Pugwash, Nova Scotia Pugwash, Nova Scotia Pugwash (2012 population: 736) is a village in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The village is home to fishing, salt mining, and small-scale manufacturing and is situated on the Northumberland Strait at the mouth of the Pugwash River. Pugwash takes its name from the native Mi'kmaq word, "Pagweak," meaning "Shallow Water", in reference to a reef near the mouth of the harbour, making navigation through the shallow waters difficult. Pugwash sits atop a salt deposit measuring 457.2 m thick and is home to the largest underground salt mine in Atlantic Canada, with shipments from its port, as
Pugwash Junction early 1890s and in later years it was operated as CN Rail's Oxford Subdivision, with the line from Pugwash Junction to Pugwash being the Pugwash Spur. The community is the birthplace of famous American industrialist Cyrus Eaton. Pugwash Junction Pugwash Junction is a Canadian rural community in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. The community was established in 1887 after the Oxford & New Glasgow Railway built its line along the north shore of Nova Scotia from the Intercolonial Railway (ICR) at Oxford Junction to Pictou. The short connecting line to Pugwash from the Oxford & New Glasgow was constructed between 1882-1890,