Coastal Discovery

Nova Scotia Hot Spots

Overview | Hot Spots | Festivals and Events | Suggested Itineraries | Nova Scotia Advertisers

Eastern Shore

This thinly populated area has plenty of beaches, tidal inlets and salt marshes teeming with birds and wildlife. The diverse and rugged coastline is ideal for sea kayakers, while inland rivers and lakes are popular with both anglers and paddlers.

Marine Drive

Starting just outside Halifax and heading directly east, Marine Drive meanders along the unspoiled coastline of Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore. The beaches are gorgeous. There’s Martinique, Nova Scotia’s longest sandy beach; Taylor Head Provincial Park, another gem that offers hiking trails; and Clam Harbour, with its sandcastle-and-sculpture contest. Lawrencetown Beach is popular with surfers, even in winter. For history buffs, Memory Lane Heritage Village at Lake Charlotte is a treasure of rural Nova Scotia from that time period (don’t miss the great food at the cookhouse). Stop by the Musquodoboit Railway Museum and Tourist Bureau at the start of the Musquodoboit Trail, the Acadian House Museum and the Stan Rogers Folk Festival in small out of-the-way Canso. The town’s population of 1,250 booms the first weekend of July, when music lovers from all over flock to this seaport.

Jeddore

Fisherman’s Life Museum in Jeddore Oyster Pond guarantees a warm welcome and features the lifestyle of an Eastern Shore fishing family in the early 1900s. Don’t miss the Rhubarb Roundup in June (they’ll even share recipes). There’s also a Festival of Extraordinary Teapots, mat making and a fishermen’s Christmas.

Sherbrooke

Sherbrooke Village in Sherbrooke presents living history in a gold-mining boomtown of the 1800s. Find out who is the family’s top history sleuth on a scavenger hunt, enjoy the music series, learn heritage skills and dress in 19th-century finery for a photo at Ambrotype Studio. There’s also a sawmill frolic, a goldmine frolic, a concert series, a harvest weekend and an old-fashioned Christmas.

Antigonish

Thousands of Scots who fled West Scotland in the 1770s settled here; hence its unofficial title, The Heart of the Highlands. For a truly Celtic experience, join the crowds who flock to Columbus Field each July for the Antigonish Highland Games, the longest-running games outside Scotland. The town is home to St. Frances Xavier University, where the Festival Antigonish Summer Theatre performs in July and August.

New Glasgow

New Glasgow recently revitalized its riverfront, which is now the centre of such activities as the Riverfront Music Jubilee and Riverfront Days. Take a water taxi to Pictou to see a replica of the ship Hector that carried Scottish Highlanders here. The Hector Heritage Quay features a working blacksmith and ship’s carpenters as well as a resident artist.

Truro

Take a breather in the centrally located town’s 400-acre Victoria Park, explore the 40 tree carvings in the downtown that depict the area’s heritage and culture and discover the power of the Bay of Fundy as twice daily the incoming tide creates a crest of water that travels upriver and temporarily reverses the flow of the Salmon River. Just off Highway 102 at Exit 13A, the new Glooscap Centre and towering 40-foot statue of Glooscap share insight on the Mi’kmaq culture and the legend of the native giant.

Maitland

The Lawrence House Museum in Maitland is home to the entrepreneur who built the largest fully rigged ship ever made in Canada. A historic re-enactment of the 1874 launch of the William D. Lawrence takes place in September 2006.

Sunrise Trail

The Sunrise Trail follows the shallow Northumberland Strait, which has some of the warmest salt water north of the Carolinas during the summer months. There are 12 provincial beaches along the route, including the Amherst Shore Provincial Park, Northport Beach and Heather Beach. The popular village of Pictou has the Northumberland Fisheries Museum and Hector Heritage Quay, home of the replica ship Hector, which brought Scottish settlers to the region in 1773. The golf course in Pugwash has a good reputation. While in Pugwash, visitors might want to see Seagull Pewter and Wallace Bay Wildlife Preserve. The Gathering of the Clans every summer attracts thousands of visitors.