Pictou, Nova Scotia — Take a walk down Caladh Avenue, framed with street posts displaying Scottish tartan symbols, to the waterfront at the Hector Heritage Quay, where tartans from the clans of settlers fill the entry hall.

Meander through the colorful exhibits to learn about how a brave and proud group of Scots made their way from their homeland in 1773 on a perilous Atlantic Ocean journey. They took the risk after their clans, tartans and kilts, Celtic music, Gaelic language and bagpipes had been banned by the British monarchy after the Scots' defeat in the bloody Battle of Culloden.

SCOTT FOUST/Special (ENLARGE)

Studio and Pub owners Anne and Keith Matheson came to Pictou for a vacation in the late 1990s and ended up moving there from Vancouver Island. As a volunteer, he carved the Hector's figurehead and then took a job as the ship's woodcarver before opening up their business there.

SCOTT FOUST/Special (ENLARGE)

The small town of Pictou created a replica of the ship Hector to celebrate the sacrifices of Scottish immigrants who, in 1773, landed in what would become Nova Scotia.

SCOTT FOUST/Special (ENLARGE)

The Hector (above and below) was launched in 2000, but the work on the ship isn't over. The vessel, which is a tourist attraction for Pictou, Nova Scotia, doesnÕt have sails, but that may change in the future.

Town recreates historic ship

Then head out to the wharf, where residents of the small town of Pictou have spent more than a decade creating a replica of the three-masted cargo ship Hector in celebration of the 189 Scots who landed in what would become the province of Nova Scotia — New Scotland — in Canada.

Visitors can appreciate the determination it took for Pictou, a town of 3,800, to build the Hector in celebration of Scotland's first substantial group of immigrants to settle there and to honor their sacrifice.

Death claimed 13, mostly children, during the rough crossing by the flat-bottom cargo ship that was not built for carrying passengers. More than 100 more ships would follow. But Hector and its passengers were the heroes who made it first, said Nicole MacDonald, director of Recreation, Tourism and Culture in Pictou.

In the late 1980s, when Graham Holman, former director of the Pictou Tourist Association, first proposed the town begin work on the waterfront and share his dream of building a replica of Hector, townspeople thought the notion was absurd.

"When we came here, there was [almost] nothing on the waterfront. The deCoste Centre [a new theater] was the only thing there. A railroad track ran along the harbor. We thought they were dreaming in color, they haven't a chance. That was in August, and in January, I was working for them," said Debbie Jardine, an innkeeper who serves on the volunteer Town of Pictou Tourism and Recreation Commission.

She and chef husband Garry moved to Pictou along with her parents, Floyd and Claudette Brine, to open a restaurant in 1986. The historic Consulate Inn, as it is known today, was first a restaurant but grew along with the town as the Hector construction began. In 1991, what is now a bed-and breakfast opened three guest rooms. Since then, more rooms have been built in an annex to the original 1810 building, and the house next door was acquired and turned into a guesthouse.

Debbie Jardine, who is also an artist and sells rocks painted to look like houses, bought the inn from her parents in 2004.

She said Canadian government grants helped fund the waterfront project when it began, then the town took over its management.

Lifelong Pictou resident Bill Halliday, who works on the Hector, still marvels at the transformation. "It's a major tourist attraction," said Halliday, who has traveled in Canada and to Boston to promote the Hector and the accomplishments of a small town dedicated to reinvigorating its Scottish culture. As a rigger on board the ship, he works on the ropes and mast equipment. The ship doesn't have sails, though the town may consider that in the future.

"My whole childhood, I played and swam the waters right where the Hector is. To me, every day going to work is like reliving my childhood. And I get to meet so many people from all around the world to show off our ship," said Halliday, who was there from the beginning and saw the last plank laid in 1999. The Hector was launched in 2000, but work on it continues. He enjoys showing Pictou visitors around the ship and his shop on the wharf. He shows children how to make seamen's knots and encourages them to practice.

For years, the town has celebrated its heritage, said MacDonald. The Hector Festival, sponsored by the deCoste Centre, is Aug. 8-12 this year. The festival, which started in 1987, includes a re-creation of the Hector landing on Sept. 15, 1773. It features music, dance and a piping competition, all connected to the town's Celtic music heritage.

New Scotland Days, celebrating the voyage of the ship from the day it left the Scottish Highlands until the day it arrived in Pictou, will be held July 10-Sept. 15. The event puts an emphasis on the town's Scottish heritage with special music performances, demonstrations of lifting cargo, re-enactments, rigging and grommet-making demonstrations, and Scottish children's games; last year included a tribute to the Mi'kmaq Indians, who helped the settlers survive in the early days. Each Saturday is a themed day during the festival.

