Back to Genealogy, and Halifax

Our Stillwater campsite was quiet, and when we woke up, we were shrouded in fog.....apparently a common enough thing on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia. We continued our drive on the Eastern Shores, heading toward Halifax. We wound along numerous inlets which, we are told, are extremely beautiful when you can see them. By late morning, we could start enjoying the islands and bays, as the fog burned off. By 12:30 we were entering Dartmouth, across the harbour from Halifax. Our maps were too general for travel within the city, so we followed the "?" signs into town, and parked beside the tourist information centre in downtown Dartmouth. The woman here was able to supply us with maps and general tourist information, as well as directions to the Nova Scotia Archives, in downtown Halifax. This was our next stop, where we spent the rest of the afternoon searching microfiche files for long-lost ancestors, or clues to their lives. Pre 1850 records are scarce for birth records, marriage records, and baptisms, but we were able to search some old Church records, and finally sorted out (maybe, I think, possibly) the Cape Breton origin of our McKinnon forebears, when we found a baptism for Archibald McKinnon in River Inhabitants, in Cape Breton. The rest of the family remained elusive right until they closed the doors on us. An old friend and workmate (originally we worked together in Vancouver and Comox Coast Guard) had invited us to stay and visit, so we headed north of town to visit with Christine. With a barbecue chicken and salads from Superstore, we arrived ready for dinner, and had a wonderful visit with Christine, and her rottweiler Mason. The following morning, by the time we got up, Christine was already gone to work, so we said goodbye to Mason and headed back into town for more archival research. This time, we managed to find some more data on the Finlayson and McKay lines, and felt we had exhausted much of our ready research opportunities......anything else would take weeks of digging. So it was time to pack in the genealogy, and make like a tourist for a bit. We planned to hit a few highlights and then start heading out of town.



A variety of water traffic on Halifax harbour, including a cruiseship and Theodore Tugboat.






But being already afternoon, we found ourselves dawdling along the waterfront, and took a tour at the Keith's Brewery, who have a presentation which was to us reminiscent of the tunnel tours in MooseJaw, but with beer.



This young lady knows how to show off a brewery!











We also availed ourselves of our National Historic Sites Pass, and visited the Citadel, taking in a tour by a fellow ostensibly guarding the fort, and dressed as a member of the 19th Century 78th Highland Regiment. A very interesting tour. I even learned that a full dress kilt is actually made up from 9 yards of material, and is the source of the term "the full nine yards".






This was our guide through the Citadel











I also learned that Halifax has the highest number of pubs per capita of any city in the world - my kind of town (when I'm not on such a strict budget, that is), and a statistic the Haligonians are very proud of!
HMCS Sackville, last remaining Corvette.
This is the same type ship my uncle, Jack, sailed during WW2.



We pulled ourselves away from town finally at 1800, so not really much time to head much further south. So we found a campsite just outside of town, and settled in for the evening just outside of Hammonds Plains. The campsite is pleasant enough, and even has wifi so that I can update the blog again.....but it also has the dubious distinction of being (so far) the most expensive one we've run across in all of Canada. At just over $36.00 for a tent, it surpasses even some of the more expensive KOA sites by over 30%. And speaking of finances, yesterday was a Tuesday, so time to Reckon Up the budget for last week, week 11.
Distance driven: 1,342 Km. Gas: $134.00 Food: $ 236.46 Accommodation: $ 195.00 Other: $ 524.71 (includes $509 for Nfld ferry!). Total: $ 1090.17 So, with the ferry costs added in, this week was WAY over budget! It'll be interesting at the end of the trip to see if we've been able to save enough in other weeks to even things out.