Digby County, Nova Scotia

Template:Infobox settlement Digby County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

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 Template:Nts living in Template:Nts of its Template:Nts total private dwellings, a change of Template:Percentage from its 2016 population of Template:Nts. With a land area of Template:Convert, it had a population density of Template:Pop density in 2021.<ref name=2021census>Template:Cite web</ref>

Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2 Population trend<ref>Censuses 1871-1941</ref><ref>Statistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006 census</ref>

Census	Population	Change (%)
2021	17,062	Template:Loss1.5%
2016	17,323	Template:Loss4.0%
2011	18,036	Template:Loss5.0%
2006	18,992	Template:Loss2.8%
2001	19,548	Template:Loss4.6%
1996	20,500	Template:Loss3.8%
1991	21,195	Template:Loss3.1%
1986	21,852	Template:Gain0.8%
1981	21,689	Template:Gain11.4%
1941	19,472	Template:Gain6.1%
1931	18,353	Template:Loss6.8%
1921	19,612	Template:Loss2.8%
1911	20,167	Template:Loss0.8%
1901	20,322	Template:Gain1.7%
1891	19,987	Template:Gain0.03%
1881	19,981	Template:Gain17.3%
1871	17,037	N/A

Template:Col-2 Mother tongue language (2011)<ref>Statistics Canada: 2011 census</ref>

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%

Template:Col-2 Ethnic groups (2006)<ref name="SC2006-Ethnicity">2006 Statistics Canada Census Ethnocultural Portrait of Canada: Digby County, Nova Scotia</ref>

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

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:<ref>Atlantic Canada Back Road Atlas Template:ISBN Pages 76-77, 84-85</ref> Template:Col-begin Template:Col-4

• Highways
  • Template:Jct

• Trunk routes
  • Template:Jct

• Collector routes:
  • Template:Jct
  • Template:Jct
  • Template:Jct

• 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