| MacAskill's Dining Room' was created and opened for business in 1986. The original creators of MacAskill's themed it surrounding Giant Angus MacAskill and even had his 'giant' size replica on the exterior of the building. While MacAskill's today does not continue to borrow Giant MacAskill's persona, for your interest we include an excerpt from "Two Remarkable Giants" by Phyllis R. Blakeley.
"Angus MacAskill
was born on Harris in the Hebridean Islands of Scotland in 1825. His father,
Nornan MacAskill, and mother Christina Campbell, had a large family. There
were thirteen in all, several of whom died young. As a baby, Angus was
not as large as the other children. When he was three years old, the family
crossed the Atlantic Ocean and settled in Englishtown on the south side
of St. Ann's Harbour in Cape Breton.
At fourteen, Angus became known as St. Ann's Big Boy and was teased for
his size and clumsiness. As the boy kept growing, his father had to raise
the roof and lift the ceilings of the kitchen and living room.
The Big Boy of St. Ann's was 7 feet 9 inches tall and weighed 425 pounds,
with shoulders 44 inches wide. He was a friendly giant, which was a good
thing because his hands were eight inches wide and a foot long. One time,
Angus jogged down the street with a 300 pound barrel of pork under each
arm. To win a bet with some French sailors he lifted an anchor weighing
2700 pounds to his shoulder and walked down the wharf with it. There was
a time when a sick man had to be taken 25 miles through a howling snowstorm.
The giant swung him up over his back and carried him to the doctor without
once setting him down. Fishermen who couldn't pull their heavily laden
boat up on the beach, called on Angus for help; and as the giant pulled
on the bow, the men decided to play a trick and hauled back. The boat
was torn in two in the tug-of-war between the Giant and the fishermen.
Queen Victoria heard stories of his amazing strength and invited the Cape
Breton Giant to an audience at Windsor Castle where she presented him
with two gold rings and acclaimed him as the tallest, stoutest, and strongest
man that ever entered the place Angus MacAskiIl died at his home in St.
Ann's on August 6, 1862 at the age of 38. The doctor's diagnosis was brain
fever. The Halifax Acadian Recorder of August 15, 1863, reported that
"the well known giant ... was by far the tallest man in Nova Scotia,
perhaps in British America" and that "his mild and gentle manner
endeared him to all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance."
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