Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 8, 1990 TAG: 9004080282
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TRACY WIMMER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
I will recall how we anchored ourselves sideways with our feet against the cold walls, clutching at wet rocks that gave little support. All we could hear, aside from our own nervous laughter, was the sound of the icy, crystal blue Atlantic slapping against jagged rocks below us.
And from our vantage point, through the cave's mouth, all we could see was a surreal vision of water and sky. But that changed soon enough when we caught sight of a tiny lobster boat being tossed about the waves. The poor man. He would retrieve one trap, then another - only to find they were empty.
May marked the end of the province's lobster season, which had begun the December before. Soon tourists would swarm like locusts to the peninsula and pay top dollar for seafood that had been kept alive in tanks. But not now.
Even in that precarious position, we soon lost track of time watching the boat, laughing and talking.
Nova Scotia is like that. You can sit for hours transfixed on the sea, forgetting you ever had deadlines or commitments, or that you were about to fall.
Nova Scotia is not a place where one goes to meet, greet and be elite. I guess it could be - there are certainly plenty of fancy inns and golf courses close to the capital city of Halifax (population 115,000). But for us, the province was fairly basic - listening to the crashing waves on rocks, the cry of wheeling gulls around fishing wharfs, the banter of French-Acadians pulling out their nets at the end of the day. It was meeting a friendly lighthouse keeper who had drunk too much but told great tales. It was sneaking down onto the docks in Lunenberg to catch a glimpse of the Bluenose II, the long, sleek schooner whose ancestor, the Bluenose, won races around the world and eventually became the symbol of maritime excellence internationally - as well as the model for the movie, "Mutiny on the Bounty."
Traveling in Nova Scotia does not require a lot of planning if you go off-season. But if your trip falls between Memorial Day and Labor Day, make reservations. Hotels and bed-and-breakfasts - no matter what the price - fill up quickly. So do the numerous campgrounds around the province.
For us, it was a matter of finding enough jeans and T-shirts for a week's stay, ordering a AAA guidebook and doing a little background reading. A National Geographic map proved priceless, giving interesting sites that many books ignored.
Nova Scotia is rich with history. From the days when Sir William Alexander's attempt to settle Nova Scotia ("New Scotland") in the early 1600s, through the arrival of the Hector at Pictou in 1773, to the modern survival of Gaelic traditions, Nova Scotia is known for its Scottish connections. But it is a land of many cultures.
Originally, the Micmacs, the province's native people, numbered about 25,000 before the arrival of the Europeans brought disease that killed off many of these Indians. Today about 6,000 Micmacs live in Nova Scotia on 25 reservations.
The province was eventually settled by the French and English. The Irish, Germans, Africans, Polish and Ukranians came later. Today, about 77 percent of the Nova Scotians are of British descent, 10 percent are of French (Acadian) and both are quick to let you know - as if their accents didn't already - that they are not descendants of the other settlers.
The climate in Nova Scotia is maritime, tempered by the sea - averaging 72 degrees in July and 21 degrees in January.
The morning we left Bar Harbor, Maine, the temperature hovered around 50 degrees. We reached Nova Scotia by ferry, opting to take our own car although Canadian car rental prices are about the same as in the states. Ferry reservations are the only reservations you'll need if you're traveling off-season. Ferries run between May and October at a cost of around $100 per person.
The ride was pleasant enough - a restaurant with standard cafeteria-style fare, a bar and lounge with an excellent choice of Canadian beers but if you're savvy, you'll spend at least part of the ride on deck where you can watch Maine's rugged coastline fade away and, six hours later, that of Nova Scotia's appear.
First stop - Yarmouth. Settled in 1761 on the province's western end, it's the largest seaport in Nova Scotia. We stayed only long enough to find that it offered one of the largest collections of ship paintings in Canada at the Yarmouth County Historical Society Museum on Collins Street. There is also a Firefighters' Museum of Nova Scotia on Main Street.
Making the decision of which coastal route to take requires a little reading. Pamphlets on both routes are available at Yarmouth's visitor center. Both have a number of historical attractions and festivals - depending upon the time of year you travel. The two routes are often described as the lighthouse route on the eastern shore and the Annapolis Valley route on the west. The roads often run as close as you can get to water without getting wet. They are winding and slow but their effect is calming and filled with wonderful views of lighthouses and fishing villages, deserted coves and steep cliffs. It's probably a good idea to stick to the coastal pathways. The interior of Nova Scotia is monotonous and brown - much of it appears to have suffered the effects of acid rain.
No part of the province is more than 35 miles from the sea. It's even shaped like its native delicacy - lobster. But for a 17-mile isthmus, the Isthmus of Chignecto, which links it to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia would be an island.
Its 4,600-mile coast is washed by four bodies of water - the Atlantic Ocean, the Bay of Fundy, Northumberland Strait and the Gulf of St. Lawrence - all guarded by more than 100 lighthouses and fog horns. There are also some 30 beaches - many with lifeguards. But don't expect the white sandy shores of Carolina. Beach goers here must be a bit more rugged.
