Halifax

The Province of Nova Scotia is made up of many tiny fishing villages and lots of healthy looking farms but there are a few larger cities and Halifax is the largest.

The wharf area is the heart of downtown and it is where the city started.  There are several large parking lots that allow for 24 hour parking.  Yeah! For $16 in the daylight hours and $6 for overnight, that's where I stayed for the first night in town.  

And what a view!

The port of Halifax is one of the world's finest natural harbors.  Ice-free year round, its main channel depth of over 60 feet offers shippers some of the deepest and most navigable waters along the North American east coast.

It was great walking and I had a chance to visit with quite a few of the locals...

...including this couple named Mary and Mark who were enthralled with my nomadic life.  I am expecting to hear from them sometime in the near future when they sell their home, pack up their stuff and hit the road in an RV.  

There are lots of opportunities to meet people here.  Just sitting on a bench for five minutes can bring new friends with interesting ideas and lots of information,

I think this is artwork--though it may be a result of Global Warming.

This was in front of a very popular restaurant called "The Bicycle Thief".

Little kids love these fountains, even in their Sunday best.

THE GRAND DERANGEMENT

L'Acadie, established by France in 1604, was a strategically located and highly coveted colony.  In 1713 it was handed over to England and renamed Nova Scotia.  The Acadians were perceived as a threat, and in 1755 the British authorities launched their systematic deportation, splitting up families and communities, seizing all lands and possessions.

This was the Grand Derangement, or Great Upheaval.  Nearly 10,000 men, women and children were piled into ships and deported to the Anglo-American colonies, to England and to France.

Some Acadian families returned to their former homes, but most never again set eyes on Acadie.  Many took root in Quebec and France, while those that settled in Louisiana gave rise to a new community that produced the rich Cajun Culture.

It was in Halifax on July 28th, 1755 that the Nova Scotia Council (British) made the decision to remove every Acadian (French) from the colony.  Over the next decade, Georges Island (small island in the harbor) was used as a prison for hundreds of Acadians at a time.  The first prisoners were the deputies who pleaded the Acadian cause before the Nova Scotia Council in July 1755.

Lieutenant-governor Lawrence described the Island as 'The place of most security," so Acadian partisans who took part in the resistance often ended up there.  The facilities on the Island were inadequate and living conditions were terrible.

The last attempted mass deportation came in 1762 when more than 600 prisoners were shipped to Boston.  Massachusetts refused to accept them and the ships returned to Halifax.  

The deportation policy ended in 1764, and the government made sure that the Acadians who resettled Nova Scotia did so in scattered communities.   

The Deportation Cross

I do not know why these tourists are holding their heads but I thought this picture was kind of funny.

IRISHTOWN

 Once known as Irishtown, the name was first coined in the mid-1700s with the expulsion of the Acadians.

  At that time a number of Gaelic-speaking Irish fishermen, who were among the first settlers, built fishing camps along the harbor south of the newly established town of Halifax.  

The fishing camps and the name were short-lived however, as in the 1760s, the fishing families moved to the coastal villages.  However, by the 1870s, 40% of the city's population was of Irish descent.

I thought this statue was strange--why is he dressed like someone from the 50s? A hat?  What does the briefcase signify?  I think most of the Emigrants were fishermen, farmers or soldiers.

THE EMIGRANT

The pain of separation he overcame, 

with faith and hope his heart aflame...

And what about her?  As usual, the suffering is all about him--she just waits stoically behind--tending to the kids and those weird weeds growing out of the top of that wall.

SAMUEL CUNARD

Samuel Cunard was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1787.  

For more than half a century, the S. Cunard & Company wharves on the Halifax waterfront were the center of a vast shipping empire engaged in the West Indies trade.  Samuel Cunard became the foremost entrepreneur in Halifax and one of the largest owners of sailing vessels in the Maritime Provinces.

Finally, Something I could relate to...The Farmer's Market is held daily on the wharf...

 

And it was huge with wonderful fruits, vegetables and...

...something for everyone.

I followed her around the market trying to get a picture that did not have a glare in it but this was the best I could get.  The 'Free Spirit' sign should have been over her head.

Exhausted, I went to bed early that night but the revelry continued for hours with folk singers, dancing and even an opera singer at a restaurant right next to the RV.  I would have liked to spend more time there but I had miles to cover and time was getting short.

The information in Italics is from the signs posted along the wharf.

Thanks to Karen and Tony for the suggestion on parking on the Wharf.  Their Blog, "Rolling in a RV-Wheelchair Traveling" is a wealth of information for RVers.  A link to their Blog is on the upper right of this page.