Stewiacke (/ˈstjuːiæk/) is a town located in southern Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The town was incorporated on August 30, 1906.
Stewiacke | |
|---|---|
Town | |
Town of Stewiacke Public Works Building and Cenotaph | |
| Nickname(s): Halfway between the North Pole and the Equator | |
| Motto(s): Respect, Prosperity, Growth | |
Stewiacke Location of Stewiacke, Nova Scotia | |
| Coordinates: 45°8′32″N 63°20′54″W | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Nova Scotia |
| Municipality | Colchester County |
| Incorporated | August 30, 1906 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | George Lloy |
| • Governing Body | Stewiacke Town Council |
| • MLA | Larry Harrison |
| • MP | Lenore Zann (L) |
| Area (2016)[1] | |
| • Total | 17.62 km2 (6.80 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 100 m (300 ft) |
| Population (2021)[2] | |
| • Total | 1,557 |
| • Density | 88.4/km2 (229/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC−4 (AST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−3 (ADT) |
| Postal code | B0N 2J0 |
| Area code | 902 |
| Telephone Exchange | 639, 671 |
| Median Earnings* | $55,339 |
| NTS Map | 11E3 Shubenacadie |
| GNBC Code | CBKOM[3] |
| Website | stewiacke.net |
Places in Nova Scotia | |
The town is located in the Stewiacke Valley, at the confluence of the Stewiacke and Shubenacadie Rivers, and is a service and support centre for local agricultural communities as well as a service exit on Highway 102.
The town is noted as being located halfway between the North Pole and the Equator (which is actually in Alton, Nova Scotia).[4] Controversy in the past over that claim stems from the fact that the Earth is not a perfect sphere and so the halfway mark lies approximately 16 km north of the 45th parallel.[5]
Stewiacke was named in the language of the local Mi'kmaq First Nations and is a word meaning "flowing out in small streams" and "winding river" or "whimpering or whining as it goes".[6] During the French and Indian War, the British built Fort Ellis in the area to protect New England Planters from Mi'kmaq raids.

In the late 1990s, a tourism attraction named Mastodon Ridge opened near the town's highway exit, based on a local discovery of a mastodon skeleton. The Mastodon Ridge Complex features a craft store, toy store, a mini golf and interpretive centre which displays several of the mastodon's bones.
Stewiacke is home to a bar, a pharmacy, a grocery store, a pizzeria, numerous fast food restaurants, two gas stations, a hardware store, an 18-hole golf course and a newly built elementary school that consolidates 2 former local schools.
Stewiacke is also home to a volunteer fire brigade that was the first department in North America to use specialized foam as a fire suppression agent, alongside other achievements involving the implementation of certain fire apparatus.
The town's most notorious event occurred on April 12, 2001, when a local teenager, at home on a school in-service day, tampered with a railway switch on the CN Rail Halifax-Montreal mainline, causing Via Rail Canada's Ocean to derail several minutes later when it passed through the centre of the community.[7] Several buildings and rail cars were destroyed and many people were injured, including some severely, although no fatalities resulted.[7][8]
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Stewiacke had a population of 1,557 living in 713 of its 739 total private dwellings, a change of 13.4% from its 2016 population of 1,373. With a land area of 17.62 km2 (6.80 sq mi), it had a population density of 88.4/km2 (228.9/sq mi) in 2021.[12]
Places adjacent to Stewiacke | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||
|---|---|---|
| Towns | ||
| First Nations |
| |
| Indian reserves |
| |
| Unorganized subdivisions |
| |
| ||
Subdivisions of Nova Scotia | |
|---|---|
| Counties |
|
| County municipalities | |
| Regional municipalities | |
| District municipalities | |
| Towns |
|
| Villages |
|
| Economic regions | |
| Lists |
|
| |