46 Best Sights in South Shore and Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia

When Shelburne's population exploded after the Revolutionary War, Black Loyalists were relegated to land 7 km (4½ miles) northwest of town. The community they created—Birchtown, named for the British general who oversaw their evacuation from New York—became the biggest free settlement of African Americans in the world. Birchtown's virtually forgotten story was told in Lawrence Hill's award-winning novel The Book of Negroes, adapted for a CBC TV miniseries in 2015 and filmed locally, and its founders are now honored at this site, which includes a national historic monument, a 1½-km (1-mile) interpretive trail, and the modern Heritage Centre that features a multimedia presentation, archaeological relics, and a genealogical research facility (some of the docents there are descendants of the Black Loyalists).

With award-winning vintages and sigh-inducing Fundy views, a stop at Domaine de Grand Pré is doubly pleasing. Vineyard tours and tastings are offered twice daily, at 11 am and 4 pm; reservations are not required (but call ahead to confirm they are happening on any given day). They take about 45 minutes, but you'll likely want to linger on the picturesque 10-acre property, so plan to have a meal at Le Caveau Restaurant or sip a glass of wine under the pergola. Live Music under the Vines events take place on certain evenings in July and August, weather permitting, and other events are detailed on the website.

Flanked by sailing ships and painted a brilliant red, this museum on the Lunenburg waterfront strikes a dazzling pose. An aquarium features 14 tanks with native species and tidal touch tanks, and there are themed films in the Ice House Theatre, daily activities, and three floors of displays about shipbuilding, whaling, and other maritime endeavors. Demonstrations cover topics such as sail-making, boatbuilding, and dory launching, and dockside you can visit a restored 1938 saltbank schooner and a 1962 steel-hulled trawler. The Bluenose II, the province's sailing ambassador, is also based here. Built in 1963, it's a faithful replica of the original Bluenose, the Lunenburg-built schooner prominent during the 1920s and 1930s as the North Atlantic fleet's fastest vessel, which sank in 1946 after striking a reef.

You'll have to veer inland to see this 381-square-km (147-square-mile) national park, which is about halfway between the Atlantic and Fundy coasts. The Mi'Kmaq used these gentle waterways for thousands of years, a fact made plain by the ancient petroglyphs carved into rocks along the shore. You can explore "Keji" on your own or take a guided interpretive hike—perhaps spying beavers, owls, loons, white-tailed deer, and other wildlife along the way. Guided paddles and children's programs are also available in summer, and leaf peepers can see the deciduous forests blaze with color in autumn. Designated a Dark Sky Preserve by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, the park conducts nighttime programs for stargazers.

Downriver from Annapolis Royal is this reconstruction of Sieur de Monts and Samuel de Champlain's fur-trading post. The French set up shop here in 1605—two years before the English established Jamestown—making this the first permanent European settlement north of Florida. Port Royal also set other New World records, claiming the first tended crops, the first staged play, the first social club, and the first water mill. Unfortunately, it didn't have the first fire department: the original fortress burned down within a decade. At this suitably weathered replica, which is ringed by a log palisade, you're free to poke around the forge, inspect the trading post, pull up a chair at the dining table, or simply watch costumed interpreters perform traditional tasks in the courtyard. The heritage of the Mi'Kmaq people, who assisted the early settlers, can be explored in a wigwam.

Temporary exhibitions here are devoted to established and up-and-coming artists, and there's a permanent collection strong on maritime and Inuit art, works on paper, and works by women artists. It amounts to more than 3,000 works, though not all are on display.

The town, county, and this museum are named for Britain's Rear Admiral Robert Digby, who during the American Revolution helped evacuate Loyalists to Nova Scotia following the British surrender of New York City. You can learn a little bit about the admiral and a fair amount about Digby County history viewing the artifacts, paintings, and maps displayed here.

On Saturday morning from 8 to 1 mid-May through mid-October and also on Wednesday from 10 to 2 in July and August, the best place in Annapolis Royal to stock up on picnic supplies is the farmers' market, which sets up on lower St. George Street across from the King's Theatre. Expect artisanal bread, cured meats, homemade sweets, and preserves, plus fresh Annapolis Valley produce. Local artisans attend, too, and there's live entertainment. Most vendors accept cash only.

