Stewiacke, Nova Scotia

Stewiacke
—  Town  —

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Coat of arms
Nickname(s): Halfway between the North Pole and the Equator
Motto: Respect, Prosperity, Growth
Stewiacke
Location of Stewiacke, Nova Scotia
Coordinates:
Country  Canada
Province  Nova Scotia
Municipality Colchester County
Incorporated August 30, 1906
Government
 • Mayor Dereck Rhoddy
 • MLA (NDP)
 • MP Scott Armstrong (PC)
Area
 • Total 17.67 km2 (6.8 sq mi)
Elevation 100 m (328 ft)
Population (2006)
 • Total 1,421
 • Density 80.4/km2 (208.2/sq mi)
Time zone AST (UTC−4)
 • Summer (DST) ADT (UTC−3)
Postal code B0N 2J0
Area code(s) 902
Telephone Exchange 639 , 671
Median Earnings* $26,521
NTS Map 011E03
GNBC Code CBKOM
Website http://www.stewiacke.ns.ca
*Median household income, 2000 ($) (all households)
Part of a series about
Places in Nova Scotia

Stewiacke (2006 population: 1,422) is a rural town located in southern Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The town was incorporated on August 30, 1906.

Stewiacke was named in the language of the local Mi'kmaq, First Nations people, and is a word meaning "flowing out in small streams" and "winding river" or "whimpering or whining as it goes".[1]

The town is located in the Stewiacke Valley at the confluence of the Stewiacke and Shubenacadie River and is a service and support centre for local agricultural communities as well as a service exit on Highway 102.

In the late 1990s, a tourism attraction named Mastodon Ridge opened near the town's highway exit, based on a local discovery of a Mastodon skeleton. The Mastodon Ridge Complex features a craft store, toy store, a mini golf and interpretive centre which displays several of the mastodon's bones.

Stewiacke is home to two bars, a pharmacy, a grocery store, a convenience store, a hardware store, an audio-visual production company, an 18-hole golf course and a newly built elementary school that consolidates 3 former local schools.

Stewiacke is also home to a volunteer fire brigade that was the first department in North America to use specialized foam as a fire suppression agent. Alongside other achievements involving the implementation of certain fire apparatus.

The town is noted as being located halfway between the North Pole and the Equator (Actually in Alton, Nova Scotia).[2] Controversy in the past over this claim stems from the fact that the Earth is not a perfect sphere, and therefore the halfway mark lies approximately 16 km North of the 45th parallel.[3]

The town's most notorious event occurred on Friday April 12, 2001, when a local teenager, at home on a school in-service day, tampered with a railway switch on the CN Rail Halifax-Montreal mainline, causing Via Rail Canada's Ocean to derail several minutes later when it passed through the centre of the community.[4] Several buildings and rail cars were destroyed and many people were injured, including some severely, although no fatalities resulted.[4][5]

Stewiacke celebrated its centennial anniversary of incorporation on Town Days, August 4–6, 2006.

Historical populations
Year Pop. ±%
1981 1,174
1991 1,306 +11.2%
1996 1,405 +7.6%
2001 1,388 −1.2%
2006 1,421 +2.4%
[6]

References

External links