Bible Hill, Nova Scotia
Bible Hill | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms | |
| Motto: A Progressive Community | |
| Country |  Canada |
| Province |  Nova Scotia |
| Municipality | Colchester County |
| Founded | Early 1700s |
| Incorporated | 1953 |
| Government | |
| • Village Chair | Sharon McLean[1] |
| • Governing Body | Bible Hill Village Commission |
| • MLA | Lenore Zann (NDP) |
| • MP | Bill Casey (L) |
| Highest elevation | 37 m (121 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 11 m (36 ft) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 8,913 |
| Time zone | UTC-4 (AST) |
| Postal code | B2N |
| Area code | 902 |
| Telephone Exchanges | 893 ,897, 895 |
| NTS Map | 011E06 |
| GNBC Code | CACWS |
| Website | www |
Bible Hill is a Canadian village in Colchester County, Nova Scotia.[3] It lies on the north bank of the Salmon River, opposite the town of Truro and the unincorporated community of Salmon River.
Bible Hill functions as a suburb of Truro with several residential subdivisions. The village is home to Bible Hill Junior High School, Redcliff Middle School, Bible Hill East Court Elementary, and Bible Hill Central Elementary Schools and the Dalhousie University Faculty of Agriculture.
History
The name Bible Hill is derived from a prominent hill which rises above the flood plain on the grounds of 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.[4] 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.[5] It is suggested that name stuck when Joseph Howe coined the term on one of his visits to this house on the hill.[6] 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.[7]
Coincidentally, McCullough lived in the house built by Matthew Archibald many years earlier.[4] He was the minister of Truro’s First Presbyterian church (now First United Church) 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.[8] 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.
Bible Hill is also the home to Atlantic Canada's first Mosque, Islamic community centre, and Islamic cemetery, first established in 1970.
References
- ^ http://www.trurodaily.com/index.cfm?sid=182425&sc=68
- ^ Bible Hill Community Counts Government of Nova Scotia
- ^ Nova Scotia Community Counts: Statistical profile
- ^ 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.
- ^ Official Village History
- ^ Central Nova Scotia Tourism
- ^ Hamilton, William (1996). Place Names of Atlantic Canada. University of Toronto Press. p. 295
- ^ Hamilton, William (1996). Place Names of Atlantic Canada. University of Toronto Press.
