Durham is a community in the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

province of

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, located in Pictou County on Nova Scotia Route 376 alongside the West River of Pictou. The centre of the village (where a bridge crosses the West River) is about 10 km up-stream from the town of

Pictou Pictou ( ; Canadian Gaelic: ''Baile Phiogto'' Miꞌkmawiꞌsimk: ''Piktuk'') is a town in Pictou County, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Located on the north shore of Pictou Harbour, the town is approximately 10 km (6 miles) nor ...

. The Durham Presbyterian Church is located near the bridge on the west side of the river, and the Durham Community Hall (the old school) is on the east side of the river, adjacent to the cemetery.

History

Emigrants from the

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

region of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

settled the valley of the West River in 1776. Before coming to Pictou County, they had attempted settlement on

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

, but they left after experiencing a difficult winter of near starvation. Those first settlers at West River were Anthony MacLellan, William Clark, David Stewart. William Smith, Joseph Richards, John MacLean and Charles Blaikie.Patterson, Rev. George. ''A History of the County of Pictou''. Montreal:Dawson Brothers, 1877.MacPhie, Rev. J.P. ''Pictonians at Home and Abroad''. Boston: Pinkham Press, 1914. Anthony MacLellan donated land for a cemetery (on the east side of the West River) in which he was buried in 1786. West River Presbyterian Church was built beside the cemetery in 1813 to replace the log church at Loch Broom. The farmers of the West River organized the West River Farming Society in 1817, the first agricultural society in a rural district of Nova Scotia. The farming community along the West River developed into a village, partly due to the prosperity of the timber trade. Durham is named after Lord Durham,

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada () is the federal representative of the . The monarch of Canada is also sovereign and head of state of 14 other Commonwealth realms and resides in the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the Advice (constitutional la ...

, 1838–1839.

References

Communities in Pictou County {{PictouNS-geo-stub