By Corey Sandler

We have returned to the grand harbor of Halifax in Nova Scotia.

We went for a walk to the famed Public Gardens of Halifax, one of the world’s finest Victorian parks. Today we could feel the hints of winter around the corner, with the garden at peak but frail colors.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ISLAND

The last time we were here, on a glorious last day of summer, we rented a car to drive across Nova Scotia to see some of the small harbors and high tides of the Bay of Fundy, which has a world record rise and fall of about 40 feet in places.

Here was some of what we saw at near high tide in Wolfville:

And then we returned about two hours later as the tide began to run out:

A TUMULTUOUS HISTORY

Halifax has had a tumultuous history. The British built a great citadel here as part of its claim to New England, and it still stands guard over the city.

Every day at 12pm they fire the noon gun; no matter how many times we have visited, it still startles.

But there are echoes of other events: the arrival of Loyalists who fled the upstart American colonies during the revolution. The departure of raiding parties from here to burn Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812. The both-sides-against-the-middle trade with the South and North during the American Civil War.

You can read more about Halifax and see some more photos in my blog posting of 21 September 2018.

All photos and text Copyright 2018 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

By Corey Sandler

We’ve been to Halifax more times than we can remember…and it always leaves us gushing with appreciation of its great harbor. More about that in a moment.

On this visit, though, our port call coincided with a great old event: the Hants County Exhibition, an agricultural fair that lays claim to being the oldest such gathering in North America: 253 years old, to be exact.

We could not resist that opportunity and so we rented a car and drove about 40 mills across Nova Scotia to Windsor, near the Bay of Fundy.

It was the real McCoy, with flower arrangements, apple pies, barnsful of cattle and horses, a midway, and us.

Here is some of what we saw today:

THE HANTS COUNTY EXPOSITION

THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE HARBOR

Cruise ship visits to Halifax are at an all-time high, and on this visit we docked around the corner from our usual location, tying up at the commercial wharf.

It was from this wharf that thousands of Canadian troops embarked for the two World Wars, and also where tanks and tires and foodstuffs were loaded aboard convoy ships.

The machinery of the port and the connection to the trans-Canada railroad system remains:

The great port of Halifax—by some measures the second largest in the world, after Sydney (the one in Australia)—is lined with handsome architecture. Some of the buildings are great Victorian and Edwardian stone structures; more modern buildings are almost all lined with mirror glass to reflect the sky, the water, and the old buildings around them.

Sky, clouds, and water in Halifax. Photos by Corey Sandler

A bit further into the city, at The Narrows, the architecture is a bit more uniform and relatively grim. This was the area that was leveled by the Halifax Explosion of 1917: considered to be the largest manmade explosion from the dawn of time to the atomic bomb.

The explosion was the result of a collision between two ships that were part of the gathering convoys bound to and from World War I Europe. One ship, the Mont Blanc, was packed with a witch’s brew of TNT, benzol, and picric acid.

In the explosion, about 1,951 people were killed—most of them spectators gathered along the waterfront. More than a thousand were blinded by flying glass.

It is, for me, impossible to look at today’s Halifax without hearing an echo of one of the worst moments of that war, nearly three thousand miles away from the front lines.

All photos and text Copyright 2018 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS