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Canada Halifax, Nova Scotia Michelle Hunter Podcast TTT Season 4 The Virtual Journey

Season 4 Episode 33: Traveling to Halifax with Michelle Hunter

Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse

Welcome to Tea Toast and Trivia.

Thank you for listening in.

Peggy’s Cove

Living in the reality of Covid-19, travel has been curtailed, internationally as well as domestically.   While travel is coming back, I have found that virtual travel is possible through the alchemy of technology.

Welcome to Tea Toast & Trivia – “The Virtual Journey” which will explore new horizons through the eyes of a friend.  As Marcel Proust reminds me, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

Today, I am traveling back to Halifax to meet up with my friend and colleague, Michelle Hunter. Halifax is located in the Maritime Province of Nova Scotia on the Eastern Coast of Canada. Halifax is also the home of my Alma Mater, Dalhousie University, where Michelle and I first met twenty years ago.

Michelle Hunter

Michelle Hunter is the Acting Director of the Centre for Executive and Graduate Education, Dalhousie University.  She has been a support for hundreds of graduate students over the years offering a compassionate voice, helping students achieve a home-work-study balance.

Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse

Welcome to Halifax!

Time to put the kettle on and join the conversation on Tea Toast & Trivia. I am your host Rebecca Budd, and I am looking forward to sharing this adventure with you.

Halifax Public Gardens, Halifax Nova Scotia

Thank you, Michelle, for an amazing travel adventure. I felt I was in Halifax with you, walking in Halifax Public Gardens. 

Dear listeners, thank you for joining Michelle and me on Tea Toast & Trivia. You can connect with Michelle on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Until next time we meet, safe travels wherever your adventures lead you.

Gingerbread Cake and Ice Cream at Peggy’s Cove

Julianna Wagar on the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion and The Lyon in Mourning Project – Tea. Toast. & Trivia.

By Rebecca Budd

Blogger, Visual Storyteller, Podcaster, Traveler and Life-long Learner

36 replies on “Season 4 Episode 33: Traveling to Halifax with Michelle Hunter”

Many thanks for listening in, Mandy. I knew you would enjoy Halifax. Whenever I visit, I feel like I’m coming home. Yes, I am certain that you two Scottish great uncles would have come through Pier 21. I have great hope that you would be able find their records in the Library and Archives Canada. This is the link that I found for passenger Lists, 1865 – 1922. Recall that the Dominion of Canada was created on July 1, 1867. Our first Prime Minister came from Glasgow. Let me know if you find their names!!! How exciting to look back into history.

https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/passenger-lists/passenger-lists-1865-1922/Pages/introduction.aspx

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Thanks for sharing this discussion with Michelle, Rebecca. It was so nice to learn about Halifax. I love lighthouses, and Peggy’s Cove looks lovely. I thought Halifax must be closer to me than you, but it’s almost a 12-hour drive. Sitll, it’s one I might like to make at some point.

Years ago, I read “Curse of the Narrows” – a story about the explosion of the SS Mont-Blanc. It’s nice to learn about some of the beautiful sights in Halifax. Thanks to you both.

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Many thanks for listening in and for adding to the conversation. You would love Peggy’s Cove. Even though approximately 700,000 visitor come every year to see the lighthouse (now 108 years old), Peggy’s Cove never lost its fishing village look or feel.

Halifax has a connection to the Titanic, something that I didn’t know until I visited the Maritime Museum. Titanic’s survivors went to New York but those who perished came to Halifax. This is from the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic:

“The cable ship crews braved awful conditions to recover bodies and invented a unique system to solve the mystery of many unidentified victims. Many kept pieces of Titanic wreckage in their family for generations, preserving wonderfully carved pieces of her woodwork found as flotsam after the ships’ sinking on April 15, 1912. Glimpses of their personal stories and those of the victims who are buried in Halifax are the essence of the museum’s Titanic connection.”https://maritimemuseum.novascotia.ca/what-see-do/titanic-unsinkable-ship-and-halifax

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Hi, Rebecca. I listened to your conversation with Michelle with a great deal of interest. My husband and I visited Halifax in 2017 when we went to Nova Scotia to visit Economy Point in Colchester County, where my maternal grandmother Velma Moore grew up. While we were there, we saw the Halifax Explosion Exhibit at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. (Halifax in turn sent help to Boston in 1919 after the Great Molasses Flood.) Velma was attending Dalhousie at the time, and she is mentioned in a news article as one of the “Dalhousie girls” who did their part to help the injured. You might be interested in this post about it that’s on my (now inactive) family history blog: https://genealogylizgauffreau.com/category/the-browns/velma-brown-moore-1897-1975/page/2/

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Liz – I confess I felt tears come to me when I read “Velma Moore”! How wonderful to know that your grandmother was one of the “Dalhousie girls”. I did not know the extent of the Halifax explosion until we traveled to Halifax in 2003 and visited the Maritime Museum. The human toll was devastating. Some bodies were never recovered. In a matter of seconds 1,630 houses were completely destroyed, 12,000 houses were damaged and 6,000 people were left without shelter, in a population of about 60,000. I read that the Halifax Explosion helped spur the creation of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

Thank you for links to your family history blog. I have explored this site before and was inspired by how you recorded your history. In fact, it was this blog that encouraged me to start recording my family history. Many many thanks!!!!

