Millennium Dragon: 23 July 2013 - Pictou, Birthplace of New Scotland

The Town of Pictou's official newsletter claims: Lively Culture, Vibrant Town, Friendly People, Living History.
Local residents have mostly Scottish Names, some sport heraldic seals with an endless number of different tartan designs, depicting centuries of history.

Pictou historic waterfront with Ship Hector's hull. Her masts have been removed at the beginning of summer, after they had been split by lighting. She looks somewhat sad without her splendid rigging.

The first Scottish settler landed here on the Ship Hector a few hundred years ago, to find a bounty of sea life, land covered with trees and bushes, mosquito prone summers and extreme winters. Many did not survive the early struggles for survival in their attempt to build a new homestead here...but what were the choices - nowhere else to go.

The local marina has weathered the latest hurricanes, and harbours quite a number of runabouts and sailboats behind a sturdy break water

Fishery and agriculture grew to a sustainable level, some industry moved to the area (Hawker Siddeley Rail car builders, Stellarton Coal Mines, Scott Paper, Michelin Tires), and things went well for a while.

Pictou Harbour Front

Now, Hawker Siddeley, after changing hands several times, has long disappeared from the scene, coal mines have closed after some major disasters and tragedies during their operating years, Scott Paper has cut back on production and workforce, and Michelin is hanging in.

Display in one of the harbour front pub/bistro/cafe establishments, where one can eat lobster burger. Delicious, but no longer food of the poor - at $ 16 a burger. Granted one also gets a mountain of freshly cut French fries to go with it.
Years ago, when children brought lobster sandwiches as a school lunches, it signalled to all and sundry that those kids came from the most destitute families. Lobster was almost throwaway food.

Adopt a lobster...not so much as a house pet, but in support of lobster preservation efforts. I adopted one, but he was already cooked.

Many local people either moved away or 'made do'. Agriculture seems to have disappeared to a great extend: What were grain and hay fields forty years ago, are now wild alder forests. Lobster fishermen still ply the waters, earning about $2 a pound for their sometimes fatal efforts. Cattle and dairy cows are kept 'inside' and no longer dot the lush green summer pastures. Pleasure horses seem to have all but disappeared.

Visiting my horse show competitors of years ago, some still hang on to their beloved equines. Here is Brownie, an aged quarter horse mare enjoying a contented life of leisure. Local country fairs and horse shows have been suspended in Pictou, as the Pictou Arena is being refurbished this summer. Bad news for the exhibitors and local businesses, for whom the influx of participants and spectators represented a needed boost.

Maritime architecture: wooden buildings, square, and mostly painted in flashy colours. Some of these paints date back to Hawker Siddeley days, when workers used left over rail car paint to paint their houses....they did not worry about colour schemes...

So - the economy is somewhat iffy. However, the natural beauty of Pictou County is undiminished, and land and seascape under a brilliant sun, nothing less but glorious.

Quiet deserted beach at low tide

Scott Paper, still emitting odorous steam from their pulp mill operation

Ferry between Pictou Landing and Wood Island on Prince Edward Island, about 15 miles across Northumberland Strait, part of the greater Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Return ticket for a car and passenger $ 67.

Sandy beach at low tide on Caribou Island, Pictou County.

Roads are another story. When I arrived the county (and the peninsular) had just enjoyed two months of hot and dry weather - long enough to dry out and melt the last sub surface frost, leaving behind an impressive crop of pot holes, plentiful and profoundly deep. What is surprising is that these craters have appeared even in recently re-surfaced roads, and even in freshly paved country roads.
Whatever the cause, they certainly encourage a driver to keep his eye on the road - if not, he may get swallowed by one of those sink holes.
It rained yesterday, and today the pothole line up grew more numerous and more precipitous, for some unknown reason they seem to concentrate of the top of rises in the road, and on the right hand wheel tracks. That means one either swerves into a ditch or into oncoming traffic if one of these bottomless pits appears ahead.