According to one legend, Peggy’s Cove, a pretty little fishing village on the south shore of Nova Scotia, owes its name to the lone survivor of a shipwreck, a little girl rescued and raised by the fishermen who found her.
Maybe.
But I think that cove belongs to another feisty Peggy, an octogenarian grandma who marched up and down its slippery, wave-smoothed boulders like a mountain goat, cheerfully waving from various perches.
Grandma Peggy has been wanting to see her cove for a very long time and she took two cars, two airplanes, an airport shuttle and a bus to get there.
But, once she arrived she was enthralled.
Peggy’s Cove is a tiny village of just 30 year-round residents who work mostly as lobster fishermen. They are unfailingly polite to and mildly bewildered by the thousands of tourists who flood their town every year.
Rogue waves swirl in the seas surrounding the cove and contrast the sweet, bucolic land setting dramatically. Her famous lighthouse only moonlights as a tourist attraction, she’s also an active lighthouse, operated by the Canadian Coast Guard.
In 2016 Swiss Air 111 crashed just five miles off the coast of Peggy’s Cove and the local fishing boats headed out into the night sea to render aid. Though there were no survivors, village residents played a key role in the recovery efforts. The town became a staging area for first responders. Some of the victim’s family members still return to Peggy’s Cove and visit a memorial the town erected there.
Giant shale and sandstone rocks make the Peggy’s Cove preservation area uniquely beautiful.
We wandered around and, at one point I stopped so I could shoot a few pictures of some lobster cages stacked near a quiet inlet. I met a resident there who told us all about a town he clearly loves. He walked with us a while, showed us his house and educated us a little about lobster fishing. In Peggy’s Cove the season runs from November to May, which seems like a brutal, but very lucrative way to spend a winter.
Peggy and I loved our visit to her cove and we had a lot of other adventures on our Nova Scotia visit as well.
I’ll write more about them later this week, eh?
So glad you and your mom enjoyed your visit! I was at Peggy’s Cove just 2 weeks ago.
Such a lovely little village.
Seriously? Wow! Small world! I would love to hear about your trip!
Love lighthouses!! Great read and looking forward to more on the trip!