Community members have worked hard to help Pictou transition from a shipbuilding center to a tourist destination, MacDonald said. That is helped, in part, by its location, only 10 minutes from Caribou, Nova Scotia, where the Northumberland Ferries Limited makes as many as 18 trips a day in-season back and forth to Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island. Tourists coming to or from the popular island can spend time in Pictou before or after the 75-minute ferry crossing.

A vacation in Pictou inspired Canadians Keith and Anne Matheson to move and start a business there. They own Carvers Coffeehouse, Studio and Pub, which holds Keith's woodcarving studio and teaching facility and spaces for friends from town and visitors to relax over coffee, desserts, light lunches, beer and wine.

"We came out on holidays and saw this town of 3,500 people attempting to build that incredible ship," said Keith Matheson, then living on Vancouver Island on Canada's west coast. "I was so impressed with their dedication. I said I've got to do something to help."

Matheson, a self-trained sculptor and woodcarver, volunteered to come back to Pictou and to carve Hector's griffin figurehead in 1998 from a massive 3-by-2-by-2 1/2-foot piece of rare yellow cedar he brought along.

"I went back home to the west coast, but I had fallen in love with the area and people," said the carver, who specializes in what he calls "wood spirits."

He was invited back as a volunteer, did more carving and helped launch the ship. As he volunteered, so did Anne Matheson, who is bilingual. She gave tours of the ship and the quay facility. Later, after a call from the project manager who budgeted for more carving, they decided to move to Pictou in 2001.

"The tartans, the music, the dance — it's very common here. I went to Scotland a few years ago to see where my family came from — it's as Scottish here as in Scotland. Everyone in Scotland knows of Nova Scotia. When it [the Hector] sailed, England had declared clans and kilts illegal to break the clans. All the stuff that identified those people and their lives were abolished," said Matheson.

Eventually, at the end of English domination, the cherished traditions that had been banned in Scotland and preserved in Nova Scotia were reintroduced in Scotland.

"Scottish people hold Nova Scotia in high esteem for saving all the things they brought here. I discovered that when I visited there," he said.

The story of the ship Hector coming to the New World was very much like the Mayflower landing at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts, he said.

The Mathesons learned that firsthand as they saw the Wee Hector in Ullapool, Scotland.

"It's stunning because she has unique lines," Anne said about the dinghy launched in 2004 as an ambassador for the area where the Hector left Scotland. The small boat, beautifully made but large enough for only four people, was named in a contest. The winner chose Hector to honor the three-masted ship, then amended the name to ensure that onlookers knew it represents what was a larger dream for Scots more than two centuries ago.

IF YOU GO

Getting there

Pictou is 104 miles from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Expect to pay $450 round trip from Atlanta to Halifax.

Information

(All prices are in Canadian dollars, with approximate U.S. price in parentheses, based on the current exchange rate.)

• Pictou County Tourist Association at Irving Rest Area-Westville, Cowan Street, Exit 21, TCH 104. 902-396-2800.

• Hector Heritage Quay, 33 Caladh Ave. 1-877-574-2868, www.townofpictou.com. Special events are scheduled each Saturday, July 10-Sept. 15, and others are planned throughout the year. Call ahead. Adults, $7 ($5.95); seniors and students, $5 ($4.25); children 6-12, $2 ($1.70); younger, free.

• deCoste Centre, 85 Water St., www.decostecentre.ca.

• McCulloch House Museum and Hector Exhibit Centre, Exit 22 off Highway 104, or via Route 6 to Pictou. Follow museum key signs to 100 Old Haliburton Road. 902-485-4563, museum.gov.ns.ca/mch. Adults, $3 ($2.55); seniors or children, $2 ($1.70); family, $7 ($5.95). Seasonal hours.

• Grohmann Knife Factory Outlet store. 116 Water St. 1-888-756-4837, www.grohmannknives.com. This company, which makes chef's and hunting knives, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Its knives have won 25 international honors and have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It also offers free factory tours.

• The Consulate Inn, 157 Water St. 1-800-424-8283 or 902-485-4554. Open year-round. Nonsmoking rooms. Rates: $75-$159 ($63.70-$135), high season (June-October). Off season, $65-$119 ($55.20-$101). Breakfast included.

• Carvers Coffeehouse, Studio and Pub, 41 Coleraine St. 902-382-3332, www.carvers.ca.

Nova Scotia information: 1-800-565-0000, www.novascotia.com.