The Eastern Shore and Marine Drive route runs northeast from Halifax along the eastern shore of the province. Lawrencetown Beach, a 30-minute drive from Halifax, has pleasant swimming in summer and, especially in winter, some of the best surfing in North America. Continue up the coast to the Fisherman's Life Museum at Oyster Pond Jeddore, the preserved home of a turn-of-the-20th-century fisherman and his family.
Farther on, Sherbrooke Village has a restored 19th-century lumbering, shipbuilding and gold-mining community right in the heart of the present-day village. Step back in time to the town's heyday and see how people lived and worked, and even get your picture taken using the latest in 19th-century photographic techniques. In summer, the majestic courthouse often doubles as a concert hall, featuring local musicians. Sherbrooke Village's Old Fashioned Christmas, held every year in late November and early December, is one of the highlights of the holiday season.
The town of Canso sits at the tip of a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic, and several islands lie offshore. Fishing ships have plied these waters since the mid-1500s, and a prosperous maritime community was once located there.
At Grassy Island National Historic Park, you can still see the last vestiges of the British settlement that flourished in the 1700s before it was burned by the French and abandoned. In 1979, Parks Canada began excavations that have unearthed a collection of artifacts—crockery, musketry and coins—that can be seen at the Interpretive Centre next to the wharf. Nearby, the now-abandoned Hazel Hill telegraph station received one of the first messages telling of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.
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