122 Best Sights in Nova Scotia, Canada

During the school year, the Bauer is home to Theatre Antigonish, a nonprofit community company that presents classic and contemporary works. Its Green Room Lounge features improv comedy on certain Saturday nights, with admission by donation.

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).

This long, sandy beach remains untouched by modern development, other than the picnic tables on the adjoining grassland. It's a great place for beachcombing and pondering the journeys of First Nations boatmen who once set out from here to paddle to Newfoundland. A cairn in the park, commemorating the purported arrival of John Cabot from England in 1497, offers further historical insights, but the jaw-dropping views of Aspy Bay and the surrounding wilderness area provide the best reasons to come here. Amenities: parking (free). Best for: solitude; walking.

Here you can learn about the difficult lives of the local men whose job it was to extract coal from undersea collieries. After perusing the exhibits, you can don a hard hat and descend into the damp, claustrophobic recesses of a shaft beneath the museum with a retired miner who'll recount his own experiences toiling in the bowels of the earth. The 15-acre property also includes a replica village that gives you a sense of workers' home life, and it has a theater where the Men of the Deeps choir, a world-renowned group of working and retired miners, performs on certain evenings in summer.

Miles of untouched coastline, more than 10,000 acres of old-growth forest harboring deer, moose, and eagles, and a variety of unique geological features are preserved in Nova Scotia's largest provincial park. It's circumnavigated by a 51-km (31-mile) hiking trail along rugged cliffs that rise 600 feet above the bay, and there are other trails of varying lengths. Wilderness cabins and campsites are available.

The explorer Samuel de Champlain poetically, but inaccurately, named Cape d'Or—there's copper in these hills, not gold. The region was actively mined a century ago, and at nearby Horseshoe Cove you may still find nuggets of almost pure copper on the beach, along with amethysts and other semiprecious stones. Cape d'Or's hiking trails border the cliff edge above the Dory Rips, a turbulent meeting of currents from the Minas Basin and the Bay of Fundy punctuated by a fine lighthouse, which has a viewing deck with telescopes.

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. 

Right on the waterfront, the casino has a full range of gaming tables and hundreds of slots. There's entertainment, too, mostly provided by tribute bands and C-listers on their way up—or down. Patrons must be 19 or older.

At the casino you can try your luck at slot machines, test your skill at gaming tables, or simply settle in to enjoy the live entertainment—assuming you're at least 19 years old, the legal gambling (and drinking) age in Nova Scotia.

Packed with interactive exhibits detailing the fine points of Cape Breton music, the center also has an archive with classic recordings and oral history interviews. Visitors eager to pick up a fiddle and bow can play along to a video tutorial. If you'd rather just listen, that's no problem: there are plenty of ceilidhs, demonstrations, music workshops, and other events here, all listed on the website.

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.

The geology, history, and culture of the Five Islands area are interpreted here with pictures, videos, and panels, and you can get a sweeping view of the countryside and the impressive tides from the World War II observation tower. Cobequid is home base for the Kenomee Hiking and Walking Trails, where hikers traverse varied landscapes ranging from forested valleys to coast and cliffs.

Built in 1787, this unpretentious wooden building was originally home to Reverend Ranna Cossit—Cape Breton's first protestant minister—his wife Thankful, and their 10 children. Now faithfully restored and occupied by costumed interpreters, the North End residence is furnished with period pieces based on Cossit's own inventory.

This tiny spit is the final resting place of almost 200 American prisoners of war who died while imprisoned in Halifax during the War of 1812. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs unveiled a memorial in 2005 to honor the men, who died of communicable diseases such as smallpox and were buried in mass graves. Over time, the island, now a park, has become naturally linked to the mainland, so you can walk to it without getting your feet wet.

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.

This cemetery is the final resting place of 121 victims of the Titanic. The graves are easily found, in a graceful arc of granite tombstones. One—marked J. Dawson—attracts particular attention from visitors. Alas, it's not the fictional artist played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1998 film, but James Dawson, a coal trimmer from Ireland. Nineteen other victims are buried in Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery and 10 in the Baron de Hirsch Jewish Cemetery. The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic has an exhibit about the disaster. Fairview Lawn also includes many graves of victims of the Halifax Explosion.

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.

