| Irish Week by the Sea setting | ||
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Unparalleled scenery will tempt you
to beachcomb windswept crescents of white sand, explore charming seaside villages, and
swim in surf warmed by the Gulf Stream (if you don’t mind the company of seals!).
Beach Meadows is situated on the Lighthouse Route, one of Nova Scotia’s most scenic
drives, and there are six beaches, each with its own personality, close by, including
Beach Meadows Beach and Carter’s Beach, which are among the most beautiful on earth.
Here is a description of some of our favorite places to visit during Irish Week:
For full information about Nova
Scotia visit Nova Scotia Tourism where you can obtain a free
travel guide |
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| Cadden Bay: A more lengthy adventure than any of the others in this list, Cadden Bay is still well worth visiting. Officially called the Seaside Adjunct of Kejimkujik National Park, Cadden Bay is reached after a hike down either one of two trails through mixed forest and dense shrubs. It is an entirely undeveloped area full of wildlife. The lagoons, beaches, and tidal flats of Cadden Bay are scenes of other-worldly beauty. Anyone who loves the ocean will find paradise here. The two approaches are via a 90-minute hike along an old gravel road from Southwest Port Mouton or a 35-minute hike on a cart track from the community of St. Catherines River. The Parks Service of Canada prohibits open fires at Cadden Bay and warns that no washroom or other facilities are available. The sea is usually cold here, and there are dangerous currents and undertows in rough water, so don't plan to swim. For those who enjoy hiking and are eager to see pristine beaches unspoiled by human hands, Cadden Bay is not to be missed. | ||
Carter’s Beach: Carter’s Beach, located in Southwest Port Mouton, is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular beaches on the South Shore, indeed, in the world. Its crystal-clear aquamarine water and fine white sand make it seem as if it belongs somewhere in the Caribbean rather than on the coast of Nova Scotia. Only the pine trees around the beach dispel the fantasy. The water is usually numbingly cold (though we’ve been there when the water was as warm as we’ve know it to be in Nova Scotia, and there is a creek with a swimming hole at its end where the water is always warm). |
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| Summerville
Beach: A huge beach sometimes scattered with dozens of sand-dollars for
collecting, Summerville is a great place to swim or just enjoy the magnificent ocean. The
Broad River empties into Summerville Beach at the far end, and there is a swimming hole a
small piece upriver. Hunt’s Point Beach: Hunt’s Point Beach is a typical, lovely, little Nova Scotian beach complete with a fishing wharf (photo opportunity!). There is a small general store right across the road from the beach where you can buy an ice cream cone. |
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| The
Village of Milton: Situated on both side of the Mersey River, Milton is a
charming village complete with a grassy park furnished with picnic tables rights on the
river—a perfect place for lunch. There is also a Blacksmith’s Museum and the
Leslie House Museum, a mid-19th-century house filled with antiques and open to
the public. Mersey Point Drive: This beautiful drive loops from Liverpool to Mersey Point and back. To reach Mersey Point from Liverpool, follow Main Street, turn right, and proceed onwards. Past the Mersey Point Hall is the road to Moose Harbour. At the bottom of the road is a dock for boats that bring in catches of lobster, herring, haddock, and mackerel. When you return to the Mersey Point Road, follow it down a little farther to the turn-off to the Western Head Lighthouse, which you can check out if lighthouses capture your fancy. Back on the Mersey Point Road past the lighthouse turn-off is a sign on your left reading "Sand Beach" which leads to (guess what?) a small white-sand beach. |
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Cadden Bay | Carter’s Beach | Summerville Beach | Hunt’s Point Beach | The Village of Milton | Mersey Point Drive | The Town of Liverpool | Beach Meadows Beach | Eagle Head Bay | Blueberry Bay | Ragged Harbour | The Village of Port Medway |
The "Bakery" Drive |
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| The
Town of Liverpool: Liverpool, population 3400, was founded in 1759. It
offers an array of gift and craft shops as well as the Perkins House, built in 1766 for a
native New Englander named Simeon Perkins. The house now functions as a museum open to the
public. The Perkins House and the neighboring Queens County Museum are great places to
visit for those interested in Maritime Canada’s Loyalist past. Other attractions in
