In a couple of hours you can get an education on small craft building, experience life on a fishing boat, with the hull rocking in the waves,  see beautifully-crafted ship’s models, from paddle-wheelers to the luxury liners.

However, nothing prepares you for the Halifax Explosion exhibit with its haunting pictures and relics from the largest man-made detonation until the Hiroshima bomb. The devastation is ingrained in the very soul of modern Halifax.

The depth of Halifax’s World War II involvement is spread out in the charts and wall displays of the convoys, huge fleets of ships that were responsible for winning the ground and air war over Europe

And visitors gawk in amazement as they approach the exhibit of the RMS Titanic. An original deck chair sits in state and everyone’s thoughts drift to, “Who was the last person that sat there?” Other artifacts sent a chill up your spine, as does the story of the S.S Atlantic, another Nova Scotia sea disaster that took the lives of so many people a scant 200 meters from the shore.

Also in September and October check out the new display on hurricanes. You can track the the progress of this year’s storms on a gigantic weather map.

In October,  the museum features Tugs!, a celebration of the workhorses of Halifax harbour, the tugboats. In honour of these boats (immortalized in the Childrens show Theodore Tugboat) there will be two talks by recognized experts in the filed:

October 20: Dan Conlin will give a presentaion of featuring the tugboat Franklin Foundation.

October 27: Mac MacKay will present a program entitled: “Tugboats, the Working Heroes of Halifax Harbour.”

For more Information on times contact: The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

(Image by Kathy Gurholt)

Despite its small-town appearance Liverpool, Nova Scotia was once second to only Halifax in its importance to the province. It even boasted its own bank, The Bank of Liverpool, until 1871 when steam shipping cut the town’s importance to the economy of Eastern Canada.

Before the Europeans arrived it was a seasonal camp for the Mi’kmaq natives. Then the Acadians, French colonists, began the settlement of Lingley on the Rossignol River. During the French-Indian War the Acadians were evicted and New Englanders arrived to use the post as a fishing base. It was then that the town name was changed to Liverpool and the river named the Mersey.

The fortune of the town grew during the War of 1812 when privateers,legalized pirates under the British flag, used Liverpool as a port. Legendary names such as The Liverpool Packet and The Rover raided American ships and small outposts on the American seaboard earning names and fortunes for men like Enos Collins and John Barss. With the cessation of hostilties Liverpool entered its golden era with ship building, lumber and fishing leading the way.

Today, Liverpool is rebounding from being another sleepy seaside village into a vibrant center on the South Shore. Despite not having the shopping of Halifax the larger center of Bridgewater is only 35 minutes away.

White Point Beach Resort is only 7 miles away and The Quarterdeck Beachside Villas is only 5 miles further. The town is also a hub for outdoor adventurists who can travel up to Kejumkujik Provincial Park or stroll along the Adjunct. Sea kayaking is also a big draw as is surfing.

In 1909, after successful tests in the U.S., Bell had his craft, dubbed The Silver Dart, disassembeld, crated and shipped to Nova Scotia for trials here. When assembeld the aircraft had a wingspan of 14.9 meters and weighed in at 390 kilograms including the pilot, who had to be careful about his weight.

On February 28th, the aircraft was dragged to the ice of Bras D’Or Lake by a team of horses. The plane was constructed of wood with a silk fabric covering over the wings and powered by a Curtiss, water-cooled engine that developed 40 horsepower. This engine sat on the back of the plane and the propellorwas desgned to push the craft.

The next day,  February 23rd, J.A.D. McCurdy, an engineer who worked with Bell, made history by piloting the first powered airplane a British subject within the British Empire.

If you fast-forward 100 years there is a former-Canadian astronaut, Bjarni Tryggvason, who just finsihed the trials of a modern Silver Dart.  Closely modeled after the original airplane Tryggvason got his version a few meters off the ground at a test run in Hamilton, Ontario. Now the “pilot to the stars” is packing up his craft and shipping it to Baddeck, Nova Scotia, to fly this crude machine into the very airspace where McCurdy thrilled Bell and a host of Canadian and foreign onlookers.

“One of the oldest of Nova Scotia incorporated companies is the Starr Manufacturing Co. which was established in 1864 and incorporated in 1868 and is the oldest and largest skate manufacturing concern in the British Empire. While the principal output of the company is a complete line of ice skates of the most modern design, as well as roller skates, it is also engaged in the manufacture of bolts, nuts, rivets, railway spikes, axles, hinges, and other metal products such as iron fences and fire-escapes and is a jobber of bar iron, which the company uses to a large extent in the manufacture of its own products.”

- Financial Post, November 28, 1929

Yeah, just after the big stock market crash in October the Starr Manufacturing  Company, makes of the best tube skates int he world was a strong and vital company. In fact even during the beginning of the end of the good times for businesses until the Second World War this vital Dartmouth, Nova Scotia plants was shipping skates and other products to “China, Korea, Japan, Australia, France, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Great Britain and various European countries as well as Newfoundland. ”

Skating to Dartmouth is like cricket to England, it grew up with the town. And it was as important an activity  on Banook Lake as the huge ice sheds being loaded with thick winter ice for use in the summer. And half a blcok away was the best skate make in the world, the Starr Manufacturing Company. It was built right on top of the unused lock mechanisms and water turbine for the old Shubenacadie Canal, a mode of canal that went out when the railroad came in.