On the shore of Minas Basin, the park has lofty sea cliffs, a beach for combing, trails for hiking, and mudflats for clam digging. Interpretive displays reveal the area's intriguing geology—semiprecious stones, Jurassic-period dinosaur bones, and fossils can all be found within the park's 1,500 acres. You can learn about geology and other topics, among them astronomy, rock hounding, and tidal-pool exploration, during complimentary programs offered during high season (check the website). Because the water recedes nearly a mile at ebb tide, you can walk on the ocean floor, though you'll have to run back mighty fast when the tide turns. That's precisely the goal of 2,000 or so participants in the Not Since Moses 10K Race ( www.notsincemoses.com), an early-August event of (almost) biblical proportions. Amenities: parking (free); showers; toilets. Best for: swimming; walking.

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.

Not far from the Minas Basin, where some of the oldest dinosaur fossils in Canada have been found, this museum showcases 200-million-year-old specimens alongside other mineral, plant, and animal relics. The opportunity to peer into a working fossil lab and to see bright interactive exhibits (like the Bay of Fundy Time Machine) give this museum real kid appeal. On Friday and Saturday in July and August, the curator leads fascinating two- to four-hour field trips through the surrounding area, but you need your own transportation because most don't start at the museum.

Being home to direct descendants of the Gaelic pioneers, St. Ann's Bay is a logical site for this college, established in 1938 with a mission to promote and preserve the settlers' heritage. And mission accomplished, because today the campus provides a crash course in Gaelic culture. For instance, after learning about Scottish history in the Great Hall of Clans (particularly the Highland Clearances that sparked a mass exodus of Scots to the New World during the 18th century), you can view a short Gaelic-language film, then discover traditional disciplines like weaving and dancing at interactive stations. Not surprisingly, music at the college is especially noteworthy. Weeklong summer-school courses—as well as occasional weekend workshops—focus on topics such as bagpiping and fiddling. The college hosts lunchtime and Wednesday-evening ceilidhs in summer and in fall it’s a key site for the Celtic Colours Festival.

Nova Scotia is a center of Shambhala Buddhism, and though Shambhala International is headquartered in Halifax, this abbey is its monastic heart. Finding the site high above the sea, however, requires more than soul searching. From Pleasant Bay, a spur road creeps along the cliffs to Red River; beyond that, a gravel road twists and turns for some 3 km (2 miles) before reaching the broad, flat bench of land on which the monastery sits. You can tour the abbey and wander through some of its 230 acres to visit a small shrine and grotto. If the abbey is closed for a retreat or other event, continue down the road for about ½ km (¼ mile) to see the Stupa of Enlightenment, a large and elaborate shrine dedicated to world peace.

Built between 1799 and 1805 for Sir John Wentworth, the Loyalist governor of New Hampshire, and his racy wife, Fannie (Thomas Raddall's novel The Governor's Lady tells their story), this elegant house has since been the official residence of the province's lieutenant governor—the Queen's representative. Its construction of Nova Scotian stone was engineered by a Virginian Loyalist, Isaac Hildrith, and it's North America's oldest consecutively occupied government residence because the White House, while older, was evacuated and burned during the War of 1812. Half-hour guided tours are offered in July and August, and the Lieutenant Governor's Garden Party in June is open to the public. 

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.

One of the oldest formal Victorian gardens in North America, this city oasis had its start in 1753 as a private garden. Its layout was completed in 1875 by Richard Power, former gardener to the Duke of Devonshire in Ireland. Gravel paths wind among ponds, trees, and flower beds, revealing an astonishing variety of plants from all over the world. The centerpiece is an ornate gazebo-like bandshell, erected in 1887 for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, where free Sunday afternoon concerts take place at 2 from mid-June through mid-September. Grab a coffee and a treat at Uncommon Grounds Cafe, which is housed in the historic Horticulture Hall. The gardens are open year-round and a pleasure in every season.

Green in more ways than one, this waterfront weekend market that hosts more than 250 local farmers, food producers, and artisans is one of Canada's most eco-friendly buildings. Noteworthy features include wind turbines, solar-energy and water-conservation systems, and a "biowall" that allows natural ventilation. There's a wonderful array of fresh produce and crafts, and the international backgrounds of many vendors make it particularly interesting, with some unique offerings. Sampling and shopping opportunities abound, though aside from Saturday not every vendor is out in force (unless a cruise ship is in). Don't confuse this venue with Brewery Square's Historic Farmers' Market, whose vendors didn't want to move here. Both claim to be the country's oldest farmers' market—and in a way, they both are.