Monday 2 September 2024

Day 33 31 August Halifax, Nova Scotia

The city has a population of was 520,000. The Mi'kmaq (First Nations) name for Halifax was "Great Harbour". The first permanent British settlement in the region was in 1749. The establishment of Halifax violated earlier treaties with the Mi'kmaq (1726).  To guard against Mi'kmaq, Acadian and French attacks on the new Protestant settlements, the British had fortifications erected.


 

We visited the botanical gardens which were very nice.


This tree was planted by the George VI and the Queen in 1939. It's doing quite well.

In the garden there was a pond with famous ships. Here is the Titanic with a decided list.


Halifax highlights are Citadel Hill. Here is a view from it over the city.


The iconic Peggys Cove is internationally recognized and receives more than 600,000 visitors a year.  It is the most photographed lighthouse in Canada.



Elizabeth has a jigsaw of it that she has yet to do.





A storm has almost washed the red house away.


A view of the new viewing platform and the Sou'wester Restuarant where we had seafood chowder with a desert of gingerbread cake with lemon sauce and iced tea...not too shabby.



No waves in the cove today.



Many of the victims of the Titanic sinking are buried here. This one was an unknown child.

Our tour guide Helen told us that a few years ago they had a fellow who had lost a great, great, grandfather in the disaster but had assumed he was lost at sea, but in fact he had been, identified and buried here but the family never knew, so it was quite an emotional moment.

In December 1917 a French cargo ship carrying munitions, collided with another vessel.  The explosion killed 2,000 people and injuring nearly 9,000. It still remains the largest non-nuclear explosion the world has experienced. Boston sent medical aid and other assistance, and Halifax still sends a Christmas Tree every year to thank them.

  

FUN FACT
Established in 1752, the ferry service is the oldest continuously running saltwater ferry service in North America.

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