PRETTY AS A PICTOU

Spent a great hour or so at a museum in Pictou, and learned all about the Scottish immigrants that left their country in 1773, searching for a better life.

Bad timing for us, just as we arrived, so did every school child in Nova Scotia. We decided to wait a bit.

So we walked around town, and look what I found....

Now, only because I like to support local economy did I go in....

 

Simply amazing shortbread.

Back to the Hector museum....

It is a great little museum, with a life size replica of the ship.

The Scots were told that after they paid their 3 1/2 pound fee to sail to Nova Scotia on the Hector,

 they would be given land. After their gruesome 11 week journey, they arrived to find that the good farming land promised to them had already been taken by Scots who had originally emigrated to the U.S., but decided they liked Pictou better. The new arrivals were offered inferior land that still had to be cleared. About half stayed and half left for other parts of Nova Scotia.

The museum talks about the history in Scotland (Battle of Culloden) that influenced the decision of the people to leave and make their new homes. It also describes the conditions on board the ship during the crossing. I cannot imagine having almost 200 people on a small ship like this, most time spent below deck, in bunks that they couldn't even sit up in.

Prince Charles and Camilla ( and 80 security guards ) paid a visit to the museum last year. They were shown the project that the resident wood carver was working on.....a mermaid.....love the expressions on both of them

A good day, slowly making our way to Cape Breton. Now where is that shortbread.....

Stay tuned.....