This morning we went to the Historic Gardens in Annapolis Royal.
These gardens overlook the tidal river basin and is situated on 17 acres with over 1800 plants on displayed.
The highlighted garden is the Rose Garden where there were hundreds of rose bushes in full bloom.
A dykewalk was a nice walk along dykes that were built here in 1700’s to prevent flooding from the tides in order to farm the land. There were other gardens as a Victorian Garden and an Innovative Garden that would be used for urban gardening.
From the Gardens we went to Fort Anne.
This was an area of colonization in the 1600’s and 1700’s. The French called the area Acadie and these people are referred to as Acadians. The British named it Nova Scotia. The French and the British had their colonial capitols here and several forts were built for protection. The fort is the oldest national historic site in Canada, established in 1917. Within the fort the fort structures are gone but the earth walls are still there- steep grassy earth walls that a remote controlled lawn mower was being used to mow the grass on the hills.
We walk about the town of Annapolis Royal checking out some of the shops, nothing there to excite us. We grabbed lunch at a German restaurant. (We were tiring of fish and chips). The bratwurst and potato salad tasted good.
In the afternoon, we went to another National Historic Site, Port Royal.
Located across the river from Annapolis Royal, the Habitation is a reconstruction of a 17th century French compound. Interpreters were located in the compound adding additional information. Outside the compound in a wigwam an interpreter from the Mi’kmaq reservation talked about her tribe of native Americans that lived in this area forming a friendship with the French. She sang a song in the native language then had us beating a drum and singing another song. Interesting!
Tomorrow we will be moving eastward.
