We took a weekend this fall to go to Parrsboro and beyond to Advocate Harbour. It was a great trip other than the high winds and rain that dampened our day in Parrsboro. We will return to Parrsboro and do a walk around town as we missed a few highlights like shopping and having a local brew. We also under estimated some driving times and our age!
Parrsboro Beach
Driving to Parrsboro is a wonderful drive, leave the 104 highway at exit 12, also known as the last exit before the toll highway, and make sure to stop at Masstown Market for, in my view, the best donuts available. Continue on the old Number 4 highway a short distance and turn left onto highway 2, then it’s about an hour to Parrsboro.
There are some great stopping places along the drive to Parrsboro, Great Village has some nice antique stores. Further down is Bass River where the Bass River Chair company operated for many years building hardwood chairs and tables, which can still be found in many homes in Nova Scotia. There is also a little museum beside the river in the village.
It’s nice to take your time and enjoy the scenery and some of the local attractions, That Dutchman’s Cheese Farm is a favorite of ours, Five Island’s Provincial Park, a great picnic and camping park run by the province of Nova Scotia. Five Islands Lighthouse park has had some upgrades in the last years that make it a great place to stop for a break.
Five Islands Lighthouse Park
That Dutchman’s Cheese Farm
Advocate Harbour
We left on a Friday morning and drove directly to Advocate Harbour with plans to arrive back to Parrsboro around supper time to book into our accommodations, and this worked out to be perfect timing while leaving us time to stop along the way to see some interesting sites. The drive to Advocate Harbour was about an hour after arriving in Parrsboro with a stop for a coffee.
I had remembered from another trip that the beach at Advocate was a driftwood paradise and it did not disappoint. I’m not sure why but the amount of driftwood on the beach must have something to do with the tides and winds in that area.
The Beach is off of the West Advocate road, and there is a road called the Advocate Beach Road, which is a small dirt road or path that runs the length of the beach, we did not venture down with vehicles but walked it for a bit.
There are also a few places to stay in Advocate which we will do on our next trip to the area, as there is so much more to explore.
Cape Chignecto Park
Next we were off to Cape Chignecto Provincial Park, which is only about five minutes from the beach. This park is a hikers dream, with 8 trails with various levels of difficulty, we have never hiked there, but there are roads going into the park, including the Eatonville road which will take you to the Eatonville day use area, which we have plans to visit on our next trip.
Spencers Island
On our way back to Parrsboro we stopped at Spencer’s Island here is a little beach area with a view of Spencer’s Island, it’s also the place where the ghost ship Mary Celeste was launched, that ship was later found floating in the ocean with no crew left onboard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste
Parrsboro
Arriving back in Parrsboro that evening we went to the Harbour View Restaurant on Pier Road, and had some fantastic takeout seafood for supper.
The next day the wind and rain started, we were back in Parrsboro so its was a good day to visit some of the local attractions. We went to the Fundy Geological Museum, which only cost about 8 dollars to get in and it was a real treat, lots to look at.
And having people with us who love rock hounding it was a real hit.
If you go to Parrsboro you have to go to the museum, there is lots of information on the geology of Nova Scotia.
Ottawa House Museum
Our next stop was the home of Sir Charles Tupper, a former Premier of Nova Scotia and Prime Minister of Canada who lead Nova Scotia into Confederation. Ottawa House Museum is a Georgian style home built in the 1780’s as a home for Sir Charles Tupper. It is now a museum, the upstairs is mostly dedicated to the Tupper family as well as an assortment of other old artifacts, down stairs there is a small cafe and other rooms.
Partridge Island
Right next to Ottawa House is Partridge Island Beach. It would be a wonderful beach to explore on a day that’s not raining with gale force winds, but we got to see it, and plan to revisit this summer, under less stormy conditions.
It would be a great place to walk around at low tide and explore the island, as I’m sure there must be some walking trails there.
To get a reference to your location, the middle of the photo where the water meets the horizon is Cape Split.
All in all, we had a great weekend trip despite the weather,. The area from Masstown down to Advocate Harbour is a large area, and really there is no way to see everything in a weekend. We missed lots of coastal areas, as well as a couple popular water falls. I’d bet you could spend a week here and not run out of places to explore.
Also in the area, Cape d’Or
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