Pictou

lost I keep working with my hands On this little piece of land I'm holding sand I'm holding sand All it ever was The spirit burns Inside of us Within the wind That moves the ocean Wave on wave In constant motion I'll keep working with my hands On this little piece of land

That was Rose Morrison, the fiddler and vocalist from Cape Breton, joined by our friend Dave Gunning, the singer, songwriter, and producer from Pictou, Nova Scotia, on a song they wrote together called Holding Sand.

This previews their Celtic Color show of the same name taking place on October 14th, in which they'll be joined by an all-star cast including Don and Margie Beaton, Brendan Begley, Kenneth McKenzie, and many others.

We'll be hearing more from Rose during these next two weeks, but we preceded her on that block with Scottish Fish, the four-fiddle quintet from the Boston area, from whom we heard Annie's, the lead track from their 2025 album, Currently.

Yeah.

Play one game in Moncton, one game in Halifax, one game in Pictou.

I still, I do like the GTA area though of somewhere else too.

Yeah.

So I've placed the time period I want to write about at that time.

And it was at the beginning that down here in Nova Scotia, I can't remember, there was the paper mill that was up in Pictou area, and there was problems there.

Fish were dying, and so it was at the beginning.

And that's what I want

He also loved debate and inquiry, and we can imagine her mind was examined and enriched by lively conversation in her home.

The man she would marry was born in Banff, Scotland in 1815, but was raised in Pictou, Nova Scotia, about 50 miles from Charlotte's childhood home.

Here, Johnny Geddie, as he was called, was considered a small, sickly, weak child, but observed to be very determined, quiet, and steady.

Unbeknownst to him until the day he announced his call to the South Seas, his parents had dedicated him, while still an infant, to gospel missions.

She had already developed a love for the lost in heathen lands.

She must have thought, Lord, who will need a wife who is willing to go with him to the nations? She would not be disappointed.

All of John's academic and seminary education was in the Pictou, Nova Scotia area.

He was licensed to preach in May of 1837 and accepted a call to New London and Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, the following March.

It's like a Tony Hawk game, like-

like-[laughs] That's Pictou in Sydney

Oh, there we go.

Okay, we got people.

There's cars driving down Pictou.

People beeping their horn at me.

[laughs] That's awesome, man.

But in 1773, she was prepared for a much more ambitious journey.

The destination was Pictou in Nova Scotia.

The men behind the scheme included a Greenock merchant named John Pagan and Dr John Witherspoon who had acquired interests in land around Pictow.

They wanted settlers and to find those settlers they employed a man called John Ross.

Families had lost members, children had lost parents, and those who survived were exhausted.

They had endured an 11-week Atlantic crossing in one of the harshest environments imaginable.

And then, on the 15th of September 1773, the Hector finally entered Pictou Harbour.

For the passengers, this must have been an extraordinary moment.