Bible Hill (

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the northe ...

: Wi'kopekwitk) is an incorporated village in Colchester County,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. It lies on the north bank of the Salmon River, opposite the town of

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...

and the unincorporated community of Salmon River. The village is home to Bible Hill Junior High School, Bible Hill Consolidated Elementary School, Colchester Christian Academy, and the Dalhousie University Faculty of Agriculture. The Bible Hill Estates Trailer Park has been used as a filming location for the ''

Trailer Park Boys ''Trailer Park Boys'' is a Canadian mockumentary sitcom television series created by Mike Clattenburg that began airing in 2001 as a continuation of his 1999 film bearing the same name. The show follows the misadventures of a group of trailer pa ...

'' television series service as the Sunnyvale Trailer Park.

History

The name Bible Hill is derived from a prominent hill which rises above the flood plain on the grounds of the Dalhousie University Faculty of Agriculture (formerly the

Nova Scotia Agricultural College Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC) was a publicly owned Canadian university college (founded 14 February 1905 and administered within the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture) located at Bible Hill, Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia Agricultura ...

) on the northern bank of the Salmon River. It was believed that the hill took its name from

Matthew Archibald Matthew Archibald (1745 – January 18, 1820) was an Irish-born farmer, tanner and political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Truro Township in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1785 to 1799. He was born in Derry, Northern Irelan ...

(1745–1820), the son of one of the first Irish settlers in the area. He was locally renowned for his piety and extensive use of the Bible. It was thought that the name of the hill on which he lived came from his use of the Bible. It is suggested that name stuck when

Joseph Howe Joseph Howe (December 13, 1804 – June 1, 1873) was a Nova Scotian journalist, politician, public servant, and poet. Howe is often ranked as one of Nova Scotia's most admired politicians and his considerable skills as a journalist and writer ha ...

coined the term on one of his visits to this house on the hill. Contrary to this long-standing legend, the origin of the name is currently believed to have come from the work of Rev. Dr. William McCullough (1811–1895) several years later. Coincidentally, McCullough lived in the house built by Matthew Archibald many years earlier. He was the minister of Truro's First Presbyterian church (now First United Church) from 1839–1885, and had inherited an interest in Bible distribution from his father, Dr. Thomas McCullough, one of the founders of the Nova Scotia

Bible Society A Bible society is a non-profit organization, usually nondenominational in makeup, devoted to translating, publishing, and distributing the Bible at affordable prices. In recent years they also are increasingly involved in advocating its credibi ...

. He distributed Bibles, free of charge, to anyone who wanted one. Over the almost 50 years of Rev. McCullough's ministry, the hill on which he lived, where one could obtain a Bible free of charge, became known as Bible Hill.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Bible Hill had a population of 5,076 living in 2,374 of its 2,472 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 4,894. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

References

External links

Bible Hill Website
{{Authority control Communities in Colchester County Villages in Nova Scotia