Day 2 (March 17, 2021): Colchester and Pictou Counties

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Halifax has a much closer affinity with Scotland than with Ireland, but still, even Nova Scotia has a wee buzz over March 17th.  

We awoke on this St. Patrick's Day to beautiful blue skies and a slightly warmer temperature than yesterday.  Our Residence Inn by Marriott, like all hotels that formerly offered a continental breakfast buffet, had a modified approach, with a staff member compiling each breakfast tray according to guests' desired items.  Breakfast sandwiches, yogurt, muffins, juice and coffee were sufficient to get us on our way at 10AM, after a quick look at Halifax's iconic Clock Tower.

The day was comprised of three key activities:  a walk to Joseph Howe Falls in Truro's Victoria Park;  a visit to the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry in Stellarton;  and a walk along the Samson Trail, adjacent to the East River.  We arrived in Victoria Park just after 11AM and headed out of town at noon.  At 1PM, we started our visit of the Museum, and just after 3PM, we started our river walk.  Dinner was had at New Glasgow's "The Bistro".

It was a wonderful St. Patrick's Day, which marked with a listen to an Irish Rovers album enroute to Stellarton.

The Residence Inn by Marriott, adjacent to the $500M Nova Centre, in the heart of Halifax.

Over 200 years old, Halifax's Town Clock, also called the Old Town Clock or Citadel Clock Tower, is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the core of Halifax.

Lepper Brook flows through Truro's Victoria Park, which was established in 1887 when Susan Waddell Stevens donated 25 acres of land for the creation of a public park.

The ice formations in Joseph Howe Falls were quite incredible!

One of the massive and old pines of Victoria Park.

The Holiday Inn Express Stellarton-New Glasgow, where we are staying, was filled to capacity.  The manager told us the people are coming from Yarmouth, Sydney, Halifax and all points in between, just to get away from home!

This is a partial reconstruction of the Cornish Pumphouse using original materials.  The Pumphouse was erected by the General Mining Association in 1866 to house the pumping mechanism for the Foord coal-mining pit.  Pictou County was a coal-mining epicentre of Nova Scotia back into the early 1800s.  So many mining explosions and fires have marked that history, the most recent being the Westray Disaster in 1992, which killed 26.

The Nova Scotia Museum of Industry in Stellarton is dedicated to the story of Nova Scotia work and workers and explains how Nova Scotia was affected by the opportunities and challenges of the Industrial Age. Opening to the public in 1995, notable artifacts include the oldest railway locomotive in Canada, the first gasoline powered car built in the Maritimes, and a large exhibit on coal mining.

The Albion Railway's Samson locomotive, the oldest railway locomotive in Canada.

The museum's exhibit starts off by explaining the main career options in Nova Scotia's early days -- labourer, blacksmith, cooper, caulker... and HOUSEWIFE!


A working industrial-sized steam engine at the museum shows how steam technology revolutionized factories.

The number of products manufactured in Nova Scotia over the years is staggering!

A mobile steam engine.


An histortic excavator.

A Volvo, assembled in Nova Scotia!  Volvo's assembly plant operated from 1966 to 1998 and turned out 8000 cars per year at its peak.

A cell phone, Apple Mac and a fax machine -- cutting edge technology in the 1990s.

The Samson Trail is one of several trails in the New Glasgow area.  It runs over 2km along the East River.  A muddy walk as the ground thaws, that is for certain!

Along the banks of the frozen East River.

New Glasgow is divided by the East River, a tidal estuary with brackish water. The three-lane George Street bridge is the only vehicle crossing within town limits and is considered the main entrance into the downtown core on the east side of the river.

The Cenotaph at Carmichael Park is New Glasgow's monument to war veterans of WWI, WWII and the Korean War.  The bag-piper shows the deep Scottish culture of this county.

A restored CN caboose on the site of the former train station in Trenton, adjacent to New Glasgow.


A wonderful evening at New Glasgow's The Bistro, which has been serving up classy meals for 20 years.  The owner told us business has been excellent since they reopened last June.  The residents of New Glasgow love their Bistro!