Pictou Island, Pictou County

Pictou Island is an island community about 9.5 km in length and 2.5 km wide with an area of 23.75 km2. It is located in the Northumberland Strait about 7.5 km north east of Caribou Harbour. The island is mainly wooded, with several clearings, and contains a small population spread across the island. It receives no electrical power from the mainland, residents supply their own energy with solar power, windmills and generators.

Prior to the arrival of Irish and Scottish settlers the island was used as a summer camp, and a stopping place on the way to and from Prince Edward Island, by the Mi’kmaq who referred to the place as Akukomijk.

It was also once referred to as Isle Poitee in 1762 by Lieutenant-Governor Belcher to the Home Government and then latter claimed in 1809, by Charles Morris (Surveyor General).

That same year it was granted by the Crown to Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane, likely as a reward for Royal Navy victories secured under his command in the Napoleonic Wars.

Permanent European settlement began in the 1810s with a mix of Irish (Boyd, Hagan and Morris) and Scottish (MacDonald, Campbell, MacKenzie) settlers. The Irish didn’t stay very long, and more Scotsmen settlers came to the island (Rankine, MacCallum, MacMillan, and others), as well as a Dutch family.

In 1820, a government surveyor came to the Island to surveyed out farm into lots of fifty acres. These farm lots extended from north to south, each lot crossing the one main road, running from east end to west end of the island. Families who wished more than fifty acres acquired a second lot adjacent to the first one, if possible.

A survey of Pictou Island in 1830 shows 11 homes and a shipyard existed, and by 1887 there were up to 27 farms on the island, with farming and fishing being the main industries.

Farms were typically cleared along the South side, and forested along the North side, to provide protection from the cold wind and weather. This made a significant difference in the growth of crops and hay.  In the early days of Pictou County, lobster was extremely abundant and considered very poor food. In the book, “Pictou County’s History”, James Cameron wrote that lobster was so plentiful along the seashores people could picked them up out of the shallow water at low tide.
The first lobster factory in the early 1870s was built near the center of the South shore of Pictou Island.

Over the years some of the families moved to the mainland, but returned to the Island during the fishing season, and summer vacation. Some families sold their properties to people for summer homes. To accommodate this summer population, a ferry service was created ran and still runs between the Island and the mainland. This service has been vital to living on the island..

A Presbyterian Church was started in 1909, and a school house was built in 1879. The post office was established in 1881, present day mail is delivered to the island via a small plane.

The main road is often used as a run way for Mail Plane Service

Population in 1877 was 129

Population in 1956 was 150