[1] It is located near the mouth of the River John on the Northumberland Strait, halfway between Pictou and Tatamagouche near the boundary with Colchester County.

River John was colonized by Europeans during the 18th century and its port and the proximity of plentiful timber led to the development of a small shipbuilding industry.

It is noted in the Forbes’ MS, “with the shipbuilding squires stepping out for church on Sunday mornings or driving their matched bays on Saturday afternoon, River John was able to hold its own with the best of the country.”[6] The timber for ships was cut by hand and hauled out by horse or oxen to a cleared space near the building site, this was more suitable during the winter while the snow lay deep over the woodlands.

The launch site was on the area what is now called “River Road”, the ships faced into the sunset with the heavy planks set down into the water for a gentle slide into the channel in the mouth of the bay.

[8] River John is in the federal electoral district of Central Nova and the provincial riding of Pictou West.

It is in District 4 of the Municipality of Pictou County which provides street lighting, waste water disposal and snow ploughing of sidewalks.

Each surrounding rural community had their own one room school house, Mountain Road, Louisville, Marshville, Cape John, Seafoam, Melville, Hodson, Hedgeville, Bigney, Welsford, and Toney River.

[16] The Pioneer community newspaper began publishing in 1877 on every Thursday in River John, with a subscription rate of 50 cents for the year.

It is now published three times a year by the River John Community Action Society as a not-for-profit community-owned paper and distributed freely throughout the B0K 1N0 postal area.

[22] The Trans Canada Trail runs through the outskirts of River John along the route of the former "Short Line" of the Intercolonial Railway.

[23][24] The Nova Scotia folklorist W. Roy MacKenzie (1883–1957) lived in River John, as do novelist Linda Little and writer Sheree Fitch.