Kejimkujik National Park
| Kejimkujik National Park | |
|---|---|
| Parc national Kejimkujik | |
Little River | |
Location in Canada | |
| Location | Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Nearest city | Halifax |
| Coordinates | 44°23′57″N 65°13′06″W / 44.39917°N 65.21833°W |
| Area | 404 km2 (156 sq mi) |
| Established | 1967 |
| Visitors | 75,284 (in 2022–23) |
| Governing body | Parks Canada |
| Official name | Kejimkujik National Historic Site of Canada |
| Designated | 1994 |
Kejimkujik National Park (/ˈkɛdʒɪməˌkuːdʒɪk/) is a national park of Canada, covering 404 km2 (156 sq mi) in the southwest of Nova Scotia peninsula. Located within three municipalities, Annapolis, Queens, and Digby, it consists of two separate land areas: a large inland portion, which is coincident with the Kejimkujik National Historic Site of Canada, and the Kejimkujik National Park Seaside on the province's Atlantic coast.
Kejimkujik is the only heritage site in Canada that has the dual designation as both a national park and a national historic site for the entirety of its landscape. Designated in 1994, the national historic site is a Mi'kmaq cultural landscape of forested upland plain located between Nova Scotia's South Shore and Annapolis Valley regions. It is home to several petroglyph sites, historical habitation sites, fishing, hunting and foraging territories, important historical travel routes (particularly canoe routes), and burial grounds dating back millennia.
The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada has designated the inland portion of the park a national dark-sky preserve, with some of the best night sky viewing conditions in southern Canada. Every summer, Kejimkujik hosts a "Dark Sky Weekend" with interpretive experiences highlighting the park's outstanding stargazing opportunities. Interpretive events during the weekend typically focus on astronomy and storytelling incorporating the constellations visible in the region's night sky during the summer.
The national park is named after Kejimikujik Lake. With a surface area of 26 square kilometres, Kejimkujik Lake is the largest lake in the park and the second largest freshwater lake in mainland Nova Scotia.