Peggy’s Cove is a tiny fishing village with a population of less than 50 people on the eastern shore of St. Margaret’s Bay about 43-km southwest of downtown Halifax. Local legend has it that the community was named after the sole survivor of a shipwreck at Halibut Rock near the cove.
In the most popular version of the story, a little girl survived the wreck and as she was too young to remember her name, the family that adopted her called her Peggy. When the young shipwreck survivor grew up, she married a resident of the cove and became known as “Peggy of the Cove.” Visitors from around the bay eventually named the village “Peggy’s Cove” after her.
No one is really sure if there’s any truth to the legend surrounding the naming of the village, but it is certain that the village has been at its current site since its incorporation in 1811. In the early 1800s, the village was comprised of six families of German descent who raised plenty of children and survived on fishing and subsistence farming. By the early 1900s the population of the village peaked at just over 300 residents and the community had a schoolhouse, a church, a store, and a lobster cannery in addition to its landmark lighthouse.
Like many maritime fishing villages, the population of Peggy’s Cove has dwindled over time. The cannery, schoolhouse and other buildings have long been abandoned. It’s a scene that can be viewed in countless coastal villages in Nova Scotia, but what makes Peggy’s Cove special is the fact that many of these structures have been painstakingly restored.
The particularly rugged landscape that surrounds the village also makes it stand out from many others. Even today, it isn’t hard to imagine a devastating ship wreck just off the shores of this isolated cove.
Peggy’s Cove has a kind of rugged beauty that is hard to describe; it is uniquely different from the hundreds of other fishing villages that line the coast. The day we spent at Peggy’s Cove was particularly cloudy, with a sky that constantly threatened rain, but never really delivered. It was hard to imagine a more desolate place as my son and I stood on the rocks near the lighthouse with the waves pounding on the shore below and the menacing sky above.
We could easily imagine the challenges that residents who still eke out a living from the sea face today and understood why many have chosen an easier life.
The only thing that disturbed the forlorn atmosphere of this tiny village on that day was the early afternoon arrival of several tour buses. Today, the village is a prime tourist attraction in Nova Scotia, hosting dozens of tours each week. The village lighthouse is one of the most photographed landmarks in Nova Scotia, if not in all of Canada.
Since we were travelling by car and staying in a nearby bed and breakfast, we were able to retire to the comfort of our B&B and return later when the buses and the hoards of people inside them were gone. Later that day, we were able to experience Peggy’s Cove as not only a place of breathtaking beauty, but a special place for quiet and thoughtful reflection.
On our second visit, the sun finally broke through the clouds, bathing the village in light and giving it an entirely different ambiance. In some ways Peggy’s Cove reminded me of the cycles of nature and of life. The village has been through a lot of change in its time. Residents have experienced difficult times and come through them.
It goes to show that there is always hope for a brighter day ahead.
Swissair Flight 111
On Sept. 2, 1998 Swissair Flight 111 crashed into Margaret’s Bay. The disaster resulted in the deaths of everyone onboard the aircraft. About 1 km northwest of Peggy’s Cove you can find a touching memorial to those that lost their lives that day.
The monument reads in English and French: “In memory of the 229 men, women and children aboard Swissair Flight 111 who perished off these shores September 2nd, 1998. They have been joined to the sea, and the sky. May they rest in peace.” The stone points to the crash site and markings on the stone point to a second memorial in nearby Bayswater that contains the names of the 229 passengers and crew of flight 111.
A Controversial Punctuation Mark
Most sources (including the official Nova Scotia tourism website) spell “Peggy’s Cove” with an apostrophe, but not the Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names, which since 1976 has officially spelled the name as “Peggys Cove.” However you spell or pronounce the name, everyone seems to agree that it’s a pretty terrific place
If You Go:
- Peggy’s Cove is an easy daytrip from Halifax, but if you would like to visit the village in the late afternoon when the crowds have departed you may wish to stay overnight in a B&B. If you want to stay right in Peggy’s Cove, consider staying at Peggy’s Cove B&B. Rates range from $99 - $145 per night based on double occupancy. For reservations or information, visit: www.peggyscovebb.com or call 1-877-SALT SEA (725-8732).
- The Peggy’s Cove B&B was full during our visit, so we stayed at the Fog Witch B&B in Hacketts Cove, Nova Scotia about 5 km from Peggy’s Cove. Rates for this B&B started at $60 per night. For more information, call 902-823-1430 or check out their listing on Bed and Breakfast etc (www.1bbweb.com).
- Peggy’s Cove has been declared a preservation area and new development in and around the village is strictly prohibited. In fact, a total are of about 8.1 km2 stretching from Indian Harbour to West Dover is protected from development.
- Peggy’s Cove can be experienced as part of a longer journey along The Lighthouse Route, a scenic drive that stretches 339 km along Nova Scotia’s South Shore from Halifax to Yarmouth. For more information on driving this route or on visiting Nova Scotia, visit: www.novascotia.com.
Debbie Olsen is a Lacombe-based freelance writer. If you have a travel story you would like to share or know someone with an interesting travel story that we might interview, please email: DOGO@telusplanet.net or write to: Debbie Olsen, c/o Red Deer Advocate, 2950 Bremner Ave., Red Deer, Alta., T4R 1M9.