Pugwash is a village in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It had a population of 736 as of the 2016 census. The village is home to fishing, salt mining, and small-scale manufacturing and is situated on the Northumberland Strait at the mouth of the Pugwash River. Pugwash takes its name from the native Mi'kmaq word, "Pagweak," meaning "Shallow Water", in reference to a reef near the mouth of the harbour, making navigation through the shallow waters difficult. Pugwash sits atop a salt deposit measuring thick and is home to the largest underground salt mine in Atlantic Canada, with shipments from its port, as well as by rail from a facility at Oxford Junction.
History
Pugwash is famous for being the site of an international conference of scholars organized by Bertrand Russell in 1957, and hosted by Pugwash's native son, steel magnate Cyrus Eaton, at the lodge on property owned by the Pugwash Park Commission located at the north end of Water Street in the village. This conference brought high-level scientists from both sides of the Cold War divide to state their opposition to nuclear weapons. This meeting was a follow-up to an earlier statement of notables whose signatories had included Albert Einstein and Linus Pauling, the Russell-Einstein Manifesto. The name Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs has since been used to refer to the group. Visitors entering Pugwash were once greeted by roadside signs announcing that they were entering the "Home of the Thinkers," but the signs have since been replaced by a newer slogan "World Famous for Peace". The switch was made in response to the 1995 awarding of the Nobel Prize to the InternationalPugwash conferences "for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and in the longer run to eliminate such arms". The Crowley Memorial was erected in 1870 at Pugwash, Nova Scotia by the Legislature of Nova Scotia in honour of Mary E. Crowley, who died October 1869, aged 12 years after rescuing her younger brother and sister from a house fire. This is believed to be the first public monument ever erected to a woman in Canada. A myth about the village is that the children's cartoon character Captain Pugwash was named after the international organisation that takes its name from the town, but the character, a pirate, in fact first appeared in 1950, several years before the planning of the first Pugwash conference took place. Pugwash is also home to many descendants of Highland Scots who immigrated to the region in the 19th century. All street signs in the town are bilingual, with both English and Gaelic translations. The village celebrates its Scottish heritage each July 1, with the annual Gathering of the Clans and Fisherman's Regatta. The Pugwash area, and indeed the entire north shore of Nova Scotia, is famed for its warm waters and sandy beaches. Some claim the waters in summer here are the warmest waters north of the Carolinas in the United States. The creation of pewter crafts and souvenirs is another important industry in Pugwash. The village has an elementary school, named after Cyrus Eaton, as well as a regional high school that draws students from around rural Cumberland County. Pugwash has a farmers market that runs on Saturdays during the summer months. The Pugwash railway station, designed by Sir Sanford Fleming and completed in 1892, is a registered historic site under the Heritage Property Act of Nova Scotia.
Industry
Fisheries Pugwash sits on the dividing line between two fishing areas making it the only place on the Northumberland Strait to have two fishing seasons. The first one takes place in May and June and the second in mid-August and mid-October. Many boats fish out of the Pugwash harbour, carrying up to 300 lobster traps at a time. Mining Pugwash is home of the Canadian Salt Company Mine the only salt mine and only underground mine in Nova Scotia. This mine has been open since 1959. The majority of the mine runs under the Pugwash River, some under solid ground, but none under the village. The plant produces industrial grades salt, salt blocks for farm use and refined salt for domestic consumption. The mine produces approximately 1,200,000 tones of salt per year. The salt is distributed by road or from the company owned ship-loading facility for which large ships can be seen in the harbour from early spring to late autumn.
Climate
Notable people
Charles Aubrey Eaton, clergyman and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives, representing the from 1925 to 1933, and the from 1933 to 1953.
