Clan MacMillan International

Clan MacMillan International

Clan MacMillan Society of North America 2026 Gathering

28th Biennial Gathering: Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, August 13-16

The Clan MacMillan Society was founded in 1958. We enjoy an International Gathering, ideally every two years. (Sometimes those are delayed because of clan events in Scotland, the COVID-19 pandemic, etc.) Our presidents are elected at our biennial general meetings, alternating between Canada and the USA. President Hubert “Butch” MacMillan held a wonderful Gathering in Jackson, Mississippi in October, 2024. President Chris McMullen was elected there, with the mandate of hosting a return gathering in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, in 2026. The Eighteenth Gathering was also held there in 1991, and kinfolk who attended from all over North America and Scotland were eager to enjoy Cape Breton’s continuing rich Gaelic culture, music, and pride in its Highland Scottish immigrant history.

Thursday, August 13, 2026

Afternoon and Evening: Welcome, registration at the Simon Hotel (see below for booking, telephone, internet link). Supper on your own (the hotel has a nice restaurant).

7:00 pm: Introductions and Fellowship. Cash Bar. Ian McMullen, Chris and Valda’s son, an actor and musician from Ottawa, founder of OwlBear Theatre Company, will provide a special program of Clan MacMillan poetry and song. James A. “Sandy’ MacMillan, Piper to the Chief at our 1991 Gathering in Cape Breton, will again be our gathering piper, who with Joseph MacMullen Williamson will be inspiring us with clan-related tunes.

Friday, August 14

9:00 am: Simon Hotel to the Gaelic College, St. Anne’s. Colaisde na Gàidhlig. The Gaelic College was founded in St. Ann’s, Nova Scotia, in 1938, by people from the local community who wanted to create a memorial for the Gaelic speaking pioneers of Cape Breton. Its mission is:“To promote, preserve and perpetuate through studies in all related areas: the culture, music, language, arts, crafts, customs and traditions of immigrants from the Highlands of Scotland.” We will enjoy Presentations and Demonstrations, visit the “Hall of the Clans” Museum and Gift Shop, and enjoy a lunch and Ceilidh (included in our registration fees) by faculty and Students.

2:00 pm Gaelic College to Cape Breton Miners Museum, Glace Bay. Museum, Virtual tour, Gift Shop. The 15-acre “Cape Breton Miners Museum exists to enhance the knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the events, experiences, and people associated with Cape Breton’s mining industry; how it shapes our history, our identity, and connects us to the world and its diverse cultures.” Our museum tickets include a virtual tour. Gift Shop and Restaurant on site. Many Highlanders, including Chris’s great-grandfather Daniel Peter Dohmnall Ruadh McMullen, made their living in the mines. The working conditions and wages were terrible, until strong unions were formed to restore the miners’ dignity and confidence, and fight with the mining companies for safety standards and fair wages. Coffee Shop onsite.

6:00 pm. Miners’ Museum back to the Simon Hotel. Supper on your own.

8:00 pm. Business Meetings: Clan MacMillan Society of North America (see the PDF of the minutes from the 2024 meeting); Community of the Tonsured Servant. All welcome to these – they are not usually very long.

Saturday, August 15

9:00 am. Simon Hotel to the Highland Village Museum Baile nan Gàidheal, Iona via NS Route 223: 

”... an outdoor living history museum and Gaelic folk-life centre that illustrates the story, culture and identity of Nova Scotia Gaels. We are located on a stunning 43-acre property overlooking the majestic Bras d’Or Lake in Iona, Nova Scotia, the heart of Cape Breton Island. We are a part of the Nova Scotia Museum operated locally by the Nova Scotia Highland Village Society.”

We will tour this authentic, reconstructed Highland settlers’ village, with local informed animators, gift shop, and a series of historic homes from a Hebridean Black House through a settler’s log cabin to the relative prosperity of the 1950’s. Historic shops, blacksmith, school, church, gardens, lifestock etc. You will be offered tea and treats in some of the homes! 

