The Historic Town of Pictou

Margaret Conrad is Canada Research Chair in Atlantic Canada Studies at
the University of New Brunswick. She is the author of Atlantic Canada: A
Region in the Making, and co-author of Intimate Relations: Family and
Community in Planter Nova Scotia, 1759–

This latest volume in the Images of Our Past series tells the story of
Pictou, N.S., in black-and-white images supported by captions and a
brief introduction. Founded in the 1760s by Scots–Irish settlers from
Philadelphia, Pictou received its first group of immigrants directly
from Scotland on the now-famous Hector in 1773. The community became an
educational and shipping centre, its early stone structures a testimony
to the building skills of the Scottish immigrants.

After providing a pictorial “Tour of the Town,” and “A Place for
People,” the author organizes chapters around churches, schools,
hospitals, transportation, war, work, and pleasures. Images, most of
them of excellent quality, drive the narrative. Unlike many other
volumes in this series, this one makes little attempt to capture the
diversity of the Pictou community. If non-whites lived in Pictou, there
is little evidence of it here. Even women are rarely portrayed: a
quartet of nurses is an exception, as is Scottish immigrant Mary Mickle
Henderson (1816–1890), shown holding one of her children. The main
focus is on public institutions and structures. There is also the
occasional delightful oddity, such as Ditto, owner of the Reg Onion bar,
and his tightrope-walking goat.