My visit to Pier 21 and especially my encounter with Robert Vandekieft, an 89-year old immigrant who first arrived in Canada at Pier 21 more than 52 years ago, were a real highlight of my time in Halifax. Stefani Angelopoulos, Communications Manager for Pier 21, had kindly taken me on a tour of Canada's Immigration Museum and when we were finished, we both embarked on a walk along Halifax? Harbourwalk since we were both headed to Dartmouth, a formerly independent city, and now part of the Halifax Regional Municipality, located across the harbour from downtown Halifax.
Stefani and I had a very interesting conversation and I found out that Stefani's father had come through Pier 21 himself as an immigrant from Greece. Stefani has extensive experience with international student exchanges and volunteer assignments, so naturally I requested her to participate in an interview with me. As a local Dartmouth resident, she also gave me a bit of information about the area. She explained that Dartmouth? nickname is ?City of Lakes? because there are 23 lakes within Dartmouth proper. Stefani also mentioned a number of beaches that are located in the area that I would like to visit next time I travel to Halifax.
Dartmouth? history dates back more than 250 years: in 1750 the sailing ship Alderney brought 151 immigrants to the Halifax area and it was decided that they would settle the area east of the Halifax harbour. Dartmouth was incorporated as a town in 1873 and the town hall was built four years later. In 1955 a permanent link to Halifax was built in the form of the Angus L. MacDonald Bridge, named after a former premier of Nova Scotia. This fixed link resulted in a huge residential and commercial construction boom. Dartmouth expanded even more after the Murray MacKay Bridge opened in 1970.
Today, Dartmouth is home to several Canadian Armed Forces Installations including CFB (Canadian Forces Base) Shearwater. It is also the backdrop to Canada's popular ?Trailer Park Boys? television show which is set in a fictional Dartmouth trailer park and filmed locally in the surrounding areas.
For a $2 investment, the ferry ride between the two cities is a great investment because it gives you a great view of downtown Halifax? skyline. The Halifax ferry service is actually the oldest salt water ferry service in North America ? the first crossings took place in 1752. Having arrived at the Ferry Terminal Building on the other side of the harbour, Stefani and I said goodbye, and I embarked on my self-guided Dartmouth Walking Tour. The Ferry Terminal Building also holds the Visitor Information Centre, so convenient access to brochures and travel information is ensured.
Right outside the ferry building is Ferry Terminal Park, a public green space with a perfect view of downtown Halifax. I strolled towards the World Peace Pavilion, a structure built for the 1995 G-7 Economic summit that contains stones and bricks that were donated by more than 70 countries, resting on a bed of Nova Scotian sand.
With interest I noticed that the United States had donated rubble from a dismantled nuclear missile silo, while Canada had donated a 150 kg block of Nepean granite, a paving stone used in Canada and throughout the world, also used for paving the Grande Esplanade of Confederation Boulevard. Even more interestingly, Austria, my birth country, had donated a brick from the infamous Mauthausen Concentration Camp. The collection of stones indeed offers a very fascinating selective glimpse at world history.
From there I walked southwards to Canal Street which features the entrance of the Shubenacadie Canal, a waterway whose construction started in 1826 to link the Halifax Harbour area with the agricultural, timber and coal producing areas of the Bay of Fundy and the Annapolis Valley.
The project was fraught with problems and stopped due to the developers? bankruptcy in 1831. It was picked up again in 1854 and finally completed in 1861. Unfortunately competition with the emerging railway network ruined the canal system; in addition many railway bridges across the canal were built too low for steamers, so shortly after its construction the Shubenacadie Canal system was abandoned for the most part. Efforts have been made recently to restore portions of the original canal route for pleasure boaters, although highway overpasses have resulted in blocking the canal to larger vessel. Kayaks and rowboats are still able to navigate a portion of the Shubenacadie Canal.
I continued my walk through pleasant well-kept neighbourhoods, past the First Baptist Church. An original church was built here in 1843, but it was destroyed during the 1917 Halifax Explosion, and the new church dates from 1922. From there I reached Sullivan's Pond, a small artificial lake that was part of the Shubenacadie Canal system. This pond was the first water body in the canal system linking Halifax to the Bay of Fundy, and it was constructed as a holding pond for southbound vessels heading towards the Halifax Harbour.
