title: Pictou Landing, Nova Scotia
text: # Pictou Landing, Nova Scotia
  
  Pictou Landing (Gaelic Eilean Phiogto) is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Pictou County.
  
  ## Geography
  
  It is situated on the south shore of Pictou Harbour across from the town of Pictou.
  
  ## History
  
  Its name is probably derived from the fact that it is the landing place for ferries crossing the harbour. An earlier name for the area was Fishers Grant after a grant of land made to John Fisher in 1765. The only populated reserve of the Pictou Landing First Nation is named Fisher's Grant 24 and is located 3 km north-east of Pictou Landing.
  
  The Nova Scotia Railway reached here in 1867. It was the main route for travelers to Upper Canada in the ice-free months until the opening of the Intercolonial Railway in 1876. The steamship Mayflower carried passengers and freight across the harbour. A map published in 1879 shows four piers at Pictou Landing, three of them carrying track of the Intercolonial rail road and two of these piers belonging to coal companies.
  
  