Noon Highland Village to Darby’s Old Church Kitchen, 2689 Highway 223. 7.4 km. Lunch at participants’ choice and cost: Seafood, Nova Scotia favourites and typical “fast food” meals.

2:00 pm. (or earlier when all are fed!) Darby’s Old Church Kitchen - Alexander Graham Bell Museum National Historic Site, Baddeck. Born in Edinburgh, Alex was a proud Highlander who spoke Gaelic. He chose Baddeck because it reminded him of the Highlands at home. Thus he was probably a MacMillan! Bell invented all sorts of things in addition to the telephone. Many of them, including the "Silver Dart" plane and a hydrofoil (!) are on display.

5:00 pm. Bell Museum – Baddeck Lobster Supper Restaurant, 22 Water Street, Baddeck NS. 1.5 km. Participants choose and pay on their own. If you want Lobster, recommend a Lobster Roll rather than a cooked, unshelled lobster. Cheaper, more meat, and a lot less work! Other menu items available, from Fish, Chowder, through to steak dinner. 

7:00 pm. Baddeck Lobster Supper - Theatre Baddeck, Greenwood Arts centre, 98 Twining, Baddeck NS. 0.3 km. This will feature a locally produced and presented play on Cape Breton life, with lots of our famous East Coast humour.

10:00 pm. Theatre Baddeck – the Simon Hotel. (via Route 105, along the beautiful Bras d’Or Lake) 78.4 km. This will feature a locally written and produced play, full of Cape Breton humour, about Cape Breton life and culture.

Sunday August 16 

8:30 am. Simon Hotel to the MacMillan Memorial United Church, Route 22, Catalone NS, named for an outstanding minister. 26.1 km (estimate). Here we will enjoy a “Kirkin the Tartan service” at 9:30 am. Many MacMillans buried in the Church Cemetery, and descendents in the congregation. The church will incorporate time for a Community of the Tonsured Servant Investiture if needed. Gary Eno and Blanche McMillan, abbot and past abbot, encourage everyone to consider becoming Companions of the C.T.S., an order of honour and service within the Clan MacMillan.

11:30 am. MacMillan Memorial United Church – Fortress Louisbourg National Historic Site. With many restaurants, a pub and cafe, participants can choose and buy their own lunch - be it 17th c. or modern! Much of the fortifications, homes and workshops have been restored, and are animated by historic actors. Lots to see! Plenty of places to rest. Some Isle of Barra MacNeils fought with General James Wolf when the British conquered Louisbourg in 1759 My Barra MacMillan forbears heard the soldier's attraction to the Highlands-like land, no lairds or factors! They followed their recommendations to settle in Cape Breton in the late 1700's - early 1800's. Though the soldiers, villagers, etc. we will meet (all of us in our tartans, I hope, from the Kirkin' service!) will be pre-conquest animators, i.e., bilingual French, they will welcome Scots as "Auld Alliance" friends. An introductory Walking Tour included. Folks can pay extra on their own for a bus tour.

5:00 pm. Fortress Louisbourg – Simon Hotel. 7:00 pm. Formal Banquet of the Society with Haggis, a choice of main course, etc., and Scottish, Celtic and Cape Breton music by my sister Maureen McMullen, partner Brent Elliot and their group, ‘the Lily Lakers’. Thanks, Good-Byes.

7:00 pm. Formal Banquet of the Society with Haggis, a choice of main course, etc., and Scottish, Celtic and Cape Breton music by my sister Maureen McMullen, partner Brent Elliot and their group, ‘the Lily Lakers’. Thanks, Good-Byes.

Other Information 

Each day’s coach journeys will introduce us to the beautiful land and scenery of Cape Breton and the Bras d’or Lakes, around which tens of thousands of Highlanders, including hundreds of MacMillans (McMullens, etc.) settled in the late 18th to mid-19th centuries. Poverty, loyalty and pride has kept their Gaelic culture, faith and language alive to this day. (At the Banquet, God willing, we will induct the new President, Mike Drotar! I suggest that after his hospitality in New England in 2028, the 2030 Gathering should be back in Ontario somewhere. Do the Ontario folks (we call 'em "Upper Canadians" in the Maritimes!) have a person to nominate for Vice-President?) 

