[1] The name Pugwash is derived from the Mi'kmaq word Pakwesk (also written as Pagwĕsk), meaning "a shoal",[2][3] in reference to a reef near the mouth of the harbour.

The Chignecto peninsula was settled by Acadians from the 1660s onward, this period ended with the with Expulsion and the Bay of Fundy Campaign during the French and Indian War.

Wallace and nearby Tatamagouche were the first villages in Acadia to be burned because they were important ports through which Acadians supplied the French Fortress Louisbourg.

British colonial settlement began with the arrival of the United Empire Loyalists, coming to Chignecto in 1790, and then with the Seaman family, formerly of New York State, moving to farm the mouth of River Phillip in 1795, and ultimately purchasing what became the Pugwash town site from the Mi'kmaw in 1802.

The village celebrates its Scottish heritage each July 1, with the annual Gathering of the Clans and Fisherman's Regatta.

The Pugwash area, and indeed the entire north shore of Nova Scotia, is famed for its warm waters and sandy beaches.

This conference brought high-level scientists from both sides of the Cold War divide to state their opposition to nuclear weapons.

This meeting was a follow-up to an earlier statement of notables whose signatories had included Albert Einstein and Linus Pauling, the Russell–Einstein Manifesto.

The building was designed by Sir Sandford Fleming and completed in 1892, is a registered historic site under the Heritage Property Act of Nova Scotia.

The salt is distributed by road or from the company owned ship-loading facility for which large ships can be seen in the harbour from early spring to late autumn.

Pugwash has a humid continental climate (Dfb) characterized by warm summers with cool nights and long, cold, and snowy winters.