In 1606, fourteen-year-old Charles de St-Étienne de LaTour came to Acadie with his sixteen-year-old cousin, Charles de Biencourt, whose father, Jean de Poutrincourt, had been granted the seigneurie of Port Royal. The boys spent a year at the…

In 1957, at the height of the Cold War, twenty-two courageous scientists from both sides of the Iron Curtain met in Pugwash, Nova Scotia, at a lodge maintained by Cyrus Eaton. The group was responding to the manifesto issued by Bertrand Russell and…

Nicolas Denys was born in Tours, France, in 1603. He came to Acadie with Isaac de Razilly in 1632, full of hope. He wanted to develop trade in fish, furs, and lumber, but he was beset by bad luck. He first established a lumber business east of the…

We know that many European fishermen crossed the Atlantic in the 16th century, soon after Cabot made landfall in North America. English, French, Spanish, and Basque ships came to fish off the coast of what is now Nova Scotia where the waters teemed…

Samuel de Champlain is well-known for helping establish a French colony at Québec. What many may not know is that he spent over three years in the French colony of Acadie, which once included Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and…

In early September 1632, the Mi’kmaq who lived along the Pijinuiskaq (the LaHave River) must have been astonished to see two big wooden ships sailing through the narrows between what is now known as Kraut Point and LaHave. They anchored, and 200 men…

In 1787, the Nova Scotia House of Assembly passed an Act to erect a building dedicated to the legislative work of the colony. While the need for such a building was clear, it wasn’t until 1809 that a joint legislative committee was struck to procure…

The building now known as Henry House was constructed between 1834 and 1835 for Halifax stonemason, land owner, and businessman, John Metzler. The two-and-a-half story ironstone house has notable architectural features: granite façade, raised…

The year was 1796, and Britain’s war with Revolutionary France continued to drag on. Fear of a French attack loomed large in Halifax. Driven by the need to defend the city, the garrison commander of Halifax, Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, ordered…

Sir Sandford Fleming Park is named for the Scottish-Canadian engineer and businessman who, in 1908, gifted his property to Halifax to be used as a park. Fleming introduced international standard time to North America and was a driving force behind…