Porter's Lake Provincial Park, Nova Scotia
We left the Western shore of Acadian Coast behind us and crossed over onto the Southern area known as the Lighthouse Route early this morning. Unlike the Acadian coast which was sparse and sprinkled with saltbox houses here and there overlooking wide vistas of Fundy Bay, this stretch of Nova Scotia was heavily wooded and had many more villages, coves and peninsulas. Our goal over the next week is to drive the circumference of Nova Scotia. Considering that its coastline is 4625 miles, we definitely have to pick and chose which peninsulas to explore. No easy feat considering each cove, bay and tiny fishing town seems to have an interesting story. We even saw a boat that had run aground attesting to the difficulty of trying to navigate these treacherous waters, especially with their crazy tides.
After pouring over guidebooks and talking with locals we finally decided which nooks and crannies to see. The first little town we explored was Birchtown. After the American Revolution over 3500 free African-Americans, loyal to the Crown, moved to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Birchtown was the largest of the settlements. Their population eventually declined due to how poorly they were treated and in 1792 many of them emigrated to Sierra Leone, West Africa. The land they were given by the British was really poor rocky soil, much like the inferior land the Acadians were given.
Continuing to hug the coastline, we moved onto Shelburne. During the American Revolution many pro-British refugees gathered in New York. The wealthier class went to England, but most of the less affluent sought refuge in Shelburne, Nova Scotia. Their population mushroomed from 400 to 10,000 in one year! By the year 1800 only 300 families were left, many families resettling elsewhere. Okay, what struck me the most about this was I never thought about the Americans who remained loyal to the British. I just assumed that everyone wanted to be free of British rule or at least wanted to stay a part of the colonies. Guess I missed that one in school. We were really looking forward to seeing this town, partly because its waterfront had some of the original structures and partly because it was the Lobster Festival this weekend. The architecture and waterfront did not disappoint! I loved the old dory building and other colorful buildings. However, the Lobster Festival was a disappointment. The huge town-wide flea market seemed to get a bigger draw. Just as well, how much lobster can one really eat anyway?
True to its name, the Lighthouse Route, this stretch of Nova Scotia had a plethora of lighthouses. We visited many other fishing villages and coves, but of course had to visit the most famous of them all, Peggy's Cove, which is touted as being the most photographed lighthouse in Canada. It's a very tiny village, only 35 residents live here year round, but thousands come to take pictures of the lighthouse. It really is breathtaking to see this lighthouse atop the rocks, with the waves crashing below. The village is very quaint and frankly, it's just hard to take a bad picture here. As if on cue, our overcast skies cleared up, the sun broke out and we were treated to a spectacularly beautiful day. This part of the coast definitely reminded us of Mendocino.
We finally made it into the big city, Halifax. Our plan was to unload the bikes and tour the waterfront, but it was really windy and cold. Instead we decided to tour the oldest brewery in North America, Alexander Keith Brewery. (Pretty good backup plan, I'd say.) It wasn't so much a tour as a show. We really did think we were going to see and learn about their brewery process. Instead we got period actors, dressed up in costume, doing a song and dance show. It was very entertaining and we got to drink a bunch of beer so I'm not complaining. Ned said it reminded him of the Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco. Everyone thinks they are watching chocolate being made, but in reality it's just a show.
Halifax is a very fun city. I love the mix of really old buildings right next to high rises situated on the waterfront. It reminds me a little of Boston with the hills of San Francisco. What's so interesting about Halifax is that there really doesn't seem to be any suburbia or sprawl. Twenty kilometers away and you are once again in the depths of a heavily wooded, very sparsely populated area. We are camped at Porter's Lake Provincial Park, only 22 kilometers from Halifax and it feels like I'm in upper Minnesota with the lakes and trees. Of course, our camping neighbors, a country Nova Scotian group are blasting out their favorite old timey country songs so there is that. Yes, country music seems to be big around these here parts.
