evening in peggy's cove

"So Soon?" you ask. Well, this Peggy's Cove trip was a rare treat for us so of course I took scads of photographs. If I don't post them soon, they'll fall into the abyss of Never Was. So here we are again.

My last post watched the sun go down at the famous lighthouse. My friend, Connie, and I walked the short road down alongside the sheltered inlet.

We passed the same lobster shack seen at the beginning of my last post,

here with a boat decked out in netting and buoys. 

Coming round the front of this same building, lobster traps in a row,

we can see the tide is a bit lower than when we arrived about an hour earlier,

the natural breakwater at the front of the cove dark-rimmed to show the water line.

On the other side of the street are a few commercial spots now closed.

This one, with its rolled up awning and areas for sitting, seems to be a café of sorts.

This newer style of building seems to be a semi-detached,

perched on rock with a mat of grass that looks like a bad toupée. 

 

the right side of that same building with the wild rose hips adorning the front view

looking back from whence we came as the road rises

a little further along we rise to an uninhabited stretch

its rocky barrens still beautiful in the evening light

another otherworldly stretch of rock covered in what may be low laying blueberry bushes

Not much of a biologist, I do know that these fern-like plants that turn this lovely orangey gold

are bracken.

Well, maybe this thick matting of scrub are not blueberries after all.

(After posting this earlier today, I received a message from my dear Saskatchewan friend, formerly a P.E.I girl, who advised me that this is most likely the Northern Bayberry.  Deer and salt resistant, growing in poor but well-drained soils- even sand- they provide their own nitrogen/fertilizer. The leaves provide a pleasant scent, often used in candles, though repellent to insects. Thanks Jane!)

Turning once again from this new vantage to catch the waning light over Peggy's Cove.

The lights are on at the Sou'Wester Gift shop and restaurant.

Is that the peak of the light house I see at the left end of the gift shop roof?

The sky is doing its best baroque/William Turner homage.

I think it was Oscar Wilde who said that we relate more to an image that is pre-identified for us by an artist. I think this must be true for most concepts in life, that we hinge on something that we once heard in the past. If only we could, as a species, build on that.

Across the road is the once home, now gallery of William de Garthe, a Finnish born artist who, as a young man in 1930, left his job and art training in Montreal on a quest for "the most beautiful place on earth". Taking the train to Halifax to catch a boat for Brazil where an aunt lived, he was struck by the rugged beauty of the Atlantic coast, reminding him of the island home he grew up in on the Swedish border.

Painting commercially, then resuming fine art,

it wasn't until the early 1960's that de Garthe learned to sculpt.

In the late 1970's de Garthe decided to carve  "a lasting monument to Nova Scotia fishermen".

On a 100 foot granite outcropping behind his home, the 10 year project was about 80% completed when he died in 1983.

At the far left end, St. Elmo, shelters the fishermen, women and children of the sea.

By way of interest, St. Elmo was originally Saint Erasmus, who may have become the patron of sailors because he is said to have continued preaching even after a thunderbolt struck the ground beside him. This prompted sailors, who were in danger from sudden storms and lightning, to claim his prayers. The electrical discharges at the mastheads of ships were read as a sign of his protection and came to be called "St. Elmo's Fire."

Another point of interest: besides being the guardian of all mariners, St. Elmo is the patron saint of children with colic,

abdominal pain,

intestinal ailments and diseases,

cramps and the pain of women in labour,

as well as cattle pests. 

More people of the sea memorialized by William de Garthe.

Here is a plaque erected by his widow. It reads:

FISHERMEN'S MONUMENT

by William E. DeGarthe, artist and sculptor

This work of art is a lasting memorial to the gallant men of

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, whoharvest our oceas. The monument

depicts from left to right: fisherman's family; Peggy of the Cove;

Fishermen at work.

This monument was donated to the province of Nova Scotia by

Mrs.P. Agnes deGarthe in 1984 in accordance with the wishes of

her late husband, William E. DeGarthe.

We finally leave lovely Peggy's Cove but not without one more stop to capture the sun's fading glow over a group of fishing piers in another inlet on St. Margaret's Bay.

Another quintessential fishing dock scene

And so, good night.

We were quite buzzed from this mini holiday and touched down at home long enough to feed the cats before heading out to a Mediterranean supper in Wolfville to polish off our Saturday night. 

We haven't had so much fun for a long time. Did I mention we had a 1940's soundtrack on the last evening of our use of a brand new car, leased for our day out, with Sirius radio.

What a hoot to travel in style.

hope you got a sense of the magic

I hope, too, that you are finding it in your own life.

peace and lovingkindness

november evening in peggy's cove

Peggy's Cove... a small fishing village located 26 miles to the southeast of Halifax on the east coast of St. Margaret's Bay, named by Samuel de Champlain for his mother Marguerite. The first recorded name of the cove was Eastern Point Harbour or Peggs Harbour in 1766. In 1811 the village was founded by 6 German families who fished but also raised cattle and farmed where the land was fertile. By the turn of that century the community had grown to 300 and supported a school, church, general store and lobster cannery.

