NOVA SCOTIA'S ARCADIAN COAST

                                           Picturesque country

North America’s tallest church steeple

St. Mary"s Church

At St. Mary’s Church on Nova Scotia’s Arcadian coast a local docent said, “This church is thought to have the tallest wooden church spire in North America. Built in 1903-05, the gray shingled church cost $54,000 to build; a recent re-shingle job cost $250,000! Forty ton of rock at the base of the 185-foot tall steeple helps to stabilize it from swaying when strong winds blow in over St. Mary’s Bay. The original steeple was 212 feet high, but a 1914 fire destroyed the top 27 or so feet and has never been replaced. Acadians are known for building awe-inspiring church spires, and this church is no exception.”

The columns inside the airy and bright church are plaster covered tree trunks and most unique.

No one really knows where the altar was intended to go because some well intentioned soul, nearly a century ago, simply took it off the dock, went through customs while a customs agent looked the other way, and delivered the altar to the church. The organ in the church was originally ordered for the university, but when it arrived it was too big for the intended space, so St. Mary’s and St. Anne’s simply switched organs. The church paid the university one dollar for the 990 pipe organ.

The University of Sainte-Anne is located next door to St. Mary’s. Nova Scotia’s only French-language university was founded in 1891 by French priests, and today is the center of Acadian culture in the province. St. Anne’s is a small college having only 300 students. Nova Scotia has more universities per capita than any other Canadian province.

Digby

            A little farther north on the west coast is the small village of Digby, home to the world’s largest scallop fleet. In 1783 Admiral Robert Digby led a group of loyalists, by sea from the states, to settle here.

Fishing is the major industry in this small seaside village of 2300 residents, and scallops are the symbol of St. James. By the way scallops live in the ocean, and clams live in tidal basins. The area of the Bay of Fundy has extreme tides and at low tide all the fishing boats sit on the bottom of the bay until the tide returns to float them again. The record tide is 52 feet! More water pours into the bay than empties from all the rivers in the world combined. It is amazing to watch the tide come in.

The town’s shipbuilding heritage is evident in the Trinity Anglican Church. Built in 1878 it is thought to be the only church in Canada built entirely by shipwrights. Their unique handiwork is shown in the laminated arches, braces and hand-wrought ironwork so common in ships built over a century ago.