South shore of Nova Scotia2

Just to the northwest of downtown Halifax is Woodhaven Campground in Hammonds Plains, a convenient family-oriented campground close to the city, so it became our destination after Peggy's Cove.

Arriving in downtown Halifax early on a Monday morning was perfect for finding a parking space next to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.  You gotta love those Roadtreks; we can park that vehicle in a parking space and not have to search out a football-sized parking lot on the outskirts of town.  We wanted to visit this museum for its display of Titanic relics since 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of its sinking and Halifax played an important role in its recovery.

Maybe more interesting was the exhibit of wireless trans-Atlantic communication artifacts and the importance of the cable-ship industry to this area.  We were to learn even more about this in Newfoundland.

One of the museums I would have liked to have taken the time to visit is the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia, in Darmouth.  Just as white Southern planters who remained loyal to England during the Revolutionary War were given land in the Bahamas, there were former slaves who joined the Loyalists and were eventually re-settled in Nova Scotia.  I learned later that this bit of Black Loyalist history can also be found at the Black Loyalist Heritage site in Shelburne on Birchtown Bay.

By this time in our journey, we had concluded that we really didn't need reservations for a campsite. Many were just opening up for the season  and if the water wasn't turned on, the electric was. Hooray!

We found St Mary's Riverside Camp just down the road from Sherbrooke Village, a restored gold-rush-era community run by the Nova Scotia Museum.  We strolled around the village, finding one shop owner stocking his store, but missed the period actors by about six weeks.  The mill and other buildings are worth a visit and nicely preserved.  We noticed one thing different about this village: it seems that mixed in among the "museum" houses and buildings are privately-owned homes.  Reminds me of New Harmony in southern Indiana.

One note about the St Mary's Riverside Campground: for our $20.00 per night fee, we parked our Roadtrek Shorebird along the pleasing St Mary's River and for the next few hours we watched a pair of loons swim and feed peacefully in the dwindling light.  When Mike went to pay our bill, he didn't return for some time; I guess a beer or two is included in the cost of the campsite.  The owner is a former long-haul truck driver with enough stories to keep one entertained into the night.