On The Border

July 18 – 20, 2014

We crossed from New Brunswick into Nova Scotia as our tour of eastern Canada continued.  We stopped in the town of Amherst for a few days which is on the border between the two Provinces.

We found a nice RV park with a lake so Izzy was happy since she could chase her floppy and swim. In addition there was a nice par 3 golf course just a couple of miles up the road.

 

Our View For a Few Days

Steve found a couple that live in Nova Scotia staying in the park and asked about the “must sees” in the area.  We took their advice and took a drive along the Chignetco Bay and into the Minas Basin. We stopped at Advocate Harbor for lunch and found out a bit about the tidal change there. It raises and lowers so much that the commercial fishermen definitely have to pay attention to the tide charts as you can see by the picture.

Advocate Harbor

 

Across the Road

  

Waiting for the Tide

We continued the drive and stopped at Port Greville. The Port Greville look-off has a sign that tells you about the shipyard that was once below this point and was a bustling place at the turn of the century. Eighty-four known sailing ships were built here and sailed out of the Bay of Fundy. In 1975, the “Ground Hog Day Storm” swept away the last functional parts of the Port Greville Shipyard, and with it ended a century-old tradition of shipbuilding in the Bay of Fundy.

Port Greville Look-Off

 

Look The Tides Out Let's Go

  

 

Amherst is no stranger to history either and the original Township of Amherst was established in 1764 two miles from its present location. The area started to grow and in 1850 Amherst is settled where it is located today. As you drive through the area you see many of the original homes as well as the Old Customs Office. This building was built from local sandstone in 1887 and the clock was added in 1910. Just up the street from the Customs Office you find the First Baptist church made from red sandstone. This church was built in 1895 and apparently is categorized as Queen Anne Revival style due to the towers and irregular masses.

 

1887 Customs House

 

1895 First Baptist Church

We found time to play golf on the par 3 course which was great exercise although it was quite warm and muggy. I think I only lost one golf ball and all I can say is my putting wasn’t bad! We won’t talk about the rest of the game, but Steve can claim victory for this round.

Practice

 

We left Amherst on July 21 to head for Cape Breton so more to come from Nova Scotia, eh.