Williams Elementary School. The hull of the ships were fully exposed when sitting on the flat cribwork of the dock. In 1972 the government gave $100,000 to renovate the wharf. Three years later the widest ship to dock at Port Williams brought a load of soybean meal to the port from Chicago. == Demographics ==