Road Trip from Oriental, NC to Halifax Nova Scotia
 

A friend and I want to drive from the eastern North Carolina shore to Halifax Nova Scotia, but we would really love to avoid I-95. We are good with taking Rte 13 up to the Delaware Memorial Bridge, and understand that that will put us onto the bottom of the NJ Turnpike. We may even stay for the night in the Bronx. BUT, we really would like to find a way to drive the remaining miles to NS mostly avoiding I-95. Any ideas?

Follow whatever route you need to get to Baltimore. North of Baltimore, take I-83 north to get to I-81 north to the Scranton area. Take I-84 east to Hartford CT and then I-91 north to Quebec. Go to Nova Scotia via Quebec and New Brunswick.
There is no need to go anywhere near the Bronx. You should be able to make it to Danbury CT in a long day.

good route
 

TomFuller's suggestion looks pretty good, I hadn't thought of continuing up to Quebec on I91. We usually take his suggested route thru CT to I91 thru western MA. You want to get thru Hartford when it isn't rush hour. That's the only place we dislike a lot. My suggestion would be to get off I91 in Brattleboro to Keene NH then head for Concord NH via Rt 9 to Rt 202 to I89 connecting to I93N. Unless it's Friday afternoon or commuting hours, I93N is a pleasant drive and gets very scenic since it goes thru the White Mountains. Then take Rt 2 east thru Maine. and connect with Rt 9 to Canada. We did the I93 to Rt 2 section a couple of summers ago when we vacationed in the Deer Isle area of Maine. It's a pleasant drive but you'll want to know ahead of time where you can stop for lunch. I didn't figure out how the mileage compared with Tom's suggestion. His might be shorter. Basically, once you get north of Hartford CT, it should be easy going. I don't like I95 and I don't like the Mass pike (I90) so I91 is my typical route to NH.

Thanks for taking the time to help out, Tom. Much appreciated!

You also can avoid Baltimore by driving up 17 to Virginia Beach then taking the Bay Bridge/Tunnel and driving up the DelMarVa to Lewes Delaware for the ferry to Cape May. Then decide if you want to strike west to avoid NYC or just take the Garden State Pkwy to Tappanzee.

Road trip from Sanford NC to Nova Scotia
 

Hey , Did you avoid the New York traffic by going this alternate route? We are leaving in August for Cape Breton and want to try to avoid New York traffic. I came across your old post and was curious ....

Thanks so much!