Digby County, Nova Scotia
# Digby County, Nova Scotia

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 17,062 living in 8,117 of its 9,681 total private dwellings, a change of -1.5% from its 2016 population of 17,323. With a land area of 2,512.28 $km^2$ (970.00 sq mi), it had a population density of $6.8/km^2$ (17.6/sq mi) in 2021.

| Census | Population | Change (%) |
| - | - | - |
| 2021 | 17,062 | 1.5% |
| 2016 | 17,323 | 4.0% |
| 2011 | 18,036 | 5.0% |
| 2006 | 18,992 | 2.8% |
| 2001 | 19,548 | 4.6% |
| 1996 | 20,500 | 3.8% |
| 1991 | 21,195 | 3.1% |
| 1986 | 21,852 | 0.8% |
| 1981 | 21,689 | 11.4% |
| 1941 | 19,472 | 6.1% |
| 1931 | 18,353 | 6.8% |
| 1921 | 19,612 | 2.8% |
| 1911 | 20,167 | 0.8% |
| 1901 | 20,322 | 1.7% |
| 1891 | 19,987 | 0.03% |
| 1881 | 19,981 | 17.3% |
| 1871 | 17,037 | N/A |
| 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% |
| 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:

## Museums

The county's history is preserved at the Admiral Digby Museum as well as several community museums.

## Notable people

* 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
