Six months of traveling the world! At the same time, it feels like we have barely just begun, AND that we have been homeless and traveling for a long time. Anyway…. Halifax is most interesting geographically, as its ragged coastline makes for many bays and inlets. The first three photos were taken on the boardwalk downtown. It was very hot and very busy. The next three photos are from Deadman’s Island, which is actually a peninsula. We thought perhaps it referred to a dangerous coastline where ships wrecked, but no….it served as a cemetery. There is a plaque honoring the American prisoners of war from the War of 1812 who died there and were buried at Deadman’s Island.
There are also photos from Halifax Harbor. Sailing and ships and shipbuilding has been the heartbeat of Nova Scotia. We drove to and through Frog Pond Park, Halibut Bay, Portuguese Cove, Herring Cove, Bear Cove, and Ketch Harbor. It was quite a pretty drive, as the water comes and goes with the undulation of the road.
We thought the Harborwalk was very cool….a pontoon floating pedestrian walkway across the bay, with the downtown boardwalk on either end. The last photos were taken at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. The two outstanding exhibits were one on the Titanic and one on the Halifax Harbor Explosion, five years apart. Halifax was the closest port to the Titanic sinking, and the salvage ships brought the remains of those who died to Halifax to be tagged, identified (if possible), and buried. Survivors went to New York, but Halifax had the far harder job. Bodies were still being picked up weeks after the ship’s sinking. The last photo is a deck chair salvaged from the Titanic. We didn’t know about the Halifax Harbor Explosion in 1917. Two ships collided, but one was filled with 3,000 tons of explosives. The blast was the largest human made explosion before the development of nuclear weapons, releasing the equivalent of 6.4 million pounds of TNT. Most of the downtown was decimated, with about 2,000 people killed and 9,000 injured. Aid in the form of medical personnel and provisions came from all over, but specifically from Massachusetts. The province was so grateful that it still sends a Christmas tree annually to Boston in gratitude for the friendship and assistance.
