Nova Scotia ~ The Fourteenth Colony – Almost!
The title of a Historical lecture that emphasized the conflicts, treaties and friendships between the French, British and Colonialists. The people of Nova Scotia lived with almost continual warfare for 200 years as France and Britain fought to control North America using Nova Scotia as a base.
We took a bus tour around the city and the tidbit that stuck with me was as we passed the Citadel National Historic Site, the guide pointed out the mote around the walls of the Citadel was empty. No water ever was kept in it. They referred to it as the ditch, leading to the reason why when the enemy fell into the ditch, the fort’s soldiers could shoot or drop on top of them, making it their “last ditch” effort to win. That use of “last ditch” was coined and is still used today.
Some of the tourists visited Peggy’s Cove, a most beautiful area that we had visited 12 yrs ago. Don’t you expect Popeye or Olive Oil to walk down the dock??
In addition to this memorial near Peggy’s Cove, Fairview Cemetery in Halifax has 121 victims of the Titanic sinking from 1912.
In 1917 the world’s largest non-nuclear explosion took place in the river from a collision of two ships, one laden with high explosives. A horrendous catastrophe killed approx 2000, 9000 injured, 1630 homes destroyed, 12,000 more damaged, 6000 left homeless, tsunami created by the blast wiped out the community of the MikMac First Nation who lived in the area for generations and being in December, blizzards hindered relief trains from helping.
On the brighter side, we enjoyed a wonderful sunny day walking down the boardwalk, walked through the Maritime Museum (where I got the above stats) and ate some Poutine that we shared with the birds! Anyone know the children’s program Theodore Tugboat?
We are meeting many interesting people with interesting stories everyday. Most of whom are very well traveled. Shanghai, Brunei, Cuba, Cartegena none of those places will we be seeing! However, we sat next to a couple from Rockford, IL where we happened to have lived for 8 years, so that was a fun reminiscing visit.
Ed found John and I playing backgammon, felt sorry for our misunderstanding frustrations of the game and stopped to teach us how. I met his wife Kathy who had just had her first book published and I’ve already read and enjoyed it. I hope she writes more.
A couple from Dover, England boarded in Montreal and Venesse (with an “e”) told us of her granddaughter who after making an ancestry search, found information about her great-grandfather, Vanesse’s father, who had left Vanesse and her mother when she was 3 yrs old, never to be heard from again. Venesse tells me he was not a nice man from what she found out. Womanizing, gambling and drinking himself to death. However, she has a wonderful half sister, half brother, nephew and maybe more. What a wonderful reunion she had in Quebec City with the family she didn’t know she had. A beautiful ending to her story. They are disembarking in NYC in 2 days and she wants to see if I told her story correctly or not! So I had better get this published!!!
Tiny lighthouse and bow of our ship