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I am delighted that you joined Michelle and me on the Halifax Board Walk. I miss the gingerbread cake too! I have never been able to replicate it at home. I think that they steam the cake.

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This is an exciting conversation with a longtime friend, which makes it very special, and also we are in eastern Canada in Halifax which also enhances the experience! It is interesting that they met twenty years ago during Rebecca’s time at University. Michelle is multi-talented and has been an important part of the University, she even assisted Rebecca and many others on their academic journey, It is very interesting to hear about the longest Board Walk and the two of them walking over to get their Ice cream! I was surprised to know that Dublin is closer to Halifax than Vancouver!

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I knew that you would enjoy this conversation, Frances. Michelle is a dear friend who has welcomed and encouraged many student over the years. Academic journeys are best when you have a support team behind you. Our accomplishments are not ours alone. I remember when you reviewed my papers for spelling, grammar and readability. Thank you for your help over those study years.

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My comments were entered before I finished my message, so will continue here. Halifax is a really important seaport, closer to England than to Vancouver, Those living in Halifax are called Halligonians (I am not sure of the spelling) Halifax is a very important eastern seaport, all ships enter there from the ocean! Even at the time of the wars, when many came from Europe, they came through Pier 21. Pier 21 has been very important and is still important to Canada. Peggys Cove is near and the lighthouse is the most photographed place. I really suggest that those who are reading this, should not miss listening to this podcast.

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Halifax has a rich history – there was so much more to talk about. One of the most profound moments was my visit to Grand Pre, the place that will be always remembered through Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie.” But that is for another conversation.

Prelude:

“This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Ever since you reminded me of Evangeline a couple of years ago, I have been thinking about how to recite this poem. This is a monumental undertaking and your support and encouragement would be invaluable. I have listened to recordings, but have not found any that speak to me! I will be in touch with my plans. Thank you for you support and encouragement. Hugs!

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Halifax does indeed sound like a beautiful and history laden city. Boston’s generosity in Halifax’s great time of need was wonderful. It seems Halifax itself and Peggy’s Cove, were comfort for two great tragedies: the Titanic and Swissair Flight #111. A city on the great Atlantic which must have welcomed perhaps millions of souls in its history. It was lovely to learn of happier events and places. 🙂

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When we visited Peggy’s Cove, I was told about a man who moved to Peggy’s Cove and opened a Restaurant, after his daughter perished in the Swissair Flight # 111. I was told that he stayed in Peggy’s Cove for a number of years until he felt that it was time to leave. I found his story in the Scotsman. And I found the restaurant that he opened. Check out these links for the story:

This is the Restaurant:

https://shawslanding.ca/

This is the backstory from a 2004 article in The Scotsman.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/love-stephanie-2510796?amp

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This was a wonderful and informative interview. I have not been to the Maritime Provinces in Canada. (I know, what is wrong with me??) However, I will be visiting friends in PEI next month! My Great Grandparents would have arrived in Halifax from Germany in 1911, so I must visit Pier 21 as that is where it all started.

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I am delighted that you listened in, Darlene. Have a wonderful time in PEI – I have never been to PEI so will be looking forward to hearing about your adventures. Pier 21 is fascinating – and yes, no doubt that your great grandparents will be listed there. It will be exciting to view their names on the register of those who passed through these doors. Keep me posted!!!

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I am delighted that you listened in, Dave. I just discovered that Halifax helped out Boston during Boston’s Great Molasses Flood that occurred on January 15, 1919. I did not know about this event until I was research the Halifax Explosion. I understand from my readings that a steel tank, with inadequate thickness and rivet issues, carried a huge amount of molasses. This is from the History website:

“Around lunchtime on the afternoon of January 15, 1919, a giant tank of molasses burst open in Boston’s North End. More than two million gallons of thick liquid poured out like a tsunami wave, reaching speeds of up to 35 miles per hour. The molasses flooded streets, crushed buildings and trapped horses in an event that ultimately killed 21 people and injured 150 more. The smell of molasses lingered for decades.”https://www.history.com/.amp/news/great-molasses-flood-science

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Hi Rebecca, I am late to this party because I was behind due to being away for 4 days last week. I must admit that I’ve never heard of Halifax so it was most interesting to learn about it and discover some of its history. I’ve picked up the book Darlene recommended too.

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You never late to the party, Robbie! That is what I love most about blogging – the post and conversations continue. Halifax is a fabulous city. As Michelle says – there is a vibe that energizes the streets. I loved following your adventures – exciting!!!!

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