July 23, 2013 Halifax
area
Today we had a bus tour of the area. Gordon always likes bus trips, because he can
see more.
First stop was Peggy’s Cove.
Peggy’s Cove was and still is a small fishing village. It has less than 25 full time residents. It was made famous by a Finnish painter
William deGarthe, who married and settled in the village. He then spent the rest of his life painting
traditional oil paintings of the sea and the village. The artist decided to make a sculpture in the
granite rocks in front of his house. He
went to Italy
and learned how to sculpture, then returned and worked on his sculpture.
Peggy’s Cove is a very small cove,
with a very small entrance. It is almost
solid granite (large rocks “erratics,” which were left behind by receding glaciers. The
soil is so bad, that the few trees in the area are stunted. Rocks are covered by lichen. Crashing waves and wind have polished the
rocks. Buildings are built on beach
stone and incorporate the granite rocks.
There are two stories for its name.
One is that the larger bay is called Margaret, and small cove on the bay
is a diminutive (Peggy) of Margaret. The
other is that a young girl called Peggy was the sole survivor of a ship rock.
While here, we took an hour boat ride out of the bay. We looked at the lighthouse from the
sea. Then we dropped some bait in the
water and went to the closest fishing village to Peggy’s Cove (this is what I
thought a fishing village should look like).
On the way back we stopped near where we dropped the bait. We hoped to see lobster and fish eating the
bait when they dropped an underwater camera.
Unfortunately, the camera did not work.
After our boat trip, our guide gave us a brief tour of the village. We had time to shop. At 1:00 PM we went into the Southwestern
Restaurant and had lunch (seafood chowder for me, fish and chips for
Gordon. I choose gingerbread for
dessert; Gordon chose apple crisp. Both
came with ice cream.) While we were
shopping it started to sprinkle. Our final stop was to view the memorial to Swiss Flight 111, which went down with no survivals about 10 miles from the cove.
After lunch, we went back on the bus. It started to rain heavy to light the rest of
the day and night and the fog rolled inland.
The guide told wonderful stories about the residents of Peggy’s Cove as
we drove into Halifax and wonderful stories
about Halifax as we drove around Halifax .
Our next stop was the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site
of Canada. Men and women were in costume
(kilts for the military) and told the history of the citadel. Exhibits explained things as well. It is in a star shaped fort, sunk into the
ground, high on a hill. Halifax was founded as a military site and
civilians were brought in to support the troops. The defenses for the fort were never
breached.
Our final stop was the Fairview Lawn
Cemetery Halifax was the place
where all bodies were bought, because there was a train here that could send
some bodies to families. Temporary
morgues were set up. Bodies were
embalmed. Bodies too damaged were buried
at sea. It was devastating for the
sailors that recovered bodies. Some were
so touched that they put up special monuments.
Many bodies were never identified. One was a two year old boy. He was given two different names before DNA
was used in 1990 to give him his real name
Bodies were too deteriorated for DNA to be used all bodies in the cemetery
and you need DNA of descendents with
whom to match DNA. Quite a few Titanic
artifacts are in the area.
One interesting event occurred after the movie Titanic was
filmed. The name for the male lead was
taken off a monument in Fairview Lawn. J.
Last Name (I forgot) was a worker on the Titanic. Jack, played by Leo De Caprio, was a fictional
character. After the movie, young girls
came to the cemetery and left flowers on the grave and expected to see the
actor paying his respects.
July 24, 2013
Today we had breakfast provided by staff. Then Gordon and I headed into town. First stop was an RV store, then a place
downtown to buy my makeup foundation, and then on to the waterfront to visit
the Maritime Museum Halifax explosion that occurred in 1917.
We learned about the explosion yesterday. Today we had pictures and statements from
survivors. A naval ship was loaded with
explosive materials and I don’t remember what the other one was. Both were in the harbor. Both were seen by the other and were headed
for a head on collision. No one yielded
until the last moment. The naval ship
signaled a turn; the other ship turned the opposite way. The second ship did not quite clear the naval
ship and sparks flew. The naval ship
caught fire. People rushed to the shore
to see the fire. Men on the boats got in
life boats, reached land, and fled as fast as they could. The naval boat exploded. The damage is second to the damage caused by
one of the nuclear bombs on Japan
in WW II. All of the buildings in a one
mile radius were totally destroyed. All
the windows in Halifax
broke. Two thousand people died. Some survivors were picked up and blown ½ to 1 mile away from where they were
standing. Many people were blind (so
many rushed to windows to see the fire).
The community, the governments, and international support were
incredible. A great deal of help came from Boston. One company in Massachusetts donated
domestic goods for those who lost all and even built a housing neighborhood and
stores out of stones that would not burn.
Today the Halifax donates their best Christmas tree to Boston to stand on the Boston commons. After lunch and a grocery stop, we went home
and rested. We have a very long drive tomorrow with two sites to visit along the way. We hope to make it in time for wagon master treat of margaritas and Mexican snacks.
De Grathe sculpture
Cove from boat Peggy's Cove Lighthouse in background
Titanic Monument inn Fairview Lawn Cemetery
Flight 111 Memorial
Oldest house in Peggy's Cove
Built about 1812. Scottish Dormers
Diagram of citadel
At Citadel (kilt represents
on of regiments that was assigned to
citadel)
July 25, Thursday
Today was a travel day. It rain until we stopped in our RV park for the night. The first 95 miles were all 4 lane interstate, which was nice. We stopped to see parts of two museums. We may go back and see the rest of them on our return trip from Newfoundland. The first was the Museum of Industry. It was built on the site of a coal mine. There used to be many, many bituminous coal mines in the area. The museum started with the labor intensive jobs the first settlers had, who had to do everything on their own. Then there were several exhibits on steam engines. One was a old train steam engine built in England in 1824. It was taken apart and reassembled in Canada. It is probably the oldest surviving steam engine in N. America. Then we saw a steam engine used to pull boats to dry dock. It operated from about 1860 to 1990. There was a machine shop run on by a steam engine from one of the mines. Then we moved to the era of electricity, which we saw very quickly because we still had a lot of ground to cover.
The next museum was close to our campground--the Alexander Graham Bell National Museum. It was packed. We did not get to see as much as we wanted and will probably go back on Saturday. Saturday is a travel day and we only travel 10 miles. We had not realized Bell was deeply involved with teaching the deaf to speak (like his father and grandfather) or that he developed an airplane (which was not widely adopted, but some the features of the airplane were his) and a hydro foil boat.
At the campground we had our usual travel meeting. Tomorrow we have a bus trip on the Cabot Trail. We ended the meeting with margaritas and Mexican snack foods provided by our leaders.
Tall Ship, Halifax Harbor
Probably oldest steam engine in N. America (1824)
Museum of Industry
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