The inevitable has happened: it’s time for me to write about our last stop in Nova Scotia. And this makes me sad, because–have I mentioned?–I LOVE Nova Scotia. But all good things must come to an end, or so I’ve heard.
Pictou was on our itinerary mostly because it’s close to the ferry to Prince Edward Island, which was our next stop. In the end, we decided to drive instead of taking the ferry, so we really didn’t have any particular reason to stop in Pictou at all…but like most places we encountered in Nova Scotia, it was pretty charming and made for a good place to spend our last couple of nights.
We stayed at Birchwood Campground. Honestly, there wasn’t a lot in the area to choose from, and we put off booking a place for a long time. Birchwood was a perfectly fine place to stay for a couple of nights, though not really anything special. We had a pretty spacious pull-through near the front of the campground (an end site, so we had a big yard area), but some of the sites looked tight.
There are pay showers, and a playground that seemed to have seen better days. It looks like they’re doing some work on the campground, though; everything in the laundry room, for example, looked brand new. There was very fast wi-fi (although it kicked us off pretty regularly and we had to log back in).
Right down the road from the campground you’ll find Uncle Leo’s Brewery. We stopped in here one evening sans kids to try out some local craft beer. But the folks working at Uncle Leo’s told us about their brand new beer garden in town, where you could sit on the waterfront and enjoy your beer, so we headed there instead. Sadly, I just went to look it up and learned that the beer garden isn’t open this summer…so no waterfront beer drinking for you! (and judging by the reaction on their facebook page, the locals are pretty bummed). But they do have a new patio at the brewery, so it’s still worth a stop. Here was our view:
The Hector Heritage Quay is a museum and replica of a ship that tell the story of Scottish immigration to Nova Scotia (Pictou is known as “The Birthplace of New Scotland.”) Ari and I visited one afternoon while everyone else took a break back at the campground. It’s a fairly quick visit, but interesting; we know so much about what it was like to come to Nova Scotia from Scotland now! (it was sort of crowded and terrible):
I’ll save the other place we saw while we were staying in Pictou for my next Canada post, and then it will be time to leave Nova Scotia and head to Prince Edward Island.
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