Pictou

Once an active shipping port and the shire town of the county, today Pictou is primarily a local service centre for surrounding rural communities and is the primary tourist destination in this region of Nova Scotia.
The name Pictou, pronounced 'Pictoe', derives from the Mi'kmaq name Piktuk, meaning "explosive place", a reference to the river of pitch that was found in the area, or perhaps from methane bubbling up from coal seams below the harbour.

History

Pictou had been the location of an annual Mi'kmaq Aboriginal summer coastal community prior to European settlement. Pictou was part of the Epekwitk aq Piktuk Mi'kmaq District, which included present-day Prince Edward Island and Pictou.
Pictou was a receiving point for many Scottish immigrants moving to a new home in northern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island following the Highland Clearances of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The first wave of immigrants arrived on September 15, 1773, on the Hector.
When the Hector arrived, there were already a few families in Pictou that had arrived on the Betsy six years earlier. The town has an indirect connection to Scottish settlement in New Zealand; the Reverend Norman McLeod emigrated to Pictou from Scotland some years after the Hector but eventually re-settled with his parishioners at St. Ann's on Cape Breton Island, and later to Waipu where there are still many descendants from Pictou and St. Ann's.
In 1812, Sir Hector Maclean (the 7th Baronet of Morvern and 23rd Chief of the Clan Maclean) emigrated to Pictou from Glensanda and Kingairloch in Scotland with almost the entire population of 500. Sir Hector is buried in the cemetery at Pictou.
During the latter part of the 19th century, Pictou's industrial sector gained strength. The Intercolonial Railway was built to the town on a spur from the Stellarton-Oxford Junction "Short Line". Shipbuilding increased through the 19th century, particularly with the increase in coal being shipped from Pictou Landing, Abercrombie and the East River of Pictou. Shipyards have been established in the town since this period. CN Rail abandoned its service to the town in the late 1980s but other transportation - including Highway 106 (the Trans-Canada Highway) - opened in the 1970s to provide alternatives.

By road

Speed demons coming from New Brunswick, Cape Breton or Halifax can get to Pictou quickly via the Trans-Canada Highway 104 and the short connecting Highway 106. A more leisurely drive from New Brunswick can be taken along Trunk 6.

By ferry

It's the closest town in Nova Scotia to the Prince Edward Island ferry.

• Walk - around town - it's only 2 km from one end of downtown to the other.
• Drive - around to the different attractions in Pictou County
• Cabs - a $5 cab ride gets you just about anywhere
• Water taxis and boat tours of the harbour are available, which also connect to the town of New Glasgow.

• deCoste Centre

  phone: +1 902 485-8848
  address: 99 Water St
  The local performing arts theatre.

• Hector Heritage Quay

  phone: +1 902 485-4371
  address: 33 Caladh Avenue
  The replica ship Hector and the Hector Quay re-tells the story of the first wave of two hundred Scottish Highlanders who arrived in Pictou aboard the Hector, and pays a dramatic tribute to their proud Highland spirit. The Quay also has an interpretive centre telling the story of these early settlers, a blacksmith shop, and a carpentry shop. Merchandise is available on site.

• McCulloch House Museum

  phone: +1 902 485-4563
  address: 86 Haliburton Rd
  Museum (open June-September or by appointment) and genealogy centre.

• Northumberland Fisheries Museum

  phone: +1 902 485-8925
  address: 21 Caladh Ave
  Explore the heritage and culture of the fishing industry and boatbuilding. Adopt a lobster.

• No. 2 Construction Battalion Monument

  address: 87 Caladh Ave

• Pictou Railway Station (Intercolonial)

  address: 71 Front St
• The Pictou Lodge
• Historic stone buildings
• Water Street

• The Pictou Lobster Carnival in July. An amusement park is set up. This yearly event celebrating the end of the fishing season and has been a town festival since 1934.
• There are several beaches near the town, most notably Caribou Provincial Park and Waterside Beach Provincial Park.

• Grohmann Knives

  address: 116 Water Street
  Locally-made knives for kitchen and outdoor uses. Grohmann Knives Ltd, the only knife manufacturing factory in Canada, are the sole producers of the historic D.H. Russell Belt Knives and Grohmann Kitchen Knives. Free factory tours of the plant are offered.

• Mrs. MacGregor's Shortbreads

  phone: +1 902 382-1878
  address: 59 Water St
  Bakery.

Lobster in season, of course.
Pictou County pizza is a regional variant of pizza found in Pictou County. The pizza is made with a "brown sauce" and Halifax-made pepperoni called "Brothers". The pizza can be shipped frozen across Canada via an arrangement between a local pizza shop and the local UPS agent.

• Acropole Pizza and Donair

  phone: +1 902 485-9299
  address: 8 Church St

• Crown Pizza

  phone: +1 902 485-1988
  address: 31 Front St

• Sharon's Place

  phone: +1 902 485-4669
  address: 12 Front St

Local pubs

• Harbour house ales and spirits

  address: 41 Coleraine St

• Highlander Pub

  phone: +1 902 485-1539
  address: 16 Twining St

• Customs House Inn

  phone: +1 902 485-4546
  address: 38 Depot St

• The Evening Sail Bed and Breakfast

  phone: +1 902 485-5069
  address: 279 Denoon St
  Seven non-smoking rooms.

• Lionstone Inn and Cabins

  address: 241 West River Rd
  Clean and comfortable accommodations, very close to PEI ferry terminal on a 3-acre park-like setting. Very good value for the money.

• Pictou Lodge Beach Resort

  phone: +1 902 485-4322
  address: 172 Lodge Rd
  Open during the tourist season only.

• Willow House Inn

  phone: +1 902 485-5740
  address: 11 Willow St
  A bed and breakfast with four rooms and two suites.

North to the ferry to Prince Edward Island, south to Highway 104 and New Glasgow, or east on Trunk 6 along the Northumberland Shore coast (eventually reaching Amherst).
Pictou is 5 km south of the port of Caribou where Northumberland Ferries Limited operates a seasonal vehicle-pedestrian ferry service to Prince Edward Island; there is also a pedestrian-only ferry that operates seasonally to Pictou Island.