Sights in Halifax
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Maritime Museum of the Atlantic
Part of this impressive waterfront Maritime Museum of the Atlantic was a chandlery, where all the gear needed to outfit a vessel was sold. You can smell the charred ropes, cured to protect them from saltwater, and try pumping a hand-operated foghorn. There's a wildly popular display on the Titanic and another on the Halifax Explosion. Outside at the dock you can explore the CSS Acadia, a retired hydrographic vessel from England.
The last WWII corvette HMCS Sackville is docked nearby and staffed by the Canadian Navy.
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St George's Round Church
St George's Round Church , built in 1800 according to the design specifications of the Duke of Kent, included separate seating areas for naval and civilian congregants. A rare circular Palladian church with a main rotunda 18m in diameter, it was damaged by fire in 1994. Tours are by arrangement. Tours of the 1756 Little Dutch Church, the second-oldest building in Halifax, can also be arranged through St George's.
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Pier 21 Center
Pier 21 was to Canada what Ellis Island was to the USA. Between 1928 and 1971 over a million immigrants entered Canada through Pier 21. Their stories and the historical context that led them to abandon their homelands are presented in this museum.
The museum features a large pavilion with information displays, boutiques, cafes and multilmedia exhibits detailing the travails of refugees and immigrants hoping to call Canada home.
Pier 21 is somewhat hidden behind the VIA Rail station - go around the side of the Westin Hotel on Terminal Rd. Better yet, follow the waterfront boardwalk south from the Historic Properties and you'll bump right into it.
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Fairview Lawn Cemetery
Since the film Titanic swept through the 1998 Academy Awards like, well, an iceberg, nondenominational Fairview Cemetery has been incorporated into the tour bus circuit. Halifax, base of rescue operations for the tragedy, is home to nearly all the residuals of the fateful voyage.
Among the 121 victims buried here is a lowly coal shoveler named Jim Dawson, who was transformed by Hollywood into Jack Dawson. It's easy to find grave No 227, marked simply 'J Dawson, April 15, 1912', as weepy adolescents have made it a pilgrimage point and there are usually flowers.
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Point Pleasant Park
Rented to Canada by the British - for the bargain price of 10 cents a year - this wooded sanctuary at the far southern end of town is fittingly named. Make sure your boots are made for walking, though - no cars are allowed. You'll find 39km (24mi) of walking trails, picnic spots and a beach (of sorts).
There's also a restaurant and the Prince of Wales Martello Tower, a round 18th-century defensive structure. Great views can be had all the way around the park's perimeter. Walk out to the lighthouse to take in the busy shipping activity at the nearby Port of Halifax.
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Maritime Command Museum
The Admiral of the British navy for all of North America was based in Halifax until 1819 and threw grand parties at Admiralty House, now the Maritime Command Museum. Apart from the beautiful Georgian architecture, the museum is worth a visit for its eclectic collections: cigarette lighters, silverware and ships' bells, to name a few. One notable bell is a cracked specimen from the victorious Shannon, which took the USS Chesapeake in a famous skirmish of the War of 1812.
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Citadel Hill National Historic Site
Canada's most-visited national historic site, the Citadel is a huge, oddly-angled fort on top of Halifax's big central hill. The current structure was built to defend Halifax from the Americans.
The excellent guided tours explain the fort's shape and how, despite appearances, it was neither well designed nor well constructed. For some free entertainment watch the hourly changing of the guard - just look for kilts and ostrich-feather hats. And men standing very, very still.
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Halifax Public Gardens
The Halifax Public Gardens are considered the finest Victorian city gardens in North America. Oldies bands perform off-key concerts in the gazebo on Sunday afternoons in summer, tai chi practitioners go through their paces, and anyone who brings checkers can play on outside tables. The seventeen acres make a great detour when walking across the city on foot - you feel as if you've left metropolis for a quirky, bustling countryside.
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Province House
The Province House is one of the finest examples of 19th-century Georgian architecture in all of North America and was the first legislature in a British colony to win local self-government. After Charles Dickens visited the Nova Scotia legislature in 1842, he wrote 'it was like looking at Westminster through the wrong end of a telescope.' A guided tour will take up fifteen minutes of your time.
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Anna Leonowens Gallery
Off the pedestrian area on Granville St, the Anna Leonowens Gallery shows work by students and faculty of the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, which occupies much of the Historic Properties. The gallery is named for the founder of the college, who was immortalized in The King and I for her relationship with the King of Siam.
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Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
The provincial Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the largest art gallery in Nova Scotia, is housed in the impressive Dominion Building (c 1868). The 35 galleries range from historical and traditional folk art to contemporary art. Daily tours at 14:30 are included with admission.
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Museum of Natural History
Daily summer programs introduce children to Gus the toad and demonstrate the cooking of bugs. Exhibits on history and the natural world will keep parents engaged, too. It's just a couple of blocks north of Spring Garden Rd or west of Citadel Hill.
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St Paul's Church
Established in 1749 with the founding of Halifax, Anglican St Paul's Church once served parishioners from Newfoundland to Ontario. Designed by James Gibbs, a student of Sir Christopher Wren, it resembles St Peter's Church in London.
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Old Town Clock
At the top of George St, the Old Town Clock has been keeping time for 200 years. The inner workings arrived in Halifax in 1803 after being ordered by Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent.
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Discovery Centre
Science is fun! Hands-on exhibits, live shows and movies are all part of the road to discovery for all ages. The gift shop is hard to get through with out dropping a chunk of change.
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Cornwallis St Baptist Church
The Cornwallis St Baptist Church has been serving African Nova Scotians since the 1830s. Walk by on Sunday morning and hear the gospel music overflow its walls.
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Old Burying Ground
The Old Burying Ground is the final resting place of some 12,000 people buried between 1749 and 1843. A display points out graves of historical significance.
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