of the Napoleonic Wars. With the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763), the Acadian population was allowed to live in peace in Nova Scotia. Many deported Acadians were granted permission to return to Nova Scotia and their number slowly grew. There were 47 families on the Chezzetcook Inlet by 1815. Grand Desert Beach - Cold War Era Bombing Grounds From 1951 to 1983, the Canadian Armed Forces used the southern-most portion of Grand Desert beach - a now eroded land mass known as Cape Antrim - as an air-to-surface target practice site known as the Chezzetcook Air Weapons Range. The Department of National Defense expropriated the land for use until it was leased officially from the Halifax Regional Municipality in 1962. At the outset, the ordnance used at the range were surplus munitions left over from WWII. Bombing targets ranged from rings made with beach stones to brightly painted decommissioned tanks. Target runs were flown in a seaward direction so that ricocheting ordnance would deflect into the ocean, rather than onto the land. In 1984, the DND declared the Chezzetcook Air Weapons Range surplus to its requirements and made plans to return it to HRM pending a Range Clearance Certificate. The DnD sends members of the Canadian Armed Forces to clear ordnance as it is unearthed - in 1995, a decade after the closure of the range, 10 tonnes of ordnance were removed in that year alone. In August 2020, CAF personnel again surveyed the land to check for any possible Unexploded Explosive Ordnance (UXO) or scrap. As of 2021 the land is still banked by the DND as it has not yet been fully cleared. References Explore HRM Communities in Halifax, Nova Scotia General Service Areas in Nova Scotia