BIBLE HILL – A former Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC) sign that stood on Pictou Road for more than 30 years, has been relegated to The Barn.
But that’s a good thing.
“Everybody is really proud to see it here,” said Sarah Harding, a fourth year student at the Dalhousie Faculty of Agriculture and manager of the student pub, known as The Barn. “It’s NSAC and those who went there are proud that they went there. It’s good to see it in such a place of social gathering.”
The nearly cube-shaped sign, which is white with blue lettering and includes the former NSAC logo, has found a new, permanent home in a corner of the pub where it has become a popular spot for student photos, Harding said.
“That first night (after it was put in place in late November) it was like the last pub of the semester, it’s usually pretty big, and everybody was on it, pictures of all sorts,” she said. “It was great to see. A lot of alumni come back for that final night as well, so they all saw it and there was pictures of them as well.”
She said students who attended the facility when it was the NSAC are proud of what the college stood for. And while there are other pieces of NSAC memorabilia around campus to remind students of that history, having the sign in the pub is a way to keep those memories front and centre.
“Now that we’re Dalhousie, we’re still proud of what we are, but we just reflect on our past,” Harding said.
The sign, which stood at the corner of Pictou Road and Cumming Drive, was taken down after the college merged with Dalhousie University last September and offered to the pub by facilities manager Phil Talbot.
Although Talbot had received numerous requests for the sign, he felt it should remain with the students.
“We felt the pub was the perfect place for the sign to live, close to our students and our alumni,” he said.
Fourth-year animal sciences major Robyn McCallum agreed.
“It was really nice to keep a piece of history. We can still look for it,” she said. “It just represents what our history was, and we can all appreciate that. And it’s still integrated into something that is our future, which is The Barn. It will always be here.”