 According to Paint, the site was named by Sir James Kempt after Ferdinand Brock Tupper, the Guernsey historian.In the 1880s, Point Tupper became the eastern terminal for a railcar ferry service operated from the port of Mulgrave, directly opposite on the western shore of the Strait of Canso.The Intercolonial Railway line continued east from Point Tupper to Sydney, making Point Tupper an extremely important port for the economy of Cape Breton Island.