Once an active shipping port and the shire town of the county, today Pictou is primarily a local service centre for surrounding rural communities and the primary tourist destination in this region of Nova Scotia.

The town of Pictou was a receiving point for many Scottish immigrants moving to a new home in northern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island following the Highland Clearances of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

While there were a significant number of Scottish people settled in other parts of Nova Scotia at the time Pictou was settled, the town's tourism slogan is "The Birthplace of New Scotland", which is based on being the first primarily made up Scottish immigrants and the ship Hector being recognized as the first immigrant ship to sail directly from Scotland to what is now Canada.

[9] Pictou today contains many important examples of stone housing constructed by those early generations of Scottish immigrant, which have clear connections to architectural styles and design in Scotland itself.

The town has an indirect connection to Scottish settlement in New Zealand; the Reverend Norman McLeod emigrated to Pictou from Scotland some years after the Hector but eventually re-settled with his parishioners at St. Ann's on Cape Breton Island.

Local resident Wellwood Waugh was implicated in the raid on Pictou and was forced to move to Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia.

A notable shipbuilding accomplishment was the speedy construction of 24 Park ship freighters by the newly created Pictou Shipyard in World War II.

[23] Pictou Academy is the town's high school and was founded in 1803 by Dr. Thomas McCulloch, who was travelling to his new clergy posting on Prince Edward Island.

There was considerable argument between Dr. Thomas McCulloch and Nova Scotia's provincial government for funding however it finally became a reality in 1816 when the Pictou Academy was incorporated.

The province of Nova Scotia would not let it be named a "college," as such, but it was a school of higher education (senior matriculation) which was open to people of every race and denomination.

[25] In 2023, for the 250th Anniversary of the landing of the Ship Hector, the town received federal and provincial funding to support a three-month long celebration.

The headliners for the concerts included Ashley MacIsaac, Cassie & Maggie, Terra Spencer, Mary Beth Carty, Ray Stewart, Amelia Parker, Christina Martin, Jud Gunning, Steve MacIntyre, Morgan Toney, Darren McMullen, Rachel Davis, Rum Ragged, Terry Kelly, DeeDee Austin, and the Barra MacNeils.

During the 1990s–2000s, industrial land on the Pictou Town waterfront was redeveloped with the centrepiece being construction of the replica tall ship Hector.

Now completed, the ship is docked each summer at the Hector Heritage Quay, an interpretive centre that includes three floors of exhibits, as well as access to the floating replica.

The former train route has been converted into a paved and gravel walkway for pedestrians and runs from Pictou to Oxford, Nova Scotia.