As better roads were made, tourism began to grow, the first public art gallery, tea-room, and gift shop opened in a shack in Peggy's Cove in 1937. The government stepped in to protect what it eventually designated as a heritage site. It is so popular today that there is even a themed resort in Thailand inspired by it.

Our trip started late on Saturday afternoon, taking the straightaway down our road to the south shore. Turning northeast, we followed the scenic #3 through villages with evocative names like Hubbards,  Boutiliers Point, then turning south on Peggy's Point Road through Tantallon, Hacket's Cove and Indian Harbour as we travelled the east coast of St. Margaret's Bay.

As we drove the narrow road into town, I was relieved to find there was still enough daylight to capture the maritime romance of this...

incredibly quaint and charming sheltered inlet.

Lobster traps stacked neatly on the dock, it is clearly low tide, the breakwater showing beyond.

We travel the short length of road alongside the quiet cove.

The setting sun is beginning to show its colours in the radiating clouds.

Unaware, I also take my self-portrait in the rear view mirror.

First stop is the Sou'Wester Gift Shop and Restaurant (i.e. the washrooms)

Perhaps I should tell you that a "sou (south) wester" is the name of the oldtime fisherman's hat that channels water away from the face and down one's back. The worst storms seem to come from the southwest here as they do where we live in the Annapolis Valley, curving down from Canada, through the northeastern U.S. seaboard and up again towards us.  I bought one of these hats as a souvenir when I first visited Peggy's Cove, and let me tell you, they work!

A quick survey of the art upstairs and down

and a portrait of dear Wally.

Right out the door, the famous Peggy's Cove Lighthouse

More than 400 million years ago, in the Devonian Period, the plate tectonics movement of the Earth's crust allowed molten material to bubble up from the Earth's interior.  The unique landscape of Peggy's Cove and surrounding areas was subsequently carved by the migration of glaciers and the ocean tides. About 20,000 years ago, an ice ridge moved south from Canada's Arctic region covering much of North America. Along with the ebb and flow of the glaciers, the ice ridge eventually melted and shifted and in the process scooped away and scoured large sections of rock, vegetation, and topsoil. As melted land glaciers flowed back to the oceans the changing tidal flows and rising sea levels filled the scarred areas with water, forming coves and inlets. Large boulders composed of 415-million-year-old Devonian granite were lifted by the ice and carried for long distances before being deposited upon the landscape as the ice receded, leaving rugged barrens. The movement of the glacial ice and rocks left scouring marks in the bedrock that are still visible.

If rock ever looked like it could breathe, this is it.

We follow the concrete path laid out for our safety,

the sky laid out for our beauty

To my left, the heaving rock

The same couple in this otherworldly plain

Connie and I made it to the top

taking a pose with the famous lighthouse

trying to capture the elusive colours from where I stood

and looking back towards the cove

aother view over the ancient rocks

A young family taking it all in, much closer than Wally will allow me to go.

My normally placid Wally gets quite livid when I venture too close.

He is afraid of the infamous "Rogue Wave".

Now that I've done some research on the subject I see that there are, in fact, numerous deaths here every year. Wow! There's so much one can learn "unofficially".

still determined to catch the colour with this little puddle competing with the sun for a focal point

the huge rocks, so difficult to capture for scale except for the gentle waves beyond them

Connie waves to me

pon closer inspection I see that she is taking a picture of me as I am taking a picture of her

It's great to see Wally looking so relaxed and happy.

 My travelling companions by Peggy's Cove Lighthouse

Really, by height, the lighthouse is not that tall. It is its placement on the rocks that makes its light cast so far. And yet, in that link above, someone had said they had once seen the waves crash onto the road beyond it, by the gift store.

Each time I turn I catch a slightly different view of the sun setting over St. Margaret's Bay

the clouds casting long fingers into the darkening sky

The miraculousness of the evening's "sweet light" is finally lending a hand,

 helping me to capture this glorious sunset

The waves are benign tonight, this early November evening

They sweep gently over these slippery rocks

There is a primordial peace here.

Which planet are we on?

Connie takes one last picture as Wally watches on.

The Sou'Wester Gift Shop is in the background.

I take one last picture of the rugged shoreline looking out across St. Margaret's Bay

and the town beyond

And what's this?...

Ah, the warning, caught sight of on our way back up the hill.

This accidental juxtaposition cracked me up.

Connie with Darlene and Crystal from the Sou'Wester gift shop,

Darlene holding the postcard that I mailed myself of these 3 buddies, oldtime fishermen.

one last step out the door

a little closer

and finally time to go.

So, wowee, that was some trip.

Can you believe there is more from this evening?? 

Again I must save them for another day.

I hope this little collection gave you a feel for this magical little spot on Earth.

thank you for coming along with me

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