May | 2014 | Day Tripper

Month: May, 2014

Yarmouth: A style all its own

Yarmouth’s waterfront offers great views as well as informative panels outlining the town’s history.

Yarmouth is an architecture fiend’s delight. The downtown area has loads of beautiful old residential buildings.

This little fellow (the highest and best use of lobster, in my non-crustacean-eating opinion) greets customers at the Old World Bakery on Main Street in Yarmouth.

This knitted nativity scene is on offer at Main Street’s Hands On Crafts.

Lam’s Used Book Store on John Street is worth a visit just to marvel at the hundreds of used puzzles in stock.

(Click on any photo to view a larger version.)

I knew the moment I stepped onto Main Street and heard the tinny strains of Madonna’s Holiday that I was going to like this town.

Yarmouth didn’t let me down.

My first glimpse was in mid-April, hardly the kindest time of year, esthetically. In Nova Scotia, the dull, pervasive brownness of early spring seems to lift at a painfully glacial pace.

But Yarmouth charmed me nonetheless.

There was scarcely a soul around during my initial Sunday afternoon visit, which allowed me to unabashedly bust out my dance moves on the sidewalk when Abba took over from Madonna.

You see, Yarmouth’s Main Street is lined with outdoor speakers, piping out an odd mix of traditional tunes and commercial hits from, well, at least a couple decades ago. The music is somewhat controversial among residents, but, at the risk of inviting angry letters, I must admit that as a visitor, I enjoyed its liveliness on an otherwise sleepy day.

The town’s quirky shops reeled me in. There’s hardly a chain store on Main Street and in my books, that’s a bonus. Starbucks and American Apparels are a dime a dozen; independent businesses with personality are what give a commercial district its character. Yarmouth has that in spades.

From the colourful folk art and local crafts at Shackwacky to the fineries of the Yarmouth Wool Shoppe to the unique gifts at Hands On Crafts – including an incredible knitted nativity scene, complete with sheep – there is plenty to idle over.

Tucked away off the main drag on John Street is Lam’s Used Book Store, which has an almost alarming array of old puzzles for just $1.50 each.

If you visit, be sure to pop into the Old World Bakery for a coffee and treat, to admire the bottle-glass windows and to browse the carefully curated selection of records (minus Donovan and Simon and Garfunkel, which left with me).

And, just to prove that Main Street Yarmouth has something for everyone, it’s also home to a sex shop and Gun Basics, where you can get your hatchet sharpened for just seven dollars.

Toots, a confectionery and everything-you-could-possibly-need store, is worth a visit, if only to pick up some sour keys and ogle the old magazines, antique tins and partly coin-covered floor.

A couple of Main Street shops have an old-timey, general-store feel, and it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that they had indeed been around for a century.

Yarmouth is an architecture fiend’s delight. The town was spared the massive fires that decimated many other communities in the 1800s and early 1900s, so the commercial district and nearby residential streets are home to oodles of striking buildings.

Walking tours are available to learn more about the town’s history, and there are plenty of museums in the downtown area, including the Yarmouth County Museum, the Firefighters’ Museum and the W. Laurence Sweeney Fisheries Museum. The town is also home to the western branch of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, open Thursday to Sunday.

Yarmouth’s waterfront boasts a pleasant walking trail with interpretive panels where you can learn about the architecture, industries, fisheries, rum-running and nearby shipwrecks.

My recent visit coincided with that of the Nova Star, the new ferry that kicks into gear on May 15, bringing tourists from Portland, Maine, each day.

I have no doubt those visitors will find lots to like.

This article originally appeared in The Chronicle Herald on April 26, 2014.

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May 25, 2014

Marching through Hemlock Ravine Park

To get to the Rotunda, walk across the Bedford Highway, through an opening in the guardrail, down a gravel path, and across the railroad tracks.

From the steps of the Rotunda on the busy Bedford Highway, it’s easy to imagine the unspoiled forests along the Bedford Basin as they would have appeared in the late 1700s, when the structure was built.

A hidden treasure within the city limits, Hemlock Ravine Park in Halifax is a handy refuge for metro residents hankering for a hike.

This fella was still waiting for a spring thaw during a visit at the end of March.

(Click on any photo to view a larger version.)

I’ve been accused of being something of a tree hugger before.

And I guess there’s a bit of truth to that. I’ve certainly inhaled my share of tear gas at protests. I’ve done a stint in organic farming. I was practically inseparable from my bicycle for many years. And I still have a larger-than-average plot of kale in my backyard.

But the other day I was literally hugging trees, left, right and centre.

Hikes during the month of March can do that to a person.

On my first March hike, I decided to visit Victoria Park in Truro. I’ve been meaning to explore this massive urban park for a while now, and finally made the trip a couple of weeks ago.

As beautiful as it was, I couldn’t in good conscience have advised readers to go there at the time. Most of the pathways were sheer ice, so I had to gingerly pick my way down the hills while clinging to any tree, branch or twig within reach.

I guess my good environmental karma paid off; I emerged from the park unscathed.

A couple of weeks later, I tried again for a March outing, this time heading to Hemlock Ravine Park in Halifax.

I travel past this park nearly every day on the bus, and every time I pass that curious little round building on the Bedford Highway and see the blue sign pointing to the park, I think, “I should really go there sometime.”

The park is probably best known for the aforementioned little round building, often called the Rotunda. The structure is all that remains of a larger estate called the Prince’s Lodge, built in the late 1700s and inhabited for several years by Prince Edward, who would later father the future Queen Victoria.

Although the unused building, now owned by the province, is locked, it’s worth a visit just for the view. It’s only a few footsteps away from the roar of the Bedford Highway, but it’s easy to tune out the rumble of trucks, mentally erase the view of the bridge, the container terminal and the smokestacks in Dartmouth, and imagine the view from this perch 200 years ago.

The park’s other well-known feature is the heart-shaped pond, just inside the entrance off Kent Avenue. During my recent visit, it was more of a blob-shaped sheet of ice, but undoubtedly, it was much more romantic when Edward strolled around its edges with his companion, Julie St. Laurent. According to local historians, the paths winding through the estate may have once spelled out Julie’s name.

Today, those paths, which include the Prince Edward Trail, the Wentworth Loop and the St. Laurent Trail, still reflect the history of this area.

It’s easy to forget that you’re in the heart of suburbia here. Trails lead through forests, past brooks and natural ponds and into a ravine, which is home to 300-year-old hemlocks.

The lengths and terrain of the trails accommodate various abilities, and maps placed throughout the park make them easy to navigate.

Unfortunately, footing was a little tricky because of ice, so I resorted to upholding my reputation for tree-hugging.

But I saw enough to know that I want to go back when things are green instead of white.

GETTING THERE

From the 400-500 block of the Bedford Highway, turn onto Kent Avenue across from the Rotunda. There’s a parking lot at the top of the hill at the park entrance.

To reach the Rotunda, park in the lot, walk back down Kent Avenue, cross the Bedford Highway and walk a few metres down the road to an opening in the guardrail. A path leads down the hill, across the railroad tracks and up to the Rotunda.

This article originally appeared in The Chronicle Herald on March 29, 2014.

Day Tripper

Month: May, 2014

May 25, 2014

Yarmouth: A style all its own

May 25, 2014

Marching through Hemlock Ravine Park