Nova Scotia is not new to hurricanes or tropical storms. In 2003 Hurricane Juan made landfall just south of Halifax and ploughed through the province causing millions of dollars in damages. Most homes were okay but others suffered damage from trees, stripped off shingles and siding and smashed windows. An emergency worker was killed when a tree fell on his ambulance.
Yesterday in Nova Scotia bottled water is being stripped from grocery shelves and generators are becoming a scarce commodity. With Juan in mind the people of Nova Scotia are stocking up on non-perishables and preparing for a long-term loss of power.
Hurricane Earl strengthened into a powerful Category 4 storm on Monday after ripping through the northeast Caribbean islands. It is expected to hit the U.S. East Coast tomorrow.
New York’s Long Island coast is now added to the list of areas under a tropical storm warning as Earl barrels toward the Eastern Seaboard. In addition, the National Hurricane Center also issued a hurricane watch Thursday for areas of Massachusetts and a tropical storm watch for other parts of the state and several places in Maine. This means travel advisories and evacuation preparations are in place for the American south Atlantic.
“I have, since 1969 . . .started to branch out from the money pit are with exploration and I have found evidence as much as 180 meters away from the money pit area where . . .people have worked deep in the ground.”
Dan Blankenship – partner in an ownership group of Oak Island.
Dan Blankenship is a very patient man. How patient, you may ask? Try waiting 41 years for a permit to dig for the lost Oak Island treasure. What is invigorating for Blankenship is that the province of Nova Scotia plans to repeal the outdated Treasure Trove Act and create an Oak Island Act and enable him to finally begin digging for the elusive treasure
What the province wants to nip in the bud is the growing legion of treasure hunters who are pillaging the watery graves of ships, many of which are classed as War Graves. With the new act is still in the works so Blankenship is still not convinced that it will be his golden ticket to the elusive Oak Island Treasure. However, at least there is movement in his direction and he will know the details in the early fall.
For more information on the history of the Oak Island Treasure go to Oak Island Legend.
A week ago the government of Prince Edward Island and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) were getting a lot of flak for paying $1 million to bring up the Live! with Regis and Kelly to island of Green Gables. Of course anyone with any marketing sense at all knows that the only act bigger than Regis and Kelly is Oprah Winfrey and that makes them a draw even if they shot the show from inside a cave. In other words it was a remarkable coup and I hope the idea people get rewarded.
During the first of the projected four broadcasts of Live! With Regis and Kelly produced on Prince Edward Island, the province climbed almost to the top of the list of most-searched topics on Google in the U.S.
$1 Million: Not Really a Lot of Money Anymore
For those in the public who do not agree, let me explain this in dollars and “sense.” $1 million is not a lot of money anymore. With transportation and the production staff this amount probably doesn’t cover all the expenses, rather it covers the bases. The real advantage is the ratings the show gets when it is taken to a new location. This boosts television revenues.
P.E.I Regains its Place as a Tourist Draw
When Kelly Ripa came to P.E.I. she didn’t stay in her hotel room. Instead she went sightseeing and horseback riding. Then she told the world about how great the island is on her highly-rated shows. Regis wasn’t idle either. He went on a lobster boat and that little snippet probably gave a tremendous boost to the sagging lobster industry as a whole. And just think of the thousands of people who flocked to the island to get a peak of the dynamic duo.
(Kelly just told the viewing audience. . .”You should get on a plane and come here now. . .This is really that great of a place!”)
Nova Scotia Spin-Offs
For many tourists coming to P.E.I. would include a tour of Nova Scotia as well. So even though this province is not getting the direct benefits of Regis and Kelly the whole Atlantic region is reaping the rewards from the publicity. This includes secondary markets such as transportation, B & B’s and hotel rooms. And this is sorely needed when the Nova Scotia tourism industry has taken the hits of a dismantled southern ferry service and a depressed American economy.
Whatever your private thoughts on television celebrities Regis and Kelly coming to Prince Edward Island it is definitely causing a stir in all of Atlantic Canada. Despite the price tag of $1 million the spin-offs from having the small province hi-lighted on a major U.S. daily show like LIVE! With Regis and Kelly for 4 whole days will be noticeable in a time of shrinking tourism dollars.
From her arrival Kelly Ripa has been expounding the virtues of P.E.I especially the mussels which have been a favorite of hers well before she had ever heard of Prince Edward Island. It seems that P.E.I. mussels are a stale of New York cuisine.
Fans began braving the rain on Sunday evening to get the best seats for the first of a scheduled four of the LIVE! With Regis and Kelly shows to be broadcast from the Charlottetown waterfront this week. There are approximately 3,000 seats for each show. By 7 a.m. this morning more than 1,000 people were at Confederation Landing Park and more were streaming in. There will be sporadic rain until Wednesday.
For more up-to-date info go to Regis and Kelly.
(Note: Four members of the R.C.M.P just escorted them out on stage and the rain has held off!)
White Point Vacation Home is in full swing for the summer and is about to open the Rumrunner Suite. This suite is dedicated to the wild bunch of Nova Scotia fisherman who made a good living during the days of American Prohibition in the late 1920′ s and early 1930’s by providing Canadian whiskey and rum to American buyers.
Most of the decor has been refinished including the tongue-and-groove interior doors and closets as well as the walls.
The Rumrunner Suite has its own private deck overlooking the orchard and you can hear the ocean crashing against the rocks below. It also features a King-bed and a full kitchen so you can get cooking as soon as you get there.
And like the Captain’s Deck and Beachcomber suites the Rumrunner is only 200 yards from the gold course at White Point Beach Resort.
Although Canada became independent in 1867 the Royal Navy looked after the Canadian shores until Canada could float its own boats in 1910. This year Halifax joins the rest of Canada in celebrating the centennial of the Canadian Navy.
