On Nova Scotia’s quiet, uncongested southwest coast . . .
…….

Mmm

YARMOUTH, Nova Scotia – The fog bank rolled over the American steamship as it approached Nova Scotia’s rocky southwest coast. Onboard the 500 passengers breathed a sigh of relief.

The soothing coolness of the morning fog was just the welcome they were seeking from this pleasant seaport when they fled the hot, muggy streets of New York, Philadelphia and Boston.

For more than a century the well-heeled in America’s big east coast cities – particularly those afflicted with hay fever and other congested breathing – have sought out Yarmouth and Nova Scotia’s quiet, rural southwest coast as their summer playground.

“Pleasant”

. . . is a word often found in descriptions of Yarmouth. Plus, you’ll find the word often on the town’s maps: Pleasant Valley, Pleasant Street, Pleasant Park, Pleasant Point, Pleasant Lake.

Travel writer Bruce Bishop was the marketing director for Yarmouth’s 250th anniversary in 2011 and is a former president of the Travel Media Association of Canada. He says his town wears the word pleasant so comfortably because it offers the best weather in the Canadian Maritimes, despite sticking out into the intersection where the Atlantic Ocean and the Bay of Fundy collide.

Don’t take Bishop’s word for the weather. David Phillips of Environment Canada created a climatic severity index 20 years ago that rates the severity of weather for 150 communities across Canada. Yarmouth scored 40 out of 100 (the lower the better) and beat out every other principal community in The Maritimes. Ottawa is 44, London is 41 and Toronto scored 36.

Yarmouth’s unique lighthouse on Cape Forchu mournfully calls out into the morning fog banks to guide fishing boats plus a large ferry into its protected harbour. For two years however there were no international passengers to hear the warning/greeting.

After 150 years of daily ship connections to New England and New York, the ferry service stopped when the Nova Scotia government withdrew its subsidy.

Combined with the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions it was a heavy economic and psychological blow to the south end of the province, which survives primarily on fishing and tourism.

However the subsidy has returned and The CAT is Back in 2022 on its daily 165-kilometre run to Bar Harbor, Maine. At just 3.5 hours, it’s the fastest and most entertaining way to travel between Maine and Nova Scotia.

Yarmouth was once one of Canada’s wealthiest communities. It had a very prosperous wooden shipbuilding industry and its harbor was home to more shipping tonnage per capita than any other port in the world.

Those days left behind a heritage of magnificent Victorian homes once occupied by ship captains and owners of the ship building yards. There are rumors that some of the newer large homes owe their existence to the days of U.S. prohibition when fast boats slipped away at night with a load of booze destined for some lonely cove in New England.

Neil Hisgen, a Boston realtor and restoration contractor, came over on the Bar Harbor ferry in 1999 with his friend, hotelier Michael Tavares. They loved what they saw and decided to stay.

The partners restored and opened the historic MacKinnon-Cann Inn in a large historic mansion. They have since bought and restored three more houses of the same size and era to open B&Bs.

“The people here don’t appreciate the magnificent architecture they have on their local streets,’ said Hisgen. “There are about 300 homes in all of Nova Scotia that have an historic designation and protection on them by the provincial government. I think there’s that many just in Yarmouth that would certainly qualify for designation.”

The world’s largest lobster fleet thrives alongside the many impressive homes in Yarmouth that are operated as B&B’s.

Brothers Brian and Ernie Williams own Stanley Lobster Company. They ship more than one million pounds of lobster a year out of Canada.

Brian said New England is one of their biggest markets despite lobsters being caught in Maine. He said lobster caught in Maine and Massachusetts come north by truck to PEI . . . to be canned, while Yarmouth lobsters head south to be served fresh in the finest restaurants in New York, Boston and Washington.

Not all of Stanley’s lobsters leave Canada. Some end up steaming in a pot on the beach. For local fresh-lobster opportunities check the Yarmouth & Acadian Shores website.

Stanley Lobster is on the road that leads out to the Yarmouth lighthouse, which can easily challenge Peggy’s Cove for Canada’s prettiest lighthouse. The light keeper’s cottage sits high on rocks washed smooth over the eons by the Atlantic.
Light keeper Herbert Cunningham maintained the light for 30 years from 1922 to 1952 and climbed to the top of the lighthouse 47,000 times, often carrying a can of kerosene before electricity fueled the light.

He calculated it was equivalent to climbing and descending Mount Everest 100 times. That’s nothing. He and his wife raised six children in just half the cottage. His assistant and his six kids lived in the other half of the cottage.

The cottage is now a charming coffee shop which serves delicious lobster sandwiches.

Northern Cape Breton Island

Cabot Seafood Chowder recipe

Cape Forchu lighthouse image courtesy of Nova Scotia Tourism.

Read more of Pat Brennan’s Canadian adventures.