In the early 1900′s Starr introduced the Tube Skate,with a self-fastening blade that, unlike the previous buckle-on skates, were sold as a blade riveted to the boot. The boot had solid toes and thick felt tongues which were the first real skate.  as we know them now. It took until 1927 before Starr partnered with boot-maker, Bauer, to have the first modern hockey skate.

The Starr Manufacturing plant was demolished in 2000 long after it stopped making the best skates in the world. However, every winter just a block away, hundreds of people from Dartmouth still skate, play hockey and just enjoy the winter on Banook Lake.

- Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia

It is now standard practice in big business to develop for the sake of development. In other words, ripping down the old and building the new seems to be the ultimate way to drive the economic engines. And if this isn’t happening then the economy is in recession.

During the past ten years Nova Scotia has lost dozens of historic buildings including two gas stations that date back to the 1920′s. But those are new compared to the buildings from the 1800′s that are suffering the wrecking ball. And why is this happening? Because the powers-that-be figure that tearing down historic buildings, ones that have been saved by previous administrations, is the only way to retain or gain a good tax base.

And what happens when the developers lose? They throw fits. This is because they have spent tens of thousands of dollars on architects and consultants so why wouldn’t they? The real problem is that there are no hard and fast rules about dealing with historical landmarks. The rules seem to change with each mayor:

1973: The city council formally supported the preservation of the Historic Properties ares north of Duke Street from Granville Street to the water. This recognition made Halifax a leader in preserving history.

2002: The Heritage Canad foundation, a national organization dedicated to preserving the architectural heritage and historic places of Canada, chose Halifax to host its conference. They found that vacationers want to visit historic areas and their preservation is vital.

2008: Armour Group wants to destroy the main buildings and keep the facades. This will take in the last original area of Halifax.

What TIANS is saying is that the Armour Group should not have been lead on to believe that they could destroy old properties for the sake of a new development. Armour Group and certain city councilors argue that there is not enough office space in Halifax. Actually, Halifax has over 1,000,000 square feet of vacant land in downtown Halifax.

There are a lot of stupid moves in Halifax planning. (The Cogswell exchange was one of them) Rather than destroy the heritage properties why not look at the available land? Because you know what happens to many buildings that are destroyed in Halifax? They become parking lots. And tourists can only park once.

On that cool December morning so long ago a densely-packed French munition ship, the Mont Blanc, collided with a Belgian ship, Imo, that was carrying relief supplies for the Belgian population suffering in World War I. The resulting explosion was the first man-made explosion of such force before the bomb on Hiroshima. IN fact the blast broke windows in Truro almost an hour away from Halifax.

Needless to say half of Halifax and Dartmouth were completely destroyed and almost 2,000 people died form the blast and being trapped in smashed homes. Thousands more suffered horrific wounds including blindness. It was so powerful that the fathers of the Atomic bomb studied the disaster in preparation for the bombs that destroyed the two Japanese cities.

Every December 6th, at 9am, there is a ceremony at the Memorial Bell Tower on Fort Needham, a site overlooking the narrows where the explosion took place. On the monument is a carillon of bells, donated in 1920 in memory of the two churches destroyed in the explosion. The presentation was made to the United Memorial Church, which was built to replace th lost churches,  by a young girl who had lost her entire family in the blast: mother, father and four brothers and sisters. The ringing of the bells can be heard across the Narrows to north Dartmouth.

At the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic there is a special area dedicated to the explosion that draws tens of thousands of persons each year.

The Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia (TIANS) wound up its annual event with a promise of an injection of $2.5 million into tourism marketing. Tourism Minister Bill Dooks announced that the Nova Scotia government funding will help tourism entrepreneurs “create niche opportunities.” This includes wine tours, agri-tourism and cultural initiatives.

I agree that changing some marketing strategies is needed. In fact, it’s about time that the internet and social media was brought in because that is essential for marketing these days, from tourism to selling cars. The old ad featuring “a quaint seaside town with tourists eating lobster while a lone bagpiper wails in the distance” is great for embellishment but not for the full thrust of marketing. And even if this worked in the past you can’t keep icing the same hockey team year after year. And I think the 2008 TIANS conference has brought this home.

There have been some huge kicks in the stomach to Nova Scotia tourism: high Canadian dollar, Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative ( passports needed to return to the U.S.) and the $.140CDN litre gas prices last summer. However, things seem to have been settling down in the past few months, individual happenings that could reverse the sinking fortunes of these tourism operators.

1. Passports Aren’t so Bad: The WHTI is here to stay. In the “post-911and Mumbai world” travelers are being ever so skittish. But now that Americans are getting used to the passports this should ease things a bit. After all it’s been almost a year and we did get used to be frisked at the airport.

