Nova Scotia Travel Guide

Nova Scotia is located at the far southeast edge of Canada, separated from the American state of Maine by the Bay of Fundy. Glancing at a map you might think it's an island, but the province is actually a peninsula, connected to the province of New Brunswick by the 17-mi-/27-km-wide Isthmus of Chignecto. To the north are Northumberland Strait and the Gulf of St. Lawrence and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. The terrain ranges from rolling hills and mountains to fairly level farmland. There are excellent beaches, rugged coastlines, lakes, rivers and forests. No spot is more than 35 mi/55 km from the sea. The province includes Cape Breton Island, which has been described by international media as one of the most beautiful islands in the world.

The first people to behold the beauty of Nova Scotia are thought to have arrived around 10,000 years ago. They were the ancestors of the Mi'kmaq—the First Nations people who inhabited Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island when the Europeans first arrived. Some think the Vikings arrived in the province a millennium ago, although the most prominent evidence, a "runic stone" currently on display in a Yarmouth museum, has never been proven of Norse origin. Another disputed visitor is Prince Henry Sinclair, a Scots nobleman who might have sailed from Italy to near Canso in 1398: A granite monument has been erected at the site by those who believe he made the trip.

The first landfall by a European is widely credited to Giovanni Caboto, or John Cabot, whose expedition sailed to Cape Breton Island in 1497. European settlement started at present-day Port Royal, when Samuel de Champlain and Sieur de Monts established the Habitation in 1605. This outpost managed to survive for eight years, despite harsh winter weather and scurvy, which killed many early settlers. In 1613, the British attacked the Habitation, kicking off a century in which ownership of the colony seesawed between France and England seven times. In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht gave mainland Nova Scotia to the British and Cape Breton Island to the French. The French settlers who continued to farm on the mainland of Nova Scotia (Acadians) were officially neutral, but when the English (again at war with France) required that they swear allegiance to the British crown, they refused. In 1755, thousands of Acadians were deported to Quebec, the U.K., France, New England and what is now the southern U.S. (where the word Cajun was derived from Acadian).

Some Acadians escaped the deportation, and others managed to return several years later. Today, many place names in Nova Scotia are French, and approximately 15% of the province's inhabitants are of French descent. Much of their land was given to New Englanders who relocated to Nova Scotia in the 1760s. In the 1770s, the first major wave of Scots arrived in New Scotland with the arrival of the immigrant ship Hector in September 1773. At the same time, more than 1,000 Yorkshire folk settled along the shores of the Bay of Fundy. In 1783, British Loyalists fleeing the U.S. colonies at the end of the American Revolutionary War moved to the colony, including a large contingent of freed Black Loyalists. Great numbers of people in Scotland and Ireland emigrated to Nova Scotia, followed (at the turn of the 19th century) by people from the Caribbean, Europe and Russia; the result is a remarkable mix of cultures. In 1848, Nova Scotia became the first British colony to be given responsible government.

During the 20th century, many of those fleeing wars in Europe emigrated to North America through Nova Scotia—the Pier 21 immigration center in Halifax was the "gateway to Canada" for more than a million people between 1928 and 1971. In 1986, the Shambhala branch of Tibetan Buddhism moved its world headquarters to Halifax, touching off a small but significant migration (about 700 Shambhala Buddhists now live in Nova Scotia, with monks and other practitioners constantly visiting).

Nova Scotia is situated near some of the world's richest fishing waters—the Grand Banks. Fishing has been a crucial source of revenue since the early 16th century, but overfishing over the past number of years has meant that some of the province's historic fisheries have had to be shut down. Forestry, manufacturing, life sciences, information technology, and offshore oil and natural gas drilling have helped diversify the economy in recent decades. As well, Nova Scotia's natural beauty has lately been coupled with generous tax incentives to make the province a popular destination for film production. A number of Hollywood movies have been shot at least partially in Nova Scotia, and it's not hard to find a local who's had a close encounter with at least one international celebrity.

Nova Scotia's main attractions are spectacular maritime scenery, intriguing cultural and historical attractions (such as the Grand Pre National Historic Site, Pier 21, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and the Fortress of Louisbourg), scenic driving trails, dramatic tides, music, Halifax, whale-watching, watersports (including fishing and scuba diving), camping, hiking and fabulous food (especially lobster).

Nova Scotia appeals to travelers who appreciate rugged seaside scenery and small towns. Those who don't have a great interest in the outdoors or who don't like occasional cool, foggy weather will find the province less to their liking. The Halifax Regional Municipality offers those who enjoy cities a vibrant atmosphere, world-class theater, music and sporting events, excellent restaurants and a downtown suitable for walking.

Cape Breton Island is a hotbed of Celtic music. Some of the biggest names include members of the Rankin family, the Barra MacNeils, the Cottars and Natalie MacMaster. Every October, the finest Celtic musicians in the world go to Cape Breton for the annual Celtic Colours Festival.

The term "Bluenose," a nickname for the people of Nova Scotia, stems from the blueberry dye once used by the women of Lunenburg to dye the wool for fishermen's mittens. The dye was not very colorfast, and the fishermen in their small dories soon became well-known for the brilliant indigo shade of their noses. Today, Nova Scotia is one of the world's largest exporters of frozen wild blueberries.

It's a nice place to visit, but you might want to live there. Scientists have found people are more likely to live to be 100 years old in Nova Scotia than anywhere else in the world, although nobody knows exactly why.

In 1917, a French munitions ship, the Mont-Blanc, collided with the Belgian relief ship Imo in Halifax Harbor. The resulting explosion was the largest explosives detonation in the world prior to the dropping of atomic bombs in World War II. The catastrophic blast killed almost 2,000 people, left 6,000 homeless, injured 9,000 and flattened more than 2 sq mi/5 sq km of Halifax.

Nova Scotia's flag, the blue cross of Saint Andrew against a white background, is one of the world's oldest flags: It dates from the 1620s. The red, white and blue flag with a gold star you see throughout primarily French areas is the Acadian flag flown by the descendants of Nova Scotia's French settlers. The French tricolor, upon which the Acadian flag is based, never flew over Nova Scotia.

In 1606, settlers at Port Royal passed the long, hard winter amusing themselves with a kind of social club. Members sought to outdo each other by staging lavish banquets and rousing entertainment. They called their club L'Ordre du Bon Temps (the Order of Good Cheer), and it still exists today. Anyone who stays in Nova Scotia for at least three days can become a member.

Tides in the Bay of Fundy are the world's highest, rising and falling up to 52 ft/16 m. They are so high that when the tide comes in, it forces a wall of water (known as a tidal bore) to rush up rivers that feed into the bay. Shubenacadie, on the Shubenacadie River, is one of the best places to witness this natural phenomenon. According to a local saying, the whole province tips slightly when the tide rushes in.

Nova Scotia has strong Titanic connections, with 150 victims of the 1912 disaster buried in Halifax cemeteries, and parts of the 1997 movie filmed in the province. But if you visit the large group of graves at the Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, don't confuse fact and fiction. People have traveled from around the world to see the tombstone inscribed J. Dawson, assuming it marks the grave of the movie's hero (and fictional character) Jack Dawson, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. The grave actually belongs to James Dawson, who shoveled coal for the engines on the Titanic.