NS Map Nova Scotia Central path with cities and roads

Central Nova Scotia.   

On a lucky day the melodic cry of a piper's bagpipes will  greet you at Amherst, entry point into Nova Scotia. Ahead lie gems and  fossils, music and mines, modern towns and ancient villages, beaches and  the sea. Along the Minas Basin, amethyst and quartz are but two of the  many semiprecious gems scattered along the bejeweled coast, making the  area a haven for rock hounds. Truro offers a fork in the road: your  journey can proceed to the mining towns of New Glasgow and Stellarton,  then Antigonish and onto the Canso Causeway, or you can drive south to  the Eastern Shore, which hugs the Atlantic between Halifax and Grassy  Island National Historic Site. Beaches and boating, mussel farms and  oyster ponds, the list is long and appealing here where traditions and  legends of the sea wait to be discovered amongst the quiet coastal  beauty.      

Antigonish [B5] Called the "Highland Heart of Nova Scotia,"  Antigonish hosts Canada's oldest Highland Games every July. In 1928, St.  Francis Xavier University sponsored the Antigonish Movement-a program  of self-help through adult education, an event that brought the city  considerable renown. Also in summer, Festival Antigonish runs a theater  festival that entertains kids and adults alike.      

New Glasgow/ Stellarton [C4] The New Glasgow Riverfront, with  its boat tours and summer water taxi to Pictou, provides a delightful  urban walking trail following the route of Canada's first iron-steel  railroad. Samson, the oldest steam locomotive in North America, and for  whom the trail is named, resides at the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry  in Stellarton.      

Pictou [B4] The "Birthplace of New Scotland" is home to an  authentic replica of the Hector, the ship that brought the first  Scottish Highlanders here in 1773. The waterfront has been rebuilt to  compliment notable heritage Scottish sandstone buildings.      

Pugwash [B2] This town gained world attention in 1957, when  Cyrus Eaton convened the first Thinkers' Conference promoting world  peace and understanding. Pugwash is also famed for its pewter giftware,  salt (a major salt mine produces over a million tonnes of the world's  purest salt annually), and its colorful Gathering of the Clans  celebrations every July.      

Sherbrooke [D6] Every year scores of fishermen try their luck  angling on the legendary waters of the St. Marys River. Sherbrooke  Village, a captivating living history museum, highlights shipbuilding,  lumbering, and gold-mining in the late 1800s.      

Truro [C3] The "Hub of Nova Scotia" boasts a 400-hectare park  right in the middle of town, but it's the tidal bore that most folks  look for-at times reaching 1.5 m high, surging twice daily up the Salmon  River. Truro is also the home of Stanfield's, famous for "Unshrinkable"  long underwear invented in 1898 that was a must for Klondike  prospectors.      

Windsor [El] The birth of hockey in the 1800s is just one of  the "firsts" celebrated in this bustling town. Pumpkin farmer Howard  Dill brought fame with giant pumpkins weighing over 450 kg, winning the  World Championship four times. The 19th-century home of Thomas Chandler  Haliburton, the first widely recognized writer of humor in North  America, is open to the public. Through his character Sam Slick, a  Yankee clock peddler, he made popular many phrases still used today,  such as "the early bird gets the worm" and "raining cats and dogs."      

Wolfville [D1] Best known as the home of painter Alex  Colville, Wolfville is a quiet university town, founded by New  Englanders in the 1760s, that affords breathtaking scenery, Acadian  culture, nature trails, and the popular Atlantic Theatre Festival.  Chimney swifts bring out bird enthusiasts at dusk June through August.  SGrand Pre National Historic Site commemorates Acadian history and  culture in the land immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic  poem, Evangeline, A Tale ofAcadie.      

ATTRACTIONS      

NEW GLASGOW      

Pictou County Historical Museum Stewart House      

PICTOU      

Hector Heritage Quay Olde Foundry Centre Northumberland Fisheries Museum McCulloch House (1806) Grohmann Knives      

SHERBROOKE      

Sherbrooke Village      

STELLARTON      

Stellarton Miners Museum      

TRURO      

Victoria Park Tidal Bore Colchester Historical Society Museum Little White School House      

WINDSOR      

Windsor Hockey Heritage Centre Haliburton House Evangeline Express Fort Edward National      

Historic Site Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia      

WOLFVILLE      

Acadia University Art Gallery Randall House Museum