Springhill

If you’re not going to be visiting Cape Breton, Springhill (on Highway 2) is worth a stop because it gives you a second chance to sample Nova Scotia’s music-and-mining combo. This town was both the birthplace of acclaimed songstress Anne Murray and, before that, home to the ill-fated coal mine immortalized in "The Ballad of Springhill" (aka "Springhill Mining Disaster") by Peggy Seeger and Ewen McColl. The mines closed in 1962, but Springhill is still using them—as a source of geothermal energy.