A few minutes further south I reached Lake Banook, a small freshwater lake that holds a 1 km long flat-water paddling course. It is the site of many rowing and paddling competition and has hosted the World Junior Canoe Championships in 1989, the Senior World Championship in 1997 and the World Marathon Championships. Coming up in 2009, Lake Banook will host the World Senior Canoe Championships. It is a very popular recreation area for local residents.
From Lake Banook I turned around and walked northwards again through some of the residential streets in Dartmouth. I passed by two historic cemeteries: St. Peter's Cemetery and Christ Church Cemetery before I arrived again in the areas surrounding the Ferry Terminal Building. With the sun low on the horizon, I started to make my way back to the other side of the bay and a few minutes later I arrived in downtown Halifax.
To get back to my hotel I walked through Historic Properties, a collection of 19th century warehouses that have been converted into a broad range of shops and restaurants. Historic Properties is also a popular spot for wedding photography, and as I was walking through the complex, I saw a wedding party posing for various shots against this historic backdrop.
Just up on Duke Street I passed by a pedestrian mall: Granville Mall features a large variety of pubs and is located right next to the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University. One of the pub's patios was packed with people, and loud music announced that everyone was having a great time.
I took a brief rest at my hotel and used the convenient in-room Internet connection. There was so much to still see and do here in Halifax, but my time was short and I was rather exhausted from a very long day of discoveries that included a three-hour city tour and a visit to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, followed by a brief lunch and a walk along Harbourwalk to Pier 21, Canada's immigration museum. And after my almost two hour long walking tour of Dartmouth I was in dire need of rest, so I decided to simply head downstairs and eat in the Stone Street Caf?, one of the restaurants located in the Delta Barrington Hotel.
My initial hunger was quenched by an absolutely delicious broccoli cheese soup, accompanied by freshly baked specialty breads such as apricot and multigrain bread with regular butter and red pepper butter, a tasty start to a nice meal. I continued with a very filling and tasty plate of Pescara Pasta which was composed of saut'ed wild mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and grana padano cheese.
After this delicious meal I retreated upstairs to the comfort of my hotel room, packed my bags and watched a bit of TV, resting up for my early morning departure tomorrow. I reflected back on the past five action packed days in Nova Scotia and how much I had seen.
And I realized how much I had not seen, that I had literally just scratched the surface of a beautiful province, Nova Scotia, and a fascinating city, Halifax.
A good reason to return again and hopefully soon?.
Well, in the few hours that I had spent so far in this city, Halifax had already shown itself from its best side. After my fairly late arrival yesterday I had a chance for a brief walk along the waterfront before I saw an amazing performance of DRUM! ? an inspiring and heart-pumping musical kaleidoscope of Nova Scotia's four principal cultures: Black, Acadian, Aboriginal and Celtic. An awesome introduction to this city?
This morning I got up early since I wanted to discover the waterfront in the daylight before joining a city tour that would give me a good overview of what Halifax has to offer. I realized that the batteries of my digital camera were very low and wanted to buy a couple of replacement AA batteries, so I criss-crossed the city from one location to another to find batteries, but to no avail. Stores that I was directed to were either still closed or they had just run out of batteries. Well, that meant that by 9 am I had already spent a solid 40 minutes zig-zagging across the downtown core and getting a bit of an overview of the central area of the city.
At 9 am I joined a group of tourists to go on a city tour provided by ?the Company with the Kilts?. What makes this city tour unique is that the historically inspired trolleys are accompanied by knowledgeable, humorous guides that are dressed up ? you guessed it ? in a kilt. On this sunny October day, our guide was Allen Mackenzie, whose extensive historic knowledge and witty comments kept the entire vehicle entertained.
We started along the waterfront where Allen pointed out the historic warehouses that are part of the ?Historic Properties? complex. These warehouses used to store the loot of the privateers, pirates that were licensed by the British Crown to raid enemy ships. Today these former warehouses have been transformed into a series of retail and restaurant locations while retaining their historical appeal.
