HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA

 The Viking Octantis spent two nights in Halifax.  We took a bus tour of the city and nearby Peggy's Cove.

Peggy's Cove.

Back to Halifax, and story of the Acadians.

This final minute of where the Acadians came from provides a satisfying conclusion to the origin of Cajuns in Louisiana.  We went down the Mississippi River from Memphis to New Orleans on the American Melody, and learned about the Cajuns.

• The British conquest of Acadia happened in 1710.

• 
  In 1755, Acadians living in Port Royal, Acadia, in the portion of Canada that is now Nova Scotia, were kicked out of their homes by the British.  An estimated 10,000 to 11,500 of them began settling mostly along the Atlantic coast of the U.S., but some kept moving on, perhaps 2,500 to 3,000 ending up in southwestern Louisiana between 1764 and the 1780s.
• In 1863, when the Union conquered what is now Lafayette, the hub of Cajun county, Cajun was used to describe the region's inhabitants. Cajun is a rural pronunciation of Acadian.

• 
  Also, Cajun was used by Anglos to refer to all persons of French descent and low
  economic standing, regardless of their ethnic affiliation. Hence poor Creoles of the bayou and prairie regions came to be permanently identified as Cajun. The term Cajun thus became a socioeconomic classification for the multicultural amalgam of several culturally and linguistically distinct groups.^[6]

• 
  The Americanization of Acadia between the 1950s and 1970s, the term Cajun became synonymous
  with white French Louisianian.
• Cajuns retain a unique dialect of the French language called Louisiana French.
• Cajuns were recognized by the U.S. government as a national ethnic group only in 1980.

Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

• Area was called Chebucto until named Halifax in honor of the 2nd Earl of Halifax.
• In 1749, King George II ordered Edward Cornwallis to establish Halifax as a new capital of this region.
• However, there was a lot of French influence in those days.

• 
  One of the noteworthy disasters here occurred on 6December1917.
• The SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship carrying munitions, collided with the Belgian Relief vessel SS Imo in The Narrows, between upper Halifax Harbour and Bedford Basin.
• The resulting explosion devasted the north end of Haifax, killing 2,000 and injuring another 9,000.
• The Halifax Explosion was the largest natural explosion before the development of nuclear weapons.

• 
  A Category 2 Hurricane, Juan, hit in September of 2003, causing considerable damage, and other hurricanes like Earl in 2010, Dorian in 2019, Ida in 2022 and Fiona in 2022 also struck this area, causing damage.  Honolulu, for example, is annually approached by up to Category 5 hurricanes, but there has been no major damage since record-keeping.

• 
  The highest temperature in Halifax reached 99 F on 10July1912.  Honolulu?  Only 95 F.
• Lowest temperature dropped to -20.9 in 1922.    Honolulu?  52 F.

• 
  Halifax welcomed 3.4 million visitors in 2024.  Peggy's Cove gets 600,000 visitors/year,  Honolulu?  9.7 million in 2024.
• Halifax, in 2025:  357,000 cruise passengers on 184 vessels.  Honolulu?  131,000 cruise visitors.
• The total population of Halifax is now 530,167.
• European 79.5%, African 4.7%, Asian 10%.
• Mostly English speaking, 86%, French 3%.
• Christianity 53%, Irreligion 40%, Islam 3%, Hindu 1.6%.
• Halifax Stanfield International Airport served 3.1 million passengers in 2022.

A short stop in Peggy's Cove, 29 miles from port.

Peggy's Cove is a small rural community.

• Village named after Saint Margaret's Bay, as Peggy is the nickname for Margaret.  Bay named by Samuel de Champlain after his other Marguerite.  But there is much folklore, for one story suggests the name was the wife of an early settler.
• Founded in 1811.  Population peaked at 300 in the early 1900s.  Today only 30-40 people.

• 
  Swissair Flight 111 crashed into St. Margaret's Bay, located five miles southwest of Peggy's Cove.  All 229 aboard died.
• Visitors are warned to staff off the dark, wet rocks because unpredictable wave occur.
• Area damaged by Hurricanes Juan and Bill.

Back to Halifax, where were told about how Halifax is connected to the Titanic disaster.

• The Titanic sank on 15April1912.  1,635 of 2.200 passengers perished.
• Halifax was the closest major seaport, 700 nautical miles west of the sinking.
• 209 bodies were brought to Halifax and 150 were buried there.  Another 150 were buried at sea and 59 were shipped back to their families.
• Fairview Lawn Cemetery has 121 graves.

That other major disaster was the Halifax Explosion, which occurred in the harbor this side of those three red and white stacks.

Not sure why I'm showing this photo.

As cold as it is here, there are the homeless.  Said to have numbered 1132 in 2024.

Return to the Octantis.

The two most noteworthy songs associated with the Titanic sinking.

• Nearer, My God, to Thee, reportedly played by the ships string ensemble to calm passengers.
• My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion.  Became the theme song of the film by James Cameron's 1997 film, and won an academy award.

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