Samuel Cunard was born in Halifax on November 21st, 1787, to loyalist parents from the southern United States.During the war of 1812, Cunard became a merchant and ship owner, establishing 'A. Cunard & Son' with his father on Upper Water Street…

On May 10th, 1794, His Royal Highness, Prince Edward, future father of Queen Victoria, and Major General in the British army, arrived in Halifax from St. Kitts under a twenty-one-gun salute. His mistress, Madame Julie de Saint Laurent, left England…

The beginning of horse-drawn sleigh drives can be traced back to the time of Prince Edward during the last years of the eighteenth century. They died out after he returned to England in 1800. However, sleigh drives were revived in 1821 with the…

There is evidence that coasting, or tobogganing, was taking place on Halifax’s steep streets in the mid 1820s. The English name, “toboggan,” likely derives from the word for “sled” in one of the Eastern Algonquian languages – possibly the Mi’kmaq…

Bravo, Straw Hat:In 1825, a Halifax Turf Club was established, and races were held on the Common the last week of every August for twenty years. In 1827, a cocked-hat sweepstakes for untrained horses was added to the programme, for which no handicap…