Lunnenburg and Mahone Bay

Lunenburg and Mahone Bay

Now knowing the fast route to Mahone Bay, we headed there for lunch and poking around. Though the things we thought we would be enjoying didn’t pan out, other things did. I like this about traveling.

Our lunch spot afforded us a view of the three churches of Mahone Bay.

We got a better look at Lunenburg-first in the car, and then in a horse drawn buggy. What a charming little village. It is a U.N.E.S.C.O. world heritage site. It was laid out by a famous English town planner in the 1750’s. There are quite a few houses from the 1800’s remaining. The churches and schools were quite striking. Though we saw one house that had been aluminum sided, they have outlawed that practice. There were quite a few painters at work.

I particularly liked the cod weather vane atop the church steeple. Our guide quipped, “In cod we trust.” Apparently the town was made prosperous by cod fishing.

Lunenburg’s more recent claim to fame (1920’s) is as the birthplace of Bluenose and Bluenose II (1963). For the non-sailors amongst us, the Bluenose was the fishing schooner built by the Canadians for competition with the US in sailing races. She could get 16 knots at sail, and she won hands down for 18 years. To the horror of local Canadians, after WWII, her owner sold her for shipping in the West Indies. She eventually ran aground on a reef near Haiti. The Bluenose II was built by the same plans as Bluenose, in the same town, and by some of the same shipbuilders. It was sold to the government for $1 and now is an ambassador for Canada. It sails 7 months of the year. Therefore, we have no photos. However, we do have Marcia modeling her new sou’wester from the Bluenose Company store.