Knoydart, Nova Scotia
Knoydart Geography
- Official Name: Knoydart
- Gaelic Name: Cnòideart
- Geographic Feature Type Category: Populated Place
- Geographic Feature Type: Community
- Postal Code: B0K 1G0
- Latitude / Longitude: 45.718123, -62.233194
Knoydart Maps
- 1:50k Topographic NTS Map: 011E09
- 1:250k Topographic NTS Map: 011E
- 1879 Pictou County Atlas Map: Section 19
- Nova Scotia Land Grant Map: NS Land Grant map 098
- Nova Scotia 1:10k Topographic Maps: 1045700062200 (Mcarras Brook)
- Other Maps
About Knoydart
Knoydart is a rural coastal community situated along Nova Scotia Route 245, (also known as the Sunrise Trail), positioned between the communities of Lismore and McArras Brook. Its setting places it within one of the province’s most scenic coastal corridors; an area defined by rolling Appalachian terrain, forested uplands, and sweeping breathtaking panoramic views of the Northumberland Strait.
The community of Knoydart is actually located in both Antigonish County and Pictou County.
The naming of settlements after Scottish places was a common practice among immigrants, helping them maintain cultural connections to their homeland while establishing new communities in Nova Scotia. Knoydart’s name reflects its Highland Scott origins, taken from a place in Inverness‑shire, Scotland. It was named after a place in Inverness-shire Scotland, where Martin McDonald, who arrived in 1787, was from.
The area was actually known as Moidart (also a place in Scotland) and included both the communities of Knoydart and McArras Brook (in Antigonish County). A British soldier named McCara changed the name to McArra’s Brook, after he settled in the area.
A Battle of Culloden Memorial Cairn is located in Knoydart that was built by locals in 1938 commemorates three of the men who fought in the 1746 Battle of Culloden in Scotland (Angus MacDonald, Hugh MacDonald, and John MacPherson). The three men whom fought for the Jacobite cause in the Clan Ranald Regiment, arrived from Kinlochmoidart, Scotland onboard a ship named Dunkeld with other immigrants in 1791.
The monument here is a replica of the much larger Cairn built upon the Culloden battlefield in Scotland and contains some actual stones from the battlefield moor mixed with local ones. A plaque was installed on the cairn in 1978 and a Battle of Culloden remembrance ceremony has been held every year on the anniversary of the battle since 1982. (Battle of Culloden Memorial)
The area was also settled by several other Highland Scots. Ranald McDonald and Angus McDonald were settled here by 1806. Evan McGillivray built a cottage and other buildings near the shore by 1815. Ranald McDonald began erecting a grist oat shelling mill here about 1834. Robert S. Lowden had a flour mill here by 1837.
A school was opened in 1850.
The landscape around Knoydart blends coastal lowlands with gentle inland rises, shaped by glacial processes that left behind a mix of ridges, small valleys, and pockets of arable land. The community’s proximity to the Strait influences its microclimate, contributing to milder coastal conditions and supporting mixed woodland, small farms, and long‑established rural homesteads.
The Knoydart Formation is a Lower Devonian geological unit in Nova Scotia composed primarily of red siltstone, shale, and sandstone, best exposed near Arisaig along the-western edge of Antigonish County and parts of Pictou County. It marks a key transition in the regional Arisaig Group from marine shelf conditions to terrestrial, fluvial redbed deposition. Preserves early-stage land-plant fragments, fish remains (such as ostracoderm scales), and freshwater or low-energy trace fossils characteristic of Lower Devonian non-marine redbeds. A large rocky outcrop extends from the shore out into the ocean here often providing great fossil finding opportunities.
Knoydart Brook is a small freshwater tributary located in the community, it originates in the neighbouring community of MacAras Brook (Antigomish County) and flows north into the Northumberland Strait.
Just east of where the fresh water blends with the salt water, is Knoydart Point, a small cape consisting of fossiliferous sandstone exposed along the shoreline.
Today, Knoydart stands as a quiet coastal locality marked by its historic roots, scenic shoreline corridor, and its position along one of Nova Scotia’s most picturesque routes.
Roads located within the community of Knoydart include:
- MacGee Road
- Martin Road
- Shore Road
- Nova Scotia Route 245 (Sunrise Trail)
Other Official place names found within the community include:
Neighbouring Communities include:
- Lismore
- Ardness
- Baileys Brook
- McArras Brook (Antigonish County)
[Source: History of the County of Pictou – Rev. George Patterson/ Nova Scotia Place Names – T. Brown / Places of Nova Scotia – C. Bruce Fergusson / Battle of Culloden Memorial / NovaScotia.ca / Wikipedia]
2026 Knoydart Map
1867 Knoydart Map
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