Bible Hill (Mi'kmaq: Wi'kopekwitk; Scottish-Gaelic: Cnoc a' Bhìobaill) is an incorporated village in Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada.[6] [7] It lies on the north bank of the Salmon River, opposite the town of Truro and the unincorporated community of Salmon River.
Village of Bible Hill
Wi'kwampekwitk | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms | |
| Motto: Plant Your Roots[1] | |
  Village of Bible Hill Location of Bible Hill  Village of Bible Hill Village of Bible Hill (Canada) | |
| Coordinates: 45°22′32″N 63°15′37″W / 45.37556°N 63.26028°W | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Nova Scotia |
| Municipality | Colchester County |
| Founded | Early 1700s |
| Incorporated | 1953 |
| Government | |
| • Village Chair | Kevin Kennedy[2] |
| • Governing Body | Bible Hill Village Commission |
| • MLA | David Ritcey[3] |
| • MP | Dr. Stephen Ellis (C)[4] |
| Highest elevation | 37 m (121 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 11 m (36 ft) |
| Population | |
• Total | 5,076 |
| Time zone | UTC−04:00 (AST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−03:00 (ADT) |
| Postal code | B2N |
| Area code | 902 |
| Telephone Exchanges | 893 ,897, 895 |
| NTS Map | 011E06 |
| GNBC Code | CACWS |
| Website | www |
The village is home to Bible Hill Junior High School,[8] Bible Hill Consolidated Elementary School,[9] 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 television series service as the Sunnyvale Trailer Park.[10]
History
editThe 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) on the northern bank of the Salmon River.
It was believed that the hill took its name from Matthew Archibald (1745–1820), the son of one of the first Irish settlers in the area.[11] 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.[12] It is suggested that name stuck when Joseph Howe coined the term on one of his visits to this house on the hill.[13] 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.[14]
Coincidentally, McCullough lived in the house built by Matthew Archibald many years earlier.[11] He was the minister of Truro's First Presbyterian church (now First United Church[15]) 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. He distributed Bibles, free of charge, to anyone who wanted one.[16] 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
editIn the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Bible Hill had a population of 5,076 living in 2,374 of its 2,472 total private dwellings, a change of 3.7% from its 2016 population of 4,894. With a land area of 9.24 km2 (3.57 sq mi), it had a population density of 549.4/km2 (1,422.8/sq mi) in 2021.[17]
References
edit- ^ Bible Hill website
- ^ Elected Officials
- ^ Political Representatives
- ^ Political Representatives
- ^ Bible Hill Community Counts[permanent dead link] Government of Nova Scotia
- ^ Nova Scotia Community Counts: Statistical profile Archived 2012-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Bible Hill, Colchester County". Place-Names and Places of Nova Scotia. 20 April 2020.
- ^ "Bible Hill Junior High School". Chignecto Central Regional Centre for Education.
- ^ "Bible Hill Consolidated | Chignecto Central Regional Centre for Education". Chignecto Central Regional Centre for Education.
- ^ "The Trailer Park Boys are back in town, make stop in Truro Police cells | The Digby Courier". The Digby Courier. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
- ^ a b Miller, Thomas (1873). Historical and Genealogical Record of the First Settlers of Colchester County: Down to the Present Time, Comp. from the Most Authentic Sources. A. & W. Mackinlay. ISBN 978-0-665-11106-8.
- ^ "Official Village History". Archived from the original on 2007-01-20. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
- ^ "Central Nova Scotia Tourism". Archived from the original on 2008-05-17. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
- ^ Hamilton, William (1996). Place Names of Atlantic Canada. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9780802075703. p. 295
- ^ "Home". firstunitedtruro.ca.
- ^ Hamilton, William (1996). Place Names of Atlantic Canada. University of Toronto Press.
- ^ "Population and dwelling counts: Canada and designated places". Statistics Canada. February 9, 2022. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
External links
edit- Village of Bible Hill Website
- Morton, Barbara (1994). History of education in the Bible Hill schools. Truro, Nova Scotia: Colchester Historical Museum. OCLC 43280416.
- Burns, Marie (c. 1980). Here and there in Bible Hill. Bible Hill, Nova Scotia: Atlantic Systematic Envelopes. OCLC 317285082.