Port Hood, Nova Scotia

Port Hood - a quiet village, the county seat of the County of Inverness. Predominantly english speaking Roman Catholics, the population core are Highland Scots, MacDonalds/MacDonnells mostly. About 30 minutes drive north on Hiway 19 from the Canso Causeway which links Canada to Cape Breton Island.

The building of the "Transcanada Hiway" link from the causeway through Baddeck resulted in the re-routing of most Cabot Trail tourism traffic. It is now advertised that the Cabot Tail starts and finishes in Baddeck, This bypassed the traditional western approach to the Cabot Trail through Judique, Port Hood, Inverness and Margaree Harbour and has cut down on tourism activities on Hiway 19.

Just offshore from Port Hood is Port Hood Island. PH Island was originally settled by Protestant Loyalists giving us a Catholic mainland and a Protestant island ! In the 1950's Port Hood Island had approx 28 families, mostly fishermen and small lot farmers. A one room school handled grades 1 to 8 or 9, after which students boarded in Port Hood and attended Port Hood Academy. The Island church enjoyed the services of the Port Hood minister who also served Mabou.