Digby County, Nova Scotia

Digby County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

Digby County Comté de Digby (French)
County
Location of Digby County, Nova Scotia
Coordinates: 44.3°N 65.8°W / 44.3; -65.8
Country	Canada
Province	Nova Scotia
District municipalities	Clare / Digby
Towns	Digby
Established	1837
Divided into District Municipalities	April 17, 1879
Electoral Districts       Federal	West Nova
Provincial	Digby-Annapolis / Clare
Area [1]
• Land	2,512.28 km2 (970.00 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[1][2]
• Total	17,062
• Density	6.8/km2 (18/sq mi)
• Change 2011-16	1.5%
• Census Rankings  - District municipalities  Clare  Digby  - Towns  Digby  - Reserves  Bear River 6	8,813 (431 of 5,008) 7,986 (458 of 5,008) 2,092 (2,074 of 5,008) 101 (4,415 of 5,008)
Time zone	UTC-4 (AST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-3 (ADT)
Area code	902
Dwellings	9927
Median income*	CA$38,284
Median household income, 2005 (all households)

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History

It was named after the Township of Digby; this was named in honour of Rear Admiral Robert Digby, who dispatched HMS Atalanta to convey Loyalists from New York City in the spring of 1783 to Conway, which became known as Digby, as part of their evacuation and resettlement following the American Revolutionary War. The Crown resettled thousands of Loyalists in Nova Scotia and other areas of Canada. Digby County was established in 1837. Previously, from August 17, 1759, when Nova Scotia was first divided into counties, this area had been part of Annapolis County.

In 1861, Digby County was divided into two sessional districts: Digby and Clare. These were eventually incorporated as district municipalities in 1879.

In addition to these two district municipalities, the county contains the Town of Digby and part of the Bear River Indian (First Nations) reserve. Also, there is Digby Neck leading into the Bay of Fundy to Long Island and Brier Island.

Demographics

As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Digby County had a population of 17,062 living in 8,117 of its 9,681 total private dwellings, a change of -1.5% from its 2016 population of 17,323. With a land area of 2,512.28 km² (970.00 sq mi), it had a population density of 6.8/km² (17.6/sq mi) in 2021.^[3]

Population trend[4][5] Census Population Change (%) 2021 17,062 1.5% 2016 17,323 4.0% 2011 18,036 5.0% 2006 18,992 2.8% 2001 19,548 4.6% 1996 20,500 3.8% 1991 21,195 3.1% 1986 21,852 0.8% 1981 21,689 11.4% 1941 19,472 6.1% 1931 18,353 6.8% 1921 19,612 2.8% 1911 20,167 0.8% 1901 20,322 1.7% 1891 19,987 0.03% 1881 19,981 17.3% 1871 17,037 N/A

Mother tongue language (2011)[6] Language Population Pct (%) English only 11,850 66.65% French only 5,430 30.54% Non-official languages 190 1.07% Multiple responses 305 1.72%

Ethnic groups (2006)[7] Ethnic Origin Population Pct (%) Canadian 9,265 49.5% French 6,795 36.3% English 5,000 26.7% Scottish 2,655 14.2% Irish 2,295 12.3% Acadian 2,150 11.5% German 1,235 6.6% North American Indian 1,035 5.5% Métis 830 4.4% Dutch (Netherlands) 635 3.4%

Communities

Main article: List of communities in Digby County, Nova Scotia

Towns

• Digby

Villages

• Freeport
• Tiverton
• Westport
• Weymouth

Reserves

• Bear River 6

District municipalities

• Municipality of the District of Clare
• Municipality of the District of Digby

Access routes

Highways and numbered routes that run through the county, including external routes that start or finish at the county boundary:^[8]

Highways Hwy 101

Trunk routes Trunk 1

Collector routes: Route 217 Route 303 Route 340

External routes: None

Museums

The county's history is preserved at the Admiral Digby Museum as well as several community museums.

Notable people

• Elsie Charles Basque
• Coline Campbell
• Joseph Willie Comeau
• Phil Comeau
• Alfred Gilpin Jones
• Herbert Ladd Jones
• William M. Jones
• Sam Langford
• John Elkanah Morton
• George Nowlan
• Henri M. Robicheau
• Adam Smith
• Pop Smith
• Robert Thibault
• Martin Welch
• Maud Lewis

See also

• List of communities in Nova Scotia

References

1. "2021 Statistics Canada Community Profile: Digby County, Nova Scotia". Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2022-06-08.
2. "Search results for 'Digby'" Population and dwelling counts, for Canada and census subdivisions (municipalities), 2006 and 2001 censuses - 100% data
3. "Population and dwelling counts: Canada and census divisions". Statistics Canada. February 9, 2022. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
4. Censuses 1871-1941
5. Statistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006 census
6. Statistics Canada: 2011 census
7. 2006 Statistics Canada Census Ethnocultural Portrait of Canada: Digby County, Nova Scotia
8. Atlantic Canada Back Road Atlas ISBN 978-1-55368-618-7 Pages 76-77, 84-85