Click on the different areas on the aerial photo below to see what the various sites look like.

  Other sites around River John  

	Back Shore
	The area on the north shore of Cape John was named the "Back Shore" because of it's geographic location in relation to the village of River John. The first landowners were Philip Marchinton, about 1811, and the Halifax businessman James Lidell in 1821. Neither Marchinton or Lidell lived on their Pictou County properties. Lidell was given the land to compensate him for land in Halifax County taken over for (Negro) settlement.
	Cape John
	The long point of land jutting into the Northumberland Strait is the River John's estuary, and Bay John's eastern land boundary. To mariners the Cape is Pictou County's western boundary. Natives of the Isle of Lewis were the pioneers: (3) MacLeods; William, Allen and Alexander, and John Morrison, John MacIver, and Donald MacFarlane, likely in 1808. It is thought that John Williamson settled at Williamson's Brook in the district in 1811.
	Diamond
	Likely the farmers who chose this name considered their district a gem. Located on the headwaters of the West Branch of River John, this rural settlement was named in 1892, when a post office was opened there. The district was settled as early as 1806 by John Nevin, a Scot, who came from Renfrewshire in 1812. He was given a grant two years later. Land was granted to Alexander Mackay in 1867.
	Hodson
	A Johnson family came to this place four miles from River John, around 1808. An early settler may be responsible for naming the area, but it is not known for sure.
	Loganville
	This settlement near the headwaters of the West Branch of River John was probably named after J. Logan who had a tannery there in the late 1780's. Early grantees were Malcolm MacDonald in 1814, Andrew Munro in 1815, and John Murray in 1817. John Rogers was given land in 1813, which accounts for the name of Roger's Hill.
	Louisville
	Situated on the back road from River John to Tatamagouche near the Colchester County border, it may have been named after settlers Louis Langille and Lewis Tattrie, or after the Isle of Lewis from when pioneers Hugh Munro and Alexander Smith resided there.
	Marshville
	Located on the south side of River John estuary. It was settled around 1792 by four Langille brothers, sons of David Langille. Numerous Truro residents have cottages there.
	Mountain Road
	This rural area is about four miles south of John's Bay near the Colchester boundary. Grantees in 1811 were James Mathew, Joseph, James, and George Frederick Langille.
	River John
	First known to the Indians as "Kajeboogwek",meaning "flowing through a solitary place". The stream was once called "Deception River". The name River John may have come from "Riviere Jaun". In the maps of the 1770's it was called "River John".
	Seafoam
	Located on the east side of Cape John, when the wind blows and the tide rises, the seas till in and pile up in foam. The early arrivals in the beginning of the 1800's were Norman MacLeod, Donald MacKenzie, John MacIvor, Allan MacLeod, Donald MacCully, and Donald Gillis.
	Toney River
	A French explorer, Captain Toney, joined the Indians and became a Mi'maq chief. The river was knwon to the Indians as "Booktowoogen", which means "the place for fire or flint". James Milne in 1808 had a sawmill and was shipping timber from Toney River to England in 1810. Early settlers were George MacIvor, Albert Munroand Norman MacLeod.
	Welsford
	A British army hero who died in the Crimean War, Major Augustus Welsford, gave his name to this Pictou County place near River John in 1858. D. Langille had a grist mill here in 1806, and Robert Sutherland, a tannery in 1878.
	Westerly
	This name perhaps was chosen because of the vulnerability to west wind blowing across John's Bay. John Joudrie and Patrick Murphy were grantees in 1815 and Mary Hayden in 1717.