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Eastern Shore

Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore route begins in Halifax, follows Route 7 (also known as Marine Drive), then slips up to Antigonish, west to Truro, then back to Halifax. Sarah Wright, an elementary school librarian from Indiana, discovered the region's beauty when she spent a month in Nova Scotia taking spinning courses. "There's such an incredible amount of shoreline there, with all its peninsulas and small harbours," she says.

Heading east out of Halifax, it won't take long to feel the cool ocean breezes and taste the salt in the air. There are a plethora of beaches, parks and off-the-beaten-track things to do here. Get a sense of the fishermen's lifestyle in Jeddore Oyster Ponds on Route 7. The Fisherman's Life Museum, home to a self-sufficient rural family of 13 daughters in the early 1900s, features the home itself, barn, fishhouse, and grounds. Costumed interpreters describe and demonstrate such traditional skills as hooking, mat-making and eel pot-making. For a different historical experience, visit nearby Lake Charlotte's Memory Lane Heritage Village. The general store dates from 1894, the one-room schoolhouse from 1950; there's a homestead from 1900 and a barn from 1925.

Continuing along Marine Drive, in Ship Harbour you'll see lines of white buoys in the water, indicating North America's largest cultivated mussel farm. The fish smokehouse in nearby Tangier was featured on TV's Great Canadian Food Show. Seasoned kayakers can test their skills among a group of islands between Mitchell Bay and Marie Joseph, while beginners can explore the shores of Liscomb Harbour.

Your first stop on the way to Canso should be Sherbrooke Village, showcasing life from 1860 to just before World War I. There's a woodturning and chair-making shop, a blacksmith who turns out ironwork for use in the village, a pottery shop, and St. Mary's printery, which demonstrates handpresses. Routes 211, 316 and 16 wind along a spectacular drive to Canso, founded in 1604. The Whitman House Museum is worth exploring as is the Canso Islands National Historic Park. If you're there from July 4 to 6 you won't want to miss the legendary Stan Rogers Folk Festival, which draws more than 10,000 people every year.

Doubling back to travel west on Route 16 along Chedabucto Bay, the next stop is Guysborough and the popular Mulgrave Road Theatre. From here, carry on to Antigonish, home of St. Francis Xavier University, a centre of Gaelic culture and site of the rousing Highland Games, held every year in July. Visitors will see burly kilted contestants in a tug-of-war, piping bands, solo drumming, and young ladies demonstrating the art of Highland dancing. There's a golf tournament, too.

Further west along Highway 104 you'll arrive in Stellarton, which has the largest museum in Atlantic Canada. The Nova Scotia Museum of Industry houses more than 37,000 artifacts including odd hairdressing machines from the 1930s and two of Canada's oldest steam locomotives. Check out a festival in New Glasgow: the Antique Car Show is in June, for example, and in August get tickets for the Music Jubilee or Festival of the Tartans.

Next, take a side trip to Pictou to visit a replica of the good ship Hector, which in 1773 brought 189 Scots to their new home. Pictou is well known as the birthplace of New Scotland: those 189 settlers were but the first wave of Scottish immigrants who made their way to Canada. The McCulloch House Museum tells the story of one of the early families that immigrated to Pictou in 1805 or thereabouts. Learn more about the Hector during New Scotland Days Living Heritage Festival, which runs every year from early July to mid-September. The dates mark the anniversary of the Hector's depature from Scotland and arrival in Canada.

North/Central Nova

Start your tour of the north-central region of Nova Scotia in Truro, further along on Highway 104. Once the site of an Acadian settlement called Cobequit, the township of Truro was founded in 1761 by approximately 60 families of Scots-Irish heritage. Some of the buildings in the downtown area date from the late 1800s and are marked with historic plaques. Because of its link to the Bay of Fundy, Truro's Salmon River is influenced by the massive tides of the bay, with the flow of the river reversed twice a day. Find out more at the Tidal Bore Interpretive Centre. Then take a side trip on Route 236 to Maitland for an exhilarating river-rafting experience.

Back on Route 2, on the opposite side of Cobequid Bay, head to Parrsboro. There you will find the fossil cliffs that produced the oldest dinosaur fossils in Canada. Fundy Geological Museum has a full-size skeleton of a dinosaur (prosauropod, a herbivorous dinosaur from the Triassic and early Jurassic periods) and visitors can see researchers and lab technicians at work on dinosaur remains. Along the way there are many interpretive sites and lookoffs, including Raspberry Bay Stone at Bass River, where visitors can see native stone being carved using historic tools and techniques.

From Parrsboro it's well worth a side trip to Cape d'Or. Plan to hang out for awhile at the lighthouse. Hikers will be in paradise at Cape Chignecto, the largest provincial park in Nova Scotia, with miles of coastal hiking trails.

Carry on up the coast to Joggins, on Chignecto Bay. The tides have eroded the cliffs, rendering the area a rich site for flora and fauna fossils. The Joggins Fossil Centre has details of the world's first reptile fossil find. Further on, Amherst, settled by New Englanders in 1764, offers theatre, golfing and splendid murals. The railway made Amherst a major industrial centre in the early 1900s, and many of the stately family homes on Victoria Street are reminders of that historic industrial strength. There are many beaches near Amherst that draw locals and tourists alike, particularly given the warmth of the Northumberland Strait, said to be the warmest body of water north of the Carolinas. Birdlovers will want to spend time at the Amherst Point Migratory Bird Sanctuary.

Route 6 will take you through some great little towns and villages. Veer into Pugwash for a tour of the Seagull Pewter Factory or a dip at a sandy beach. Wine lovers will want to tour Jost Vineyards in Malagash. Further along, Tatamagouche has its many special and festivals. From there, it's an easy run down Route 311 back to Truro.