Liverpool include the Sherman Hines Museum of Photography on Main Street and the Fort
Point Lighthouse Museum. Beach Meadows Beach: Beach Meadows Beach is a truly lovely place and a great spot for swimming (either in the ocean or in the adjacent area where a creek empties into the sea), graced with an offshore island complete with a lighthouse. You can drive to the beach or, if you are more adventurous, you can walk along the rocky coast from Eagle Head Bay (see next entry). This walk takes an hour and covers rough terrain but it is worth the trouble, especially for the sake of visiting the tide-pools formed by water caught between large chasms of boulders. You can see live sea urchins and starfish and relax in the sun-warmed pools. Be warned, though—you should only attempt this walk at low tide and should wear cloths you don’t mind getting wet. It is a good idea to deposit a car in the Beach Meadows Beach parking area for your return. Eagle Head Bay: Known affectionately to those who live near it as "our beach," Eagle Head Bay provides an excellent beach for swimming or walking. It is shallow, peaceful, and beloved by children. On the north side of the beach is a creek, and beyond the creek is an old stone breakwater. on the south side of the beach, the sand fades away and is covered with boulders and pebbles, creating a beach-rock collector’s paradise. (Our kitchen is full of unusually striped and flecked wave-washed finds!) |
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Cadden Bay | Carter’s Beach | Summerville Beach | Hunt’s Point Beach | The Village of Milton | Mersey Point Drive | The Town of Liverpool | Beach Meadows Beach | Eagle Head Bay | Blueberry Bay | Ragged Harbour | The Village of Port Medway |
The "Bakery" Drive |
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| Blueberry
Bay: On the northeastern side of Eagle Head lies Blueberry Bay, a beautiful
sight but not such a great place for those intent upon swimming. The fishing wharf at the
northern edge of the bay is an archetypal Nova Scotia scene well worth a visit. Ragged Harbour: Ragged Harbour, just east of the village of East Berlin (past West Berlin), features a brooding rim of "eggshell" beach (instead of sand, this beach is composed of millions of egg-sized and larger cobbles or rounded stones) holding off an often heaving and surging sea. Although only four or five miles from Beach Meadows, this area has a remote, even daunting feel. Go and catch the beautiful chill. |
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| The Village of Port Medway: Port Medway, population 285,
was settled in 1760 by traders from the New England states. During the 1800s, Port Medway
was one of the major shipbuilding centers in Nova Scotia. People of all nationalities,
including Irish, filled the town, boosting the population to 3000. Today, Port
Medway’s government wharf is a great place for mackerel fishing. A must-see is the
Long Cove Look-Off and lighthouse down the Long Cove Road. The view from the high cliffs
is absolutely amazing. (Note: the former lighthouse keeper’s house on the cliff used
to stand near the shore before it was lifted by crane to its new perch). Cadden Bay | Carter’s Beach | Summerville Beach | Hunt’s Point Beach | The Village of Milton | Mersey Point Drive | The Town of Liverpool | Beach Meadows Beach | Eagle Head Bay | Blueberry Bay | Ragged Harbour | The Village of Port Medway | The "Bakery" Drive The "Bakery" Drive: The trip from Beach Meadows to the LaHave Bakery on the LaHave River just short of the cable ferry crossing—the "Bakery Drive—is our all-time favorite Nova Scotia spin, not the least because this beautiful and bewitching piece of road begins at our doorstep. The scenes along it are quintessentially Nova Scotian—charming seaside villages, such as Vogler’s Cove, Dublin Short, and Petite Riviere, breathtaking ocean vistas at Broad Cove, and long, arching white sand strands at Cherry Hill, Risser’s, and Crescent Beaches. be sure not to miss the beautiful digression down the road to Green Bay from Petite Riviere. The junction of river and sea is especially beautiful as green fields line the meandering and widening river’s approach to the sea. At Crescent Beach, a road separates the beach from sandy clam-flats and leads to an interesting fishing village on Bush Island. Crescent Beach is a great place to swim or windsurf. After a stop at the La Have Bakery for refreshments, you can take a car ferry driven by cable across the La Have River for further explorations on the way to Lunenburg. Cadden Bay | Carter’s Beach | Summerville Beach | Hunt’s Point Beach | The Village of Milton | Mersey Point Drive | The Town of Liverpool | Beach Meadows Beach | Eagle Head Bay | Blueberry Bay | Ragged Harbour | The Village of Port Medway | The "Bakery" Drive
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