Almost every major city on the Atlantic coast owes its beginning to being an outpost of some country’s navy, the overwhelming one being the Royal Navy of Great Britain although the Dutch, Spanish and the French were there too. In this regard Halifax is no exception. In the early 1700’s the British set up in Halifax not to colonize (There was far better land in Virginia and the Carolina’s) but to keep an eye on the French, who were on the other side of Nova Scotia, and to make sure the Spanish stayed away.
To kick it off the centennial year over 1000 sailors marched through Halifax to remind Canadians that this small seaport played a large role in both World Wars as marshaling areas for Atlantic convoys that carried troops and war materiel. In addition many a German U-Boat lies on the bottom of the ocean thanks to the voracity of the Royal Canadian Navy, as it was known at the time.
This year look forward to parades, visits of warships from many countries and a grand version of the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo as the Canadian Navy comes ashore.
For more information on festivals and celebrations visit Canadian Navy Centennial.
From its beginnings as a hunting and fishing lodge in 1928 to its present-day clientele of people from all over the world White Point Beach Resort has seen the incursion of all types of people from the wealthy to soldiers guarding the South Shore coast in World War II. You can see many of the pictures of early White point Beach Lodge, from 700 pound tuna on a Liverpool dock to bathers from 1912. Now many of the back stories of the great property will be chronicled in new book by Lunenburg County author Frances Dickson.
“It’s people who make history come alive,” said Dickson, who was in Queens County last week conducting research for the book, Destination White Point (working title).
Dickson, a long-time visitor to the resort, has seen many people come and g, and many who keep coming back. In fact, the resort has a few multi-generational families who come year-after-y – some for as long as 50 years or more.
And not only are the visitors on Dickson’s radar. A key source of her information is the staff, some of whom that worked at the resort as far back as the 1930s. In fact there are a few third generation employees at White Point.
As a frequent visitor to the Banff Springs Hotel in the 1970’s I often see the parallels between the two historical resorts. Although the Banff Springs is 40 years older the present version is the same age as White Point Beach Lodge because the original wooden structure in the Banff township was destroyed by a fire in 1926 and the new hotel opened in 1928, the same year as the Nova Scotia lodge. And both are said to be haunted!
Although having many stories to sort through, for the next several weeks and maybe into early summer Dickson is still looking for people to relay their White Point tales and stories. She is also on the hunt for photos that staff or guests may have taken over the years.
Anyone interested in communicating with Dickson can contact her by phone, (902) 766-4016; email, fjewel@eastlink.ca; or through White Point. Her website is www.voicesetc.ca
It takes about 40 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of syrup. It only takes 12 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of maple wine.
For Nova Scotia’s Gaspereau Vinyard near Wolfville winning the 2010 Taster’s Guild international wine competition is an other vindication of the province as a premier wine making area. Gina Haverstock, Gasperau’s winemaker, explained that Gaspereau Maple Wine is a great dessert wine and has huge potential as a cooking additive.
Gaspereau received gold medals for the vineyard’s 2008 Castel, 2008 Lucie Kuhlman (Barrel Select) and its Crescendo sparkling wine. Intotalt, over 2,200 wines from 10 countries were entered in the competition that involved tasters from all over North America.
Uses for Maple Wine
- Can be serve as an aperitive or a digestive.
- Serve cool or on ice.
- Serve with tonic water.
- A fest with foie gras.
- Perfect with desserts, particularly those made of apples or pears.
- Goes well with chocolate.
Make sure you make a stop at Gaspereau Vineyards on you Nova Scotia holiday. For more information go to Gaspereau Wines
As “Restaurant of the Year” in 2005 the Quarterdeck Grill ranks as one of the top 10 restaurants in Nova Scotia gaining a reputation as the Sandy South Shore’s finest for fresh seafood. One of the favorites is fresh lobster tails stuffed with scallops and shrimp. In addition, planked salmon, a famous dish on the South Shore, is salmon fillet seasoned and then grilled against a wood slab in an outdoor wood fire pit. They also prepare great pastas, steaks and grilled fresh fish.
While the food is fabulous the oceanside view is amazing. And if the weather is not to your liking you can dine inside or outside on the Grill’s all-weather covered deck.
The wine list is unending and dessert includes a Triple Chocolate Fix, or authentic Blueberry Cobbler.
So, while you are enjoying your stay at White Point Vacation Home hop over the the Quarterdeck and see the sea from a different angle while enjoying a great dinner.
As the builder of the manor house at White Point, Angus Doggett was the local fish buyer and set up shop at Hunt’s Point Wharf. When the American Prohibition Act was passed in 1920 this turned a relatively-steady, sea-going South Shore area into a hot bed of activity.
To slake the thirst of the American Speak-Easy’s the Canadian liquor industry went fuill-bore into production. However, since most of the land transportation links were closely guarded the purveyors of booze looked to the experienced sea captains to deliver their precious cargos. This not only filled the coffers of the liquor barons but also spawned a newed boom in ship-building.
Over the years Angus Doggett and his heirs were known as rum runners and the manor house was their headquarter. It is even rumoured that Al Capone met with Dogget on one occassion as the gangster was headed to his liquor warehouses on St. Pierre-Miqulon in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Today, Doggert and many of his family are buried in the little cemetery on the 4th fairway at White Point Golf Course.
In honour of Angus Doggett, White Point Vacation Home has named their third suite the “Rum Runner.” The old kitchen still echoes with talk to run running deals while up in the loft the tongue-and-groove beadboard leaves no doubt that the home was built by shipwrights.
Check out the Rum Runner Suite at White Point Vacation Home.