Culture and history

While Kejimkujik has been a popular national park for more than five decades, its importance to the Mi’kmaw people is based on millennia of ancestral history. Kejimkujik was designated a National Historic Site in 1995, making it the first National Park to have this dual status.

The cultural landscape at Kejimkujik includes Mi'kmaw petroglyphs, habitation sites, fishing sites, hunting territories, travel routes, and burials.

What does the word Kejimkujik mean?

Derived from the Mi’kmaw word Kejimkuji’jk, meaning little fairies. Historically, Kejimkujik Lake was known as Fairy Lake; to this day one of its bays is still known as Fairy Bay.

The notion of fairies could also be interpreted as little people, or gnomes, which assume various forms in Mi’kmaw culture. For example, Wiklatmu’j are small entities thought to be represented among the petroglyphs here at Kejimkujik.