We visited the memorial and one of the mass grave sites for the SS Atlantic today. This ship was another White Star ship (same as the Titanic.) The ship operated between Liverpool, UK and New York City, US. On April 1, 1873 the ship struck rocks and sank off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. At least 535 of the 952 people on board were killed.
The captain had gone to bed and left to ship to his first mate. As the ship was traveling from the UK to the US the first mate didn’t think they had enough coal to make the trip. He decided to divert the ship and head to Halifax to obtain more coal. He didn’t wake the captain and tell him the new plan. There was a terrible storm and the crew was unaware of the approach to Halifax they didn’t reduce their speed in time. Before it was too late they struck rocks. The ship quickly filled with water and partially capsized. All 10 lifeboats were lowered by the crew but the storm washed them away. People were forced to try and swim for shore. Some people tied themselves to the masts. The tiny fishing villages nearby showed up to rescue and shelter the survivors. All women and children perished except for one 12 year old boy, John Hendley.
Photo of the ship wrecked
Depiction of what the storms were like the night the ship wrecked.
After visiting Peggy’s Cove we drove over to the memorial site for Swissair Flight 111. This aircraft took off from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City to Cointrin International Airport in Geneva. Unfortunately the flight would never make the trip and all 229 lives on board would be lost. There was a fire on board which caused the crash. The plane crashed in the Atlantic Ocean just southwest of Halifax International Airport. It was roughly equal distance offshore from Peggy’s Cove and Bayswater. The memorial is a peaceful place of remembrance.
Peggy’s Cove is a small (Pop. 33) rural community found on the eastern shore of St. Margaret’s Bay in Nova Scotia’s Regional Municipality. It’s where Peggy’s Point Lighthouse is found. The day we were there was a picture perfect day!
The town became famous waaaay back around WWII. Artists and photographers flocked to the small town because of the quaint buildings and fishing village. At first the town was known for the fishing industry but as the tourism overtook the economy the town embraced the tourists and welcomes each one of us as if we were family. The town and municipality have strict requirements about the land use and regulations. It keeps the property taxes from inflating for the year round residents.
Like most places, Zoom Zoom had to try a lobster roll. This one happened to be “The Mexican.” It was the special for the day. At first Dave, a fellow traveler, and Zoom Zoom shared one and later they each decided it was so delicious they each needed one of their own! Ann, Dave’s wife, also enjoyed a lobster roll. I got to document the moments!
The church, St. John’s Anglican Church, is a municipality designated heritage site.
Lobster Shack
Picture perfect day!
Zoom Zoom picking out Theodore Too book.
Houses and businesses of all colors!
Real.Live.Jellyfish!
Time for the grub! Lobster rolls…here they come! The chef only uses claw meat.
Dave and Ann
My kind of lobster.
Peggy’s Point Lighthouse. If you look close enough you can see a lady playing the accordion and singing. Also, there was a gentleman playing the bagpipes a little further down from her.
Look closly and you can see the lady playing the accordion.
St. John’s Anglican Church, they meet once a month for services.
Leaving Peggy’s Cove we found some Pitcher Plants and Orchids! It was really cool! We had to be super careful not to fall in the bog. The frog didn’t even care we were in its territory.
While walking around Halifax we were viewing churches in our pastime. One of the churches, St. Matthews, happen to have several musicians practicing for a concert so we were unable to look at it. The sign out front advertised a FREE concert the following evening at 6:30. So, the next night after dinner, with Ann and Dave we headed over to the church. Well, we were in for a very special surprise, the concert was being presented by members in the Tattoo show. Most of these people are professional musicians in some way. Several were professors in the universities all around the country, some were members of symphonies and some were just professional musicians. No matter where they play the great thing about music is that it is an universal language. Sheet music is sheet music. We thoroughly, enjoyed the concert, and if we should ever make it back this way we know to come go to the church for the FREE concert!
We were fortunate enough to have tickets to the Royal International Tattoo. It is a multinational celebration of music. Several marching bands, dance teams, drill teams, gymnastic teams, massed pipes and drum corps, the Canadian Army Jiffy Jeep Championships, Irish dancers, young musicians, and the Tattoo Choir all perform. From start to finish there is nonstop entertainment. It was a beautiful night with lots of highlights.
Zoom Zoom and I had a very lucky tour! He signed us up for the noon one and it turns out we were the only ones that did!. We had Theodore all to ourselves! Zoom Zoom is so romantic!
Theodore Too is a tugboat that has all his friends in the harbor. Here in NS it is a children’s story. It started off as a TV show in the 1990’s and then the books and CD’s came next. We had fun riding Theodore Too!
The gardens opened in 1867 and have kept their Victorian character all these years. Many people work in the gardens including horticulturists and gardners. They have 16 acres to care for. Just enjoy the beauty!
Grrr…the first thing I want to say is the internet at these campgrounds suck! It doesn’t/didn’t matter what time of day I tried to log in – it just became a waste of time!
Now on to some great things that happened in Halifax. Halifax is a large city. It is full of rolling hills, eclectic people, proud people, and it is a beautiful city with some very tragic history.
Part of our package with this caravan company, Adventure Trek, was a bus tour of Halifax with a tour guide. Our tour guide was a retired teacher and was full of knowledge. The bus driver…he was simply amazing! I don’t know how he squeezed down some of the streets we went down.