Besides its seascapes, Nova Scotia has about 300 trout and salmon streams and more than 1,000 lakes. So take your fly rod and a copy of "The Tent Dwellers," by Albert Bigelow Paine, a Nova Scotia bible of sorts. Published in 1908, it tells of two friends from Boston and their local guides who brave the uncharted islands of "KedgeemaKoogee" lake on a trout-fishing expedition.
Traveling the lighthouse route from Yarmouth to Halifax, we eventually cut a path across the rural province into the Annapolis Valley, making our way to our departure point on the west coast.
Most memorable about the drive was the place where we discovered the caves - the Ovens Natural Park. It has over 200 acres of woods, meadows, and trails, with nearly a mile of rugged Atlantic shoreline that rose 50 feet or more in some places. Through the centuries, the changes that occurred in the crust of the earth, and the action of storms and seas, wore these deep caverns into the sides of the cliffs.
Nancy Sherwood, a native of New Brunswick, and her husband, artist David Cameron of upstate New York, own and operate the park. Their third partner, Steve Chapin, brother to the late singer Harry, shows up on occasion when he isn't singing on the road.
Originally a farm settled by German immigrants, the Ovens was the site of a gold rush in 1861. In a few short months, the area was transformed into a bustling boom town, attracting investors such as Samuel Cunard of Cunard Steamship Lines. The whole town rose and fell on speculation, in a period of three years.
Inside Sherwood's Tradewinds General Store, an old white building located back from the cliffs' edge, you can explore a mini-museum of antique history books, photos, seafarer treasures - all while sipping on a cola from the general store. Scuba diving and star gazing are encouraged - as well as meditation and sketching. There also were campsites and a pool. Admission is $3.
It would have been easy to spend the week there, but we traveled on to the fishing village of Lunenberg.
Work your way down to the water and you might be lucky enough to see the Bluenose II. Also, plan to spend some time at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, which features a floating museum consisting of a "saltbanker," which fished the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. There also is a saltwater aquarium, and the Icehouse Theatre showing films on shipbuilding and the fishing industry. Admission is $2.
After Lunenberg, take time out for Mahone Bay.
Nestled in a small harbor at the head of Mahone Bay surrounded by the bay's 365 islands is a little town of the same name. Approaching on Highway 3 from the east, you will be greeted by its most famous attraction - The Three Churches, which have stood sentry on the bay for more than 150 years. They are St. James Anglican, St. John's Lutheran and Trinity United. Mahone Bay also is a mecca for antique and craft shops, restaurants and country inns.
Peggy's Cove, a picturesque fishing village at the eastern sea approach to St. Margarets Bay, is famous for its lighthouse - the only one in Canada to house a post office - and the giant granite boulders around its shore.
The city of Halifax is a good anecdote for people who need a quick dose of the city. Halifax harbor, celebrated in story and song, is the second-largest harbor in the world (10 miles deep), second only to the harbor of Sydney, Australia.
Above the harbor is Halifax Citadel, a star-shaped fortress with a commanding view of the downtown and the waterfront. Admission is $5. Halifax also is home to St. Paul's Church, Canada's oldest Protestant church founded by proclamation of King George II in 1749 and completed in 1750. St. Paul's architectural plans were based on those of St. Peter's Church, Vere Street, in London. Both the Citadel and St. Paul's Church are within walking distance of fine harbor restaurants.
Cutting through the inner province was an uneventful ride, but the town of Wolfville was a welcomed break from the drive and the city. A light rain was falling when we got to this university town whose population is just over 3,000.
Settled in the 1760s by New England planters, Wolfville was originally known as Mud Creek and is located at the point where the Cornwallis River opens into the Minas Basin. It is renowned as one of the world's smallest natural harbors.
The internationally acclaimed artist Alex Coleville lives in this little tree-lined town. And if you visit Acadia University - founded in 1838 as Queens College - you can see some of his work on permanent display.
Continuing on, we came upon the Annapolis Valley where is located Annapolis Royal, the capital of Nova Scotia from 1710 until Halifax was founded in 1749.
Along the Annapolis Basin shore the original French dikes hold back the Bay of Fundy tides, which are considered the world's highest and lowest - rising 55 feet at Burncoat Head.
While there, also visit the Port Royal Habitation started by Champlain in 1605. It is the oldest European settlement in Canada, located on the north shore of the Annapolis River and is similar in appearance to Virginia's Jamestown. It was the site of North America's first play, "Le Theatre de Neptune" and the first North American social club, "L' Ordre de Bon Temps" (Order of the Good Times) in 1606. The guides dress in period clothing and are quite entertaining. Admission is free.
The drive from Annapolis Royal to Digby takes less than an hour. Digby, with its population of less than 2,600, is one of the most popular resorts in the Atlantic provinces. If you like scallops, this is the place to eat them. Digby has one of the largest scallop fleets in the world.
We left a rainy Nova Scotia by way of a ferry from Digby to St. John, New Brunswick. Again, reservations are required. The cost is $60 and the ride lasts only three hours. Yet, we found three hours more than enough time to drink a Canadian beer and toast a wonderful vacation.
by CNB