Pictou is a small town on the northern coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, located in Pictou County. It is primarily a fishing- and tourism-based town, and a large portion of its inhabitants trace their roots to Scotland. It is the site where the first Scottish settlers arrived in North America, and the town's slogan is 'The Birthplace of New Scotland'; They arrived in 1773, on the Hector.
Sir William Dawson was born in Pictou in the year 1820. He resided in Pictou until 1840, when he travelled to Scotland to garner higher education from the University of Edinburgh. In 1855, after moving back to Pictou for some amount of time, he moved to Montréal, on a request to become the principal of McGill University. He held this position until around the end of the 19th century.
Dr. Thomas McCulloch was a Presbyterian minister from Renfrewshire, Scotland and founder of Pictou Acadamy.
Pictou Academy is a High School located in Pictou, Nova Scotia. In 1803, Dr. Thomas McCulloch arrived in Pictou on his way to a ministering job in Prince Edward Island. He was convinced to stay the winter, and ended up remaining in Pictou for much longer. Disappointed by the lack of education among Pictonians, Dr. McCulloch decided to start a "college". Over the ensuing several years, there was considerable fighting between Dr. Thomas McCulloch and Nova Scotia's provincial government. Finally, the Reverend saw his dream become reality, when in 1816, Pictou Academy was incorporated. The province of Nova Scotia would not let it be named a "college," as such, but it was a school of higher education which was open to people of every race and denomination.
Between 1816 and the present, Pictou Academy has been in four separate buildings. The Academy was moved from its original building to a new site, while the second and third buildings both burned down. There were Academy graduates from every year since it was incorporated, excluding the years between several of it's different buildings.
At the start of the school year of 2003-2004, all high schools in Pictou County were closed, and their students began to go the two new "superschools" for their education. The only exception to this is Pictou Academy, which continues to stay open.