Like everything else in this town, the plants here are a blast from the past—17 heritage-theme acres represent different eras and include a glorious Victorian garden, a knot garden, a typical Acadian house garden, and a 2,000-bush rose collection with about 250 varieties. The main season is May through October, but the gardens are accessible year-round, although they are not maintained November through April.

This museum, named for an early settler from New England, is worth a visit. It recaptures late-1700s life with household items such as quilts and toys, plus fishing gear and information about shipwrecks and sea captains.

This is the gallery's satellite location. As with the flagship in Halifax, this one is housed in a heritage building and has a broad mandate, yet it's at its best when showcasing the works of regional artists. The branch exhibits art from the main gallery's permanent collection and mounts temporary shows of folk art and other disciplines. Family Sunday and children's workshops occasionally take place. If you plan to visit both branches, keep your receipt—it will give you a reduction on the second admission fee.

Out in Mahone Bay, 8 km (5 miles) out from Chester, these scenic islands have trails for hiking and biking, and provide great bird-watching and photography opportunities. There are sandy beaches, too, one of which is great for fossil hunting. Reflecting its part-German heritage, Big Tancook claims to have the best sauerkraut in Nova Scotia. The ferry from Chester runs four times daily Monday through Thursday, six times on Friday, and twice daily on weekends. The 50-minute ride costs C$7 round-trip (cash only).

It isn't the South Shore's most photogenic lighthouse—the one at Peggy's Cove wins that award—but this one scores points for its dramatic vistas and the dearth of other camera-clutching tourists. Erected in 1962 on the site of an earlier lighthouse, the concrete structure rises 75 feet above the entrance to Yarmouth Harbour. The adjacent keeper's quarters house a small museum with interactive exhibits, a fully equipped light-keeper's workshop, a restaurant serving seafood and local craft brews, and a gift shop. 

A faithful replica of the former lighthouse and keeper's quarters not only offers incredible views and information panels, it's also staffed by a marine biology interpreter, who is a mine of information about the ecology of the offshore waters and the history of the lighthouse. The local university carries out bird-banding, tracking, and nesting projects here. Informative tours along the beach and guided nighttime walks are also available (the latter booked through the Visitor Information Centre). Encircling the lighthouse and its hinterland, Le Petit Bois trail network threads through woodland, marshland, and along coastal paths.

Artifacts dating back to the mid-19th century, including rare photographs of local shops, factories, and shipyards, are among the holdings of this museum of Lunenburg County history. There's also a folk-art gallery, a First Nations gallery, and the Kidology Korner, with toys and games from pre-technology days. Walking trails wind from behind the museum building through nearby parkland.

A good rainy-day destination, this museum recounts the history of firefighting in the province through photographs, uniforms, and other artifacts, including vintage hose wagons, ladder trucks, and an 1863 Amoskeag Steamer. Kids will especially enjoy this spot—after checking out the toy engines, they can don a fire helmet and take the wheel of a 1933 Bickle Pumper.

Gazing over the grassy knolls, it's hard to believe that this fort qualifies as the "most attacked spot in Canadian history" or that those knolls are actually nearly 400-year-old earthwork ramparts built up, in part, with rubble and blood. First fortified in 1629, the site preserves what is left of the fourth military edifice to be erected here, an early-18th-century gunpowder magazine and officers' quarters. The latter now houses a small museum, and anyone who believes a picture is worth 1,000 words should be sure to see the massive Heritage Tapestry displayed inside. Its four meticulously detailed panels depict four centuries of local history and as many local cultures. Special events at the fort include reenactments and Mi'Kmaq cultural presentations. 

Despite a devastating fire in 1897, some evidence of Windsor's earliest days remains at Fort Edward, which, dating from 1750, is the oldest blockhouse in Canada.

