Around Digby

The main industries at Digby are fishing and tourism.

Here you can see the fishing boats moored at lowish tide.  The tides at the Annapolis Basin average an amazing 26 feet!

The fishing boats are moored so that they can move up and down the green pillar with the tides.

Likewise these yachts and the board walk will rise up the brown tubes with the tide.

There were some beautiful yachts berthed at the marina.

This one would suit me fine.

I did a Blog about a windmill here near Lunenburg, that we passed on our way to Broad Cove.

https://queensincanada.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/old-buildings-of-nova-scotia-windmills/

It was then dismantled and moved to Beaver River, south of Digby. The new owner said it was to become an information centre for a wind farm.

We took a trip down to see it and found it in the fog. It does not have its sails yet and I could see no sign of any wind farm. It sits on a bleak windswept moor. I hope it is completed soon.

We took the coastal road back to Digby and were surprised to come upon this large church at the Acadian fishing village of Saulnierville.

It is l’Eglise Sacre Couer.

Further along the same road we came to this even larger wooden church.

Eglise Sainte-Marie  is the largest and tallest wooden building  in North america. The church spire is 185 feet from floor to steeple, with its cross adding another 15.6 feet. Originally 15 feet taller, the church steeple was struck by lightning in 1914, requiring part of the spire to be rebuilt.

You can see that the design of the church was influenced by the architecture of the chateaux of the Loire Valley.

But the one that really amazed us was l’Eglise Saint-Bernard, a massive stone built church. This looks all the more immense because it is so out of scale with everything else in the area. It would look OK in a city setting, but here among tiny wooden houses and farms it is really out of place.

32 years to build, the board says,

and built by the local French farmers, fishermen and lumbermen.

We took a road off to Gilbert Cove Point to visit the lighthouse,

and climbed up to the light.

It had been a very interesting 3 days at Digby Pines and this is another area we have explored and know a bit better.

Digby Pines Resort

As I said last week, Jeff and I went to Digby Pines for a couple of nights to celebrate our anniversary.

The Pines first opened in 1905 as a large wooden hotel. It was used in World War I as quarters for army officers. After the war, its new owners, the Canadian Pacific Railway,  replaced the original wooden hotel with the present building which opened on June 24, 1929.

In 1957, the Pines was purchased by the Government of Nova Scotia.

There is a swimming pool, tennis courts, croquet lawn and golf course.

Our package included a round of golf.

Jeff was hoping he could still play like he did when he was 18 years old.

There were some really interesting holes.

With lovely bridges across gullies.

And welcoming shelters.

Jeff’s putting was still great.

Luckily, we didn’t need to search for any balls in this wood..

Spring is here!

Yesterday was Good Friday, so we decided to have a trip to Digby on the Bay of Fundy, as we haven’t driven that far yet. Digby is a little  fishing town, famous for its scallops and is also the port for the ferry to Saint John in New Brunswick. It was almost a 3 hour drive, but it was a beautiful morning and the roads were empty, despite it being a holiday.

Digby harbour is not very different from any other but you can see what a fabulous day it was.

There wasn’t too much to interest us in Digby, most places being closed either because of the holiday or because they don’t open for the season till June. We had a look at the map and decide to head up the River to Bear River. We had no idea what it was like, just saw the name and followed the road signs. There was still snow at the sides of the road and in the woods, but this scene in a garden at Bear River was the first colour we’ve seen this year. I see these are called Chionodoxa or Glory of the Snow, which is an apt name for the first flowers after the snow.

Bear River is built on the Bear River!!! The first building we spotted was the Tourist Information Centre in a traditional Dutch windmill!

This Flights of Fancy store is a very nice Gallery shop with some really unusual crafts.

Unfortunately, it was closed and we could only window shop. One of the carvings in the window is from an elk’s antler, the other from a whale’s vertebrae. You can see me taking the photo and Jeff peering for a price label – which incidentally was $2,300!We had our picnic with us, so weren’t too concerned that the Changing Tides Diner was closed.

Or that Inn Out of the Fog, hadn’t yet started its season.

There was so much to see in this tiny community, that I will add a second article on it in a few days, so that you can see some more of the photos.