2. High US Dollar: The U.S. dollar is back to being $1.25 Canadian and that’s a 25% savings right there.

3. Low Gas Prices: In addition, gasoline is at a 5 year low and, although it won’t stay that low for long, it won’t skyrocket like it did this year. That was fueled by speculation and the speculators are in deflation right now.

However, the other big problem is the spreading of the tourism buck. Halifax is flush with cash because it’s a convention center and all roads lead here. This doesn’t do much for Cape Breton, Wolfville or Liverpool who rarely get any spin-off from this. The farthest people want to travel is an afternoon trip to Peggy’s Cove.

Now is the time to re-invent Nova Scotia from the “Corner Gas” of eastern Canada with it’s “made in China” gifts. We have more than that here. We just have to get it across to the Americans and Europeans.

Halifax Citadel Photo by Kat Gurholt

People love old forts. Even if you are anti-military the old forts bring out a feeling of timelessness that anyone can enjoy.

The Citadel in Halifax is a great facility that has been used for everything from a real fort to a prisoner of war camp. Today it houses one of the best military museums in the country as well as a living museum featuring the 78th Highlanders.

The citadel was patterned after British designs in the early to mid-1800′s that featured a star shap and a dry moat. This was so that the attacking force would be subject to crossfires from any angle and woe betide the soldiers who tried to enter the moat. However, the fort never fired a shot in anger.

Completed in 1856, this version of the Citadel is the fourth built since 1749 on the same  hill overlooking the harbour. It still features a working cannon that is fired every noon hour, even on Christmas day. Inside are many of the original barracks, fireplaces, muskets and powder magazines. These stand ready to fight an enemy that never did attack – the Americans. After the Civil War the modern technology had rendered the non-rifled barrels of the cannons obsolete and it could have been bombarded from miles away. But no one came.

Today there are some fine shoes there and a living history featuring the 78th Highlanders, who proceed to do a daily routines as tourists wander by. They even fire off their muskets as they train.

Parks Canada does a great job keeping up the fortress and has spent years rebuilding it to its former glory. It is a definite must-see for any trip to Halifax.

One of the biggest threats to Halifax tourism is not the transportation or lack of accommodation – it is the wanton destruction on Heritage buildings. In fact man of these buildings are bought and torn down so the companies do not have to maintain them while they think of what they will with them. So these irreplaceable buildings come down and Halifax is becoming “The City of Parking Lots.”

Last month Armour Group lost a squeaker of a vote in city council for their Queen’s Landing project on the waterfront. It required that the last complete block of heritage buildings from the early-to-mid 1800′s be gutted and a complex would rise using the facade of the old buildings. In other words they just want the outer front shell to show their concern for heritage.

HRM by Design is a program to set forth “a clear and predictable land-use by-law and accompanying guidelines that set the rules on the height and design of future downtown Halifax developments.” Te biggest part of this will be the ability for the public to have input before the developers spend all the money on the preliminaries. This will prevent the “fighting-every-step-of-the-way” type of consensus building. Here is what their website states:

HRMbyDESIGN intends to articulate an urban design strategy that:

• Establishes a clear and compelling vision for our city’s future.

• Fosters high quality, sustainable development and vibrant public spaces.

• Brings clarity and predictability to development review processes.
• Introduces new design guidelines.

• Establishes incentives for good design and development.

Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia thinks that this will take the power out of hands of the people and put into the paws of the developers. They believe that heritage will then be squandered.

Well, that said, Ben McCrae of Armour Group struck first. Upset by losing his deal he ordered that demolition be carried out on a wood-structure building that was part of his proposed development. I’m not sure whether it was to be part of the facade but that’s moot now. It is now another parking lot.

So, do tourists want to see big shiny buildings or old buildings with character? In addition, are those people who oppose buildings like “Twisted Sisters” to be classified as Luddites? May HRM by Design will solve a few of these problems.

For centuries, the Shubenacadie water path, a system of 115 rivers and lakes, had been like a highway for Mi’kmaq natives for travelng between the Bay of Fundy and Halifax harbour with few portages – having to pack the boat because of rapids or other obstructions. In fact the First Nations people had been doing this for almost 11,000 years.

It was not until 1824, when the Shubenacadie Canal Company had the motivation and money to build a canal was the opening up the inland areas for the merchants of Halifax. The locks were the built by masons were brought in from Scotland and laborers from Ireland and was designed with a draft of 8 feet for steam and sailing vessels. When it was finally finished over 30 years later it carried smaller boats and only ran for 20 years until the railroad put it out of business.

You can still canoe the Shubenacadie Canal and many do each year. The Shubenacadie Canal and waterway is being brought back to life by a volunteer commission. It is now a provincial treasure and is surrounded by a greenbelt, spanning the Province from Halifax Harbour to the Cobequid Bay and linking the communities enroute. In the northern part of the canal the tidal bore rapids offer a challenging environment for both canoing and rafting.

The Fairbanks Centre of the Shubenacadie Canal Commission offers a great tour of the history with maps and guides. they can also show you the best way to prepare for a canoe trip.