One stop- one of the Titanic Mass Grave Sites at Fairview Lawn Cemetery to learn more about the White Star boat line who owned the Titanic, some about the passengers on the passenger ship, how the Titanic sank, the aftermath of the sinking and how Halifax was involved in the rescue, identification, and burial of the passengers.
First class passengers were on the top floor of the ship and their ticket cost the equivalent to around $45,ooo.oo per person to cross the ocean. They had full access of the entire ship. The second class passengers were on the second floor down. They were only allowed to come to the deck during certain hours. And the third class passengers were under all of them. They were not allowed to come to the top for sun or fresh air except for 1 hour per day. The doors to their floor were locked so they wouldn’t be tempted to come out.
After the accident, ships were sent with doctors, priests, and morticians. As the bodies were collected they were each given a number and a small bag to put their belongings in. First class passengers were taken care of first. They were embalmed and given a pine box. Second class passengers were also given a number, a bag for their belongings, they were embalmed and were put in canvas bags. Third class passengers were given a number, they were NOT embalmed (they ran out of the fluid) and many of them were buried at sea since they were not embalmed if they were embalmed they were laid on a stretcher. If there was not identification for a passenger- most of them were buried at sea.
Another Stop – The Citadel The Citadel is a fort set in the center of Halifax. Again, there were reenactors from the period (1749)wearing costumes and acting as if they were from those times. If the enemy could make it up the hills around the Citadel they had more in store for them. There were cannons, guns, and of course the soldiers. There appeared to be a moat around the Citadel, this was designed for protection and if the enemy came up they would be met with a 30 foot drop in most places.
Pay phone is ‘original’.
Yoga on the hill.
And another stop – Maritime Museum of the Atlantic
We had to come back for a longer visit since we were only given about 45 minutes to visit this place. I put all the photos together. The Maritime Museum has some artifacts from the Titanic and goes through the chronology of the accident.
Another important section of the museum is the section about the Halifax Explosion in 1917. In a instant the face of Halifax and the harbor changed when two ships collided. Five years after the sinking of the Titanic, the doctors and morticians would use the same system as before of numbering the bodies and bagging all their belongings. The dead are buried in a mass grave with a memorial.
Waaaaay back in 1816, Captain William Ross brought 172 soldiers and their families to establish the settlement after six companies of Nova Scotia Infantry were disbanded from Halifax.
The farm was a working farm from 1816-1969. Five generations of Ross families lived and worked on the farm. In 1969 the property was purchased by the New Ross District Museum Society. The last of two remaining Ross’s was living on the farm. All she asked for in return was a home “in town” with running water, heat, electricity, and a stove with an oven. Up until 1969 she had had none of those luxuries. Today the farm is run as if time had stopped in the early 1800’s.
One Room Schoolhouse In the winter, the older boys were expected to arrive at least an hour early to start the fire in the pot bellied stove. Kids used real slate to write on slate boards and of course all kids learned in the same room. The one room schoolhouse taught Kindergarten to grade 10. After that, usually the kids just went to work on the family farm or they could attend the high school across “the way.”
Teachers had very strict codes back then. They could not be seen out and about after dark. They had to arrive early to school to fill the oil lamps. They whittled the pens for each student being careful to make each pen just the way each child liked it. They could not drink nor smoke. They had to keep a neat appearance. There were other rules, but you get the idea-teachers taught and that was it.
See the washrooms?
Zoom Zoom learning his ABC’s
Pot bellied stove
Teacher’s desk
Farm Animals Animals are a big part of farm life. They used oxen and horses to plow the fields. The day before we were there the calf was born and mamma pig had 8 babies 5 weeks before. There was a lamb,but we didn’t go see it the fields and paths were MUDDY!
Free range chickens
Barn cat
Baa!
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Feed us!
He loved scratches!
Oxen to plow the field
I give milk if I have a calf
Momma Cow
Calf-1 day old
Yolk used on the oxen
Horse and Buggy Part of the experience is taking a horse and buggy ride. It amazes me how strong horses are. The buggy dropped us off at the Cooperage where we learned how barrels are/were made from in the 1800’s.
Cooperage The highlight on the farm was our trip to the Cooperage. If you had asked me before the trip what a cooper did I would not have known. The gentleman we watched has been making barrels for over 30 years. We enjoyed watching and talking with him so much we even bought one of his barrels and Zoom Zoom had him sign it!
Walter is starting a barrel
He is putting the willow around the barrel
This slices the willow
Our bucket barrel looks like the second one in
Walter’s hat for sunny days
Blacksmith We visited the blacksmith’s shop. He wasn’t as friendly as Walter. This guy makes all the shoes for the oxen and horses on the farm. He wasn’t at all interested in showing us how he did anything. There was a contraption for holding the animals so they could be shoed. He said he will not shoe a horse only the oxen. It is kind of a status thing in the blacksmithing world (I guess.)
Shoe off of an oxen that had it’s’ nails clipped.
Where he gets things hot
His stash of ‘shoes’ for the oxen
The contraption for holding the animal. There was poop EVERYWHERE!
House We entered through the ‘summer kitchen.’ This room was attached to the house like an afterthought. The young girl had a fire going in the stove so the room was pretty toasty. She walked us though the house to what we would call the family room. There was a spinning wheel in the corner. She plops down and begins to demonstrate how to use it-she was turning wool into thread! That was impressive. The stairs to the second floor were almost as steep as using a ladder. I don’t know how they ever got any furniture up there.
