Atlantic Tour Tidbits – Part XIV: Maritime Churches

I was impressed by the number of old churches still in use in Atlantic Canada. Many of the same type of church buildings on the prairies have been replaced with a newer, updated style of church.

St. John Presbyterian Church with its beautifully kept grounds.

Above, St. Andrews Church, with its boarded up bell tower, and below, a war memorial and the adjacent graveyard.

St. John the Evangelist Church.

St. James Catholic Church.

A Lunenburg church.

I wasn’t able to identify these last two churches. We saw many more, but I would have had to trespass on private property to get the shot, so needless to say, those churches were left undocumented.

One last photo for this post: a church converted into a thrift shop. Unfortunately it was closed when we passed by.

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Atlantic Tour Tidbits – Part XIII: Houses & Lighthouses

While traveling through three of Canada’s Atlantic provinces, we saw some things you don’t see on the prairies, where we make our home. The sprawling yard of the house above is guarded by a wooden sculpture of a man.

Beautiful, and colourful cottages are a familiar sight in the Maritimes. Oops, looks like someone knocked over one of the deck’s flowerpots!

This house is built in the traditional Maritime style.

This lighthouse has been converted to become part of this coastal home.

This pink mansion looks more like a hotel than a family dwelling, but I didn’t see any signs to confirm what it was.
I just had to include this picture. This is someone’s yard. Isn’t it just perfect? I would so love to have my own private park to enjoy!

This isn’t a house, but I thought it was cute. The sign says it’s “The Bird Garden”. Everything bird related was available at this little roadside shop.

This lighthouse is situated at Brackley Beach, Prince Edward Island. The plaque on the side of the lighthouse tells a grim story.
“The Gale of October 3, 1851: The forenoon had been particularly balmy. Schooners had sailed into the shallow waters in search of mackerel and cod. But darkness found the vessels trapped in the stillness close to land. There was no breeze to carry them offshore. That evening a strong wind blew from the northeast. By midnight it had raged into a powerful gale. For several days the wind and waves gathered strength. On the morning of the fourth day, the sea subsided. Battered ships were strewn along the north shore. Bodies of sailors and fishermen were entangled amongst the wreckage. Many men were buried here in Prince Edward Island. Their graves are a silent reminder of the changing moods of the sea.”

One of the lighthouses on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

A lighthouse at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
We hope to return some day, and experience more of Atlantic Canada.

Atlantic Tour Tidbits – Part XII: Cape Breton Island

Our trip to Atlantic Canada was fast coming to an end, with only two days left before heading home to Regina, Saskatchewan. When we left the bed and breakfast at Havre Boucher, Nova Scotia, it was very foggy, but we decided to carry on to Cape Breton Island anyway, and hoping for the mist to clear.
There is a causeway joining mainland Nova Scotia and the Island, so we set off to find it in the fog.

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Making our way across the causeway to Cape Breton Island.

A look at the causeway from the Cape Breton side.

What we could see through the misty fog.

Sometimes we couldn’t tell where the ocean ended, and the horizon began.

At last the fog began to lift, and we could see some of the island coastline.

Parts of the coastline were rugged and natural.

Other areas were quite bucolic.

Before leaving the island, we stopped at small gift shop, and information centre. Outside was this monument. The plaque stated that it was erected to the memory of Angus L. MacDonald by the Nova Scotia Association of Scottish Societies. Born in 1890, Angus was the Premier of Nova Scotia for many years, and also served as the Minister of Defense for Naval Services during WWII. He died in 1954.

Inside the Information centre, we were welcomed, not once, but twice!

On display was a model of the Blue Nose, Canada’s famed sailing ship.
Though it had cleared up quite nicely, we ventured to Dieppe, where we would spend one more night before our flight would whisk us away from the Maritimes.

Atlantic Tour Tidbits – Part XI: Havre Boucher

Our recent trip to Eastern Canada enabled us to sample the provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. After our visit to the Lunenburg area, we traveled to Havre Boucher, a village at the northern end of Nova Scotia’s mainland, located in the County of Antigonish. It was raining upon our arrival, but the skies cleared long enough for us to tour a bit of the area around this location.

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The beach above is part of a clean-up project by the residents. Most of the debris has been cleared away, but workdays are scheduled regularly to complete the task. The sign on the concrete slab was a notification of an upcoming workday.

A view of the beach from another angle.

Some sights caught my fancy, like this combination flowerpot, mailbox, and weather vane.

Content cows near an ocean cove.

A cow crossing sign?

The ever-present boats, fishing shacks…

… and lobster traps.
The rain was threatening to start again, so it was off to our bed and breakfast reservation in Havre Boucher, Rest Ashored.
We were lulled to sleep by the constant patter of the falling rain.

The following morning we were treated to a lovely breakfast, and an awesome view, that was pretty much obscured by fog. Our plan for this day, was to explore Cape Breton Island, but we almost decided to cancel. Our hostess informed us that the weather forecast predicted that the fog would soon lift, so we set off for Cape Breton!