Close by is Halifax? Casino, which Allen quite aptly referred to as the city's ?Centre of Voluntary Taxation?. We made our way to Grand Parade, originally a parade ground and today a large public square which is anchored on the south side by St. Paul's Church, Halifax? first and oldest church dating back to 1749 ? the year the city was founded. On the north side we saw Halifax City Hall, whose construction was started in 1887. In the centre of the Grand Parade is the Cenotaph, a war memorial erected in 1929 that commemorates three major conflicts: the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War. To the west is Citadel Hill and the Old Town Clock. One of the city's major landmarks, the Old Town Clock was given to the city by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and future father of Queen Victoria, in 1803 to ensure that all Haligonians would have a chance to be aware of the time of day and not have an excuse for being late for work. This treasured time piece has kept people on schedule ever since.
Our trolley bus snaked its way through town while Allen told us enlightening and often humorous stories of the historic characters that called this city home. We then drove through an area called Spring Garden Road that has a lot of established retail shopping opportunities before we arrived at another major Halifax attraction: the Halifax Public Gardens. This is where we were ushered out of the bus in order to connect with our bagpiper who would take us on a walk through the gardens while Allen would pick us up on the other side.
Well, as fate would have it, the bagpiper never showed up, but Allen with his good humour took us halfway into the beautiful public garden and asked us to all meet up on the north-west side of the gardens where he would meet us in a few minutes with the trolley. He also explained that the Halifax Public Gardens are the second most renowned Victorian gardens in Canada after Butchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C.
Our guide went on to explain that in order to qualify for a formal Victorian garden, a green space would have to meet the following requirements:
- it would have to be more than 10 acres in size
- bridges would need to be wide enough to accommodate two women in hoop skirts, a high Victorian fashion
- the facility would need to have a bandstand, and
- two mated swans in a pond would be required to make it a true Victorian Garden.
He pointed out that Hurricane Juan devastated the Halifax area; many of the old established trees in different parts of the city including the Public Gardens were destroyed. This public garden is a very historic place: its origins date back all the way to 1836 when the Nova Scotia Horticultural Society set out to create a public garden that would be ?accessible to all classes?. The bandstand was erected in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee while the Jubilee (Nymph) Fountain was erected in 1897 to honour Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.
The pond in the heart of the gardens is called Griffin's Pond and was named after a young Irishman who was actually hanged for murder on the east side of the pond in the 1830s. Allen pointed out a miniature model of the Titanic ocean liner that was floating on the pond which years ago was actually remote-controlled and could be directed all over this waterway. Halifax has a huge connection to the Titanic, as you will hear shortly.
After our 20 minute stopover at the Public Gardens we headed towards our next stop, another place of great historical significance: the Halifax Citadel. Again we had about 20 or 30 minutes to get out of the bus and explore the Citadel on foot. The admission price was included in the city tour. The Halifax Citadel is Canada's is one of Canada's most visited historic sites. Due to the strategic location of this hill overlooking the harbour, Citadel Hill was singled out very early on as a location for a fortress. The first fortification was built in 1761 while the current version was completed in 1856, after 30 years of construction.
The Citadel is a phenomenal vantage point for overlooking the city. The entire harbour area comes into view, and you can see all the way across the bay to Dartmouth. Allen pointed out that the Halifax Citadel was considered the ?most terrible fortification? in British North America, and indeed no attempts to attack it were ever made.
Our group arrived just in time for the rifle presentation. Several ?soldiers? (in reality they are Halifax university students) were dressed up in full historic military costumes, carrying rifles, and our group would get an actual demonstration of a real rifle shooting during our brief stopover. One of the young soldiers explained that the rifles weigh 8 to 9 pounds, and with the bayonette attached the weight goes up to about 13 pounds. He allowed me to lift the rifle which made me realize that this was definitely not light-weight combat. Then he proceeded to shoot the rifle several times against the citadel's wall, creating several loud bangs that reverberated throughout the entire walled-in fortress.
After this quick stop we proceeded westwards through town where Allen pointed out Dalhousie University, one of the 5 major universities in town. We passed through a west-end neighbourhood where houses cost somewhere between C$800,000 and C$1,500,000 according to Allen. Our next and final stop during the tour was the Fairview Cemetery where Halifax? connection to the Titanic disaster became most evident.
Susanne Pacher has sinced written about articles on various topics from Travel and Leisure, Nova Scotia and Museum Guide. Susanne Pacher is the publisher of , a web portal for unconv. Susanne Pacher's top article generates over 18100 views. to your Favourites.