Alexander MacMillan’s Cross Pewter Kilt Pin: Our Registration package will include a gift of a Pewter MacMillan’s Cross kilt-pin or broach (approx. 3-1/2 by 1-1/4 inches), commissioned by me with Martin Aitken, proprietor and artist, Aitkens Pewter in Fredericton NB (est. 1972), a maker of fine pewter, including Celtic and Maritime jewellery and gift-ware, Christmas ornaments, etc. Extra copies of these will be available from me at and after the Gathering. (www.aitkenspewter.com, 1-506-453-9474) A booklet included in our registration packets will review the history and symbolism of this outstanding Celtic Cross, erected by Alexander MacMillan Mor of Knap in the Fifteenth Century. A must to visit for MacMillans touring Scotland! 

Our Clan MacMillan Heritage, an introductory summary published by me in 1990 (superseded by Graham Mackenzie’s publications), and a new booklet, Tìr Againn Fhèin (“A Land of Our Own”), on the emigrations of MacMillans around the world, including the example of my own Barra to Cape Breton family, will be included in our registration packets. These, and my previous booklets, are on sale from me. Proceeds go to the Clan MacMillan International Centre. 

Gathering Hospitality

The Simon Hotel
380 Esplanade
Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada B1P 1B1 

Cost: For Clan MacMillan group members, $209/night (single or double); with taxes and fees: $245.41 Cdn. (Approx. 177.61 USD) total. Includes Breakfasts; 1 or 2 people to a room (ask if you need two beds). Reservations can be made directly at the Hotel: 1-800-565-9466. Say you’re with “Clan MacMillan”. One of the most economical hotels in Sydney, the Simon is ten-minutes along the harbour boardwalk from the Sydney Port Visitor Centre, with a lovely restaurant, crafts shops, the “World's "Biggest Fiddle" outside, the Highlander Immigrants’ Memorial, and a very friendly information counter where several staff boasted of MacMillan connections! Restaurant, banquet and meeting rooms are at the hotel. (Late registrants may have to book in a nearby hotel.) (Best not to try to book online).

Travel: The J. Douglas McCurdy Sydney NS Airport is a short cab or shuttle drive from the Simon Hotel. (all travel on the Gathering will be by a hired shared coach bus.) Sydney has regular connections from the Halifax Airport, and Montreal International and Toronto International Airports. Those in turn have connections to all over North America, and Scotland. (In the summer, WestJet flies from Calgary AB to Sydney as well.) If you decide to drive, it is about a 4-1/2 hour drive from Halifax. (Or take Route 104 from the New Brunswick border or Routes 101 and 102 from Yarmouth via Halifax). The most enjoyable drive is along the North East Coast via (Route 7, rather then the 3 TransCanada Route 104). This is about six hours. If driving via Maine, the Yarmouth CAT ferry is a delight, and avoids the long drive through Route 1 and the Trans Canada Route 2 through New Brunswick.)

Registration: Cost: $ 650 Cdn. per person, including 2 yr. membership fee with the Society. (About $ 475 USA –but exchange may change.) (Contact me if you’re bringing children. No cost for them! Event-by-event rates will be available for locals.) Registration will include the Welcome, Reception and entertainment, insurance, all coach tours, all admission fees, lunch on Friday and the closing Banquet on Sunday evening. Please fill out this registration form. Should you wish to register in advance, payment can be made at the above rates with two guarantees: No increase, if rates go up; and refunds (or extra repaid meals), if I can bring the rates down. Cheques (including American dollars) to “Clan MacMillan Gathering 2026” may be directed to me (2983 Route 121, Apohaqui NB Canada E5P 3W7). E-transfers by email (for Canadian residents only).

Chris McMullen