This is one of Canada's oldest surviving lighthouses, located on the site where Samuel de Champlain and Sieur de Monts landed in 1604. Inside, the Port of the Privateers exhibit recounts the lighthouse's decades of stalwart service, from its completion in 1855 until 1989, when operations ceased. Even if the lighthouse isn't open when you arrive, there are interpretive signs outside, and the views of Liverpool Harbour from the park are splendid.

Added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 2012, this site commemorates the expulsion of the Acadians by the British in 1755. The tragic story is retold at the visitor center through artifacts and an innovative multimedia presentation that depicts Le Grand Dérangement from both a civilian and military perspective. The latter is shown in a wraparound theater that's modeled on a ship's interior. A bronze statue of Evangeline, the title character of Longfellow's tear-jerking epic poem, stands outside a memorial stone church that contains Acadian genealogical records. The manicured grounds have a garden, apple orchards, a duck pond, and, appropriately enough, French weeping willows.

This was once home to Judge Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1796–1865), a lawyer, politician, historian, and, above all, humorist. Hugely popular in his own day, Haliburton inspired Mark Twain and put Nova Scotia on the literary map with The Clockmaker, a book that used a fictional Yankee clock peddler named Sam Slick to poke fun at provincial foibles. Although you may not be familiar with Haliburton's name, you surely know some of the phrases he coined. The Windsor wordsmith gave us expressions like "quick as a wink," "it's raining cats and dogs," and "the early bird gets the worm." Themed programs and events are offered throughout the summer.

Thomas Haliburton is also remembered for making the first recorded reference to hockey—the sport that was "born" here in the early 1800s. Fittingly, the Windsor Hockey Heritage Museum ( 902/798–1800,  www.birthplaceofhockey.com/museum) resides at Haliburton House, and several rooms contain items from the collection. These include antique skates, hand-carved sticks, wooden pucks, trophies, team uniforms, and photographs.

You'll see one of the best natural harbors on the upper Bay of Fundy and some of the highest tides anywhere in Hall's Harbour, a small community about 30 km (18 miles) northwest of Wolfville via Kentville and Highway 359. Go for a walk on a gravel beach bordered by cliffs, try sea kayaking, or seek out the artisans whose studios open here during summer months. The small Red Fish House Museum, with local artifacts, is open in summer.

These 6-acre gardens are devoted mainly to indigenous plants from the Acadian Forest Region. Nine native habitats are displayed, and there's also a medicinal and food garden, a beautiful walled garden, and a conservatory.

Because Annapolis Royal flip-flopped between the French and English so many times, the past here is a complicated affair, but the members of the historical association are happy to walk you through it. They've developed a series of high-season strolls led by guides dressed in typical 18th-century fashion. This is an entertaining way to learn more about the historic significance and cultural heritage of the region. Options include daytime tours of the National Historic District and sites associated with the Acadian Experience. The wildly popular Candlelight Graveyard Tour of Canada's oldest English cemetery (at Fort Anne) takes place at 9:30 pm several times a week in June and every night from July through October. Reservations for tours aren't necessary, but call or check the website for times. The association has put together a self-guided walk pamphlet for visitors who'd rather wander independently.

One of the last untouched tracts of coastline in Atlantic Canada, this park has isolated coves, broad white beaches, and imposing headlands, all of which are managed by Kejimkujik National Park and Historic Site (just plain "Keji" to locals or the linguistically challenged). A hike along a 6-km (4-mile) trail reveals a pristine coast that's home to harbor seals, eider ducks, and many other species. To protect nesting areas of the endangered piping plover, parts of St. Catherine's River Beach (the main beach) are closed to the public from late April to early August.

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An arts and cultural complex that tries to be all things to all people—and succeeds—the Rendez-vous de la Baie serves locals, tourists, and students. Housed in a contemporary structure on the Université Sainte-Anne campus, the center has as its highlight the Acadian Interpretive Centre and Museum, whose exhibits provide an evocative overview of Acadian culture and history. The Rendez-vous complex also includes an art gallery that shows contemporary works, a theater for live and media presentations, an Internet café that hosts events, and a visitor information center. The gift shop at the interpretive center carries an excellent selection of Acadian music.