Wolfville

Settled in the 1760s by New Englanders, Wolfville is a fetching college town with ornate Victorian homes (some of which have been converted into B&Bs), a lively arts scene, and several fine restaurants. Established in 1838, Acadia University and its handsomely groomed hillside campus dominate the town, and the student population rivals that of the residents. The natural setting is impressive, too: after all, the fields here are fertile enough to support a thriving wine industry. That’s due partly to a mild microclimate and partly to an elaborate system of dikes built by the Acadians in the early 1700s to reclaim arable land from the unusually high tides. They can still be viewed along many of the area's back roads. The original Acadians didn’t get to enjoy the fruits of their labor, but their legacy lives on at nearby Grand-Pré.