Sunken Lake Falls Trail
Sunken Lake Falls Trail
In true investigative reporting style, our family decided to set out to test the Sunken Lake Falls Trail so we could share with you another hike in the Valley.
It turned out to be quite the adventure.
About the Hike
I had seen someone post some pictures this summer from the Sunken Lake Falls, and so I set about to do some research to find out more about this trail.
4km moderate walking trail, approximately 1 hour to complete. Best time to do: Spring, Summer or Fall (Autumn)
How hard could it be?
5 kids. 5 adults. 2 dogs. We set out to explore.
The Trail
The trail is not moderate. It’s really an ATV/snowmobile track through the woods, so it is quite rugged to walk on, and very wet in places.
You definitely need to do a tick check after walking though the grass and woodlands!
Maps
This trail is impossible to do without a GPS or a really good map. Luckily, my husband has a fantastic hiking app on his phone that showed us exactly where the trail was, because in some spots, we weren’t sure!
The free app is called OsmAnd. He says it takes a bit to set up, but is really easy to use once you do. Want to ask him some questions about it? Email info@valleyfamilyfun.ca.
- Works totally offline (no roaming charges when you are abroad) but also has a (fast) online option
There is a great map on this TripUGo site that outlines the dotted lines of the hiking trail.
We cannot stress enough, that you must have something like this on your phone to track you while you are doing this trail.
Sunken Lakes Fall
Thanks to our tracker device, we found the off shoot to the Sunken Lake Falls. The entrance to this point-to-point trail is actually marked by pink ribbons.
Follow that, and you will come to the top of the cliff.
The Falls are straight down, 200m. You CANNOT see the falls from the top of this cliff.
Walk a bit further along the path, and you will see the steep trail (with rope on trees) down to the stream.
At the bottom of the slope the trail turns south and follows the stream to a pool and the falls.
Because we had smaller children, and it was the end of the summer, so the water wasn’t running as rapidly at this time of year, we decided not to go down to the falls.
We returned to the main “road” and continued on the loop.
Our Journey
By continuing on, we looped around, and ended up following gravel roads back to the car.
This was 6km. 2.5 hours.
The trail was TOUGH for the first time. Hard to see the path, swampy, and broken bridges.
There was a lot of coyote and bear poop along the road, so if that bothers you, best to stay away. And, a lot of shot gun shells, so DO NOT walk this trail in hunting season, either.
Once we completed the first “side of the loop” and turned the corner to loop back, we were on a gravel road for at least an hour.
It was hot. There was no shade, and frankly, nothing of interest at all to look at.
The kids and I started composing a list of “1 million and 1 reasons NOT to do this hike”. It kept us going.
Avid Hikers
As my husband says, if he had a rucksack, the GPS and the dog, this is a great hike he would have done by himself. There are lots more trails and loops through the woods that go beyond what we did.
Location
If you do want to attempt this trail, the head of the trail is on Sunken Lake Road. Drive to the end when you see the yellow caution sign and the road divides.
If you are looking for a family-friendly hike, this is NOT the one for you. Best leave this trails to the Scouts, avid hikers and hunters!
A Family Visit to the Shag Harbour Incident Interpretive Centre
A Family Visit to the Shag Harbour Incident Interpretive Centre
A few years ago, my boys were in a play at the CentreStage Theatre drama camp that featured the Shag Harbour UFO incident of 1967. That was the first time that I had heard about this UFO siting in Nova Scotia. I couldn’t wait to learn more, and to someday go there.
Because Shag Harbour is at the tip of Nova Scotia, below Yarmouth, it wasn’t going to be a day trip! We had to plan accordingly.
So, in our last summer hoorah, we took a trip along the South Shore of Nova Scotia, staying over night in Shelburne, looping back around to Yarmouth and Digby, stopping in Shag Harbour along the way.
About the UFO Siting
Local residents noticed strange orange lights in the sky on the night of October 4, 1967. Most witnesses agreed that there were four orange lights that evening. Five teenagers watched these lights flash in sequence, and then suddenly dive in a 45 degree angle toward the water’s surface. The witnesses were surprised that the lights did not dive into the water, but seemed to float on the water, approximately one-half mile from the shore.
Witnesses at first thought they were watching a tragic airplane crash, and quickly reported as much to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which was located at Barrington Passage. Coincidently, RCMP Constable Ron Pound had already witnessed the strange lights himself as he drove down Highway 3 in route to Shag Harbour. Pound felt that he was seeing 4 lights, all attached to one flying craft. He estimated the craft to be about 60 feet long.
Read More from the Shag Harbour UFO Interpretive Site
About the Shag Harbour Incident Interpretive Centre
The museum displays the accumulating information collected on the mysterious UFO that landed in the harbour in October 1967.
There are reports from witnesses, countless newspaper articles, and other fun things to look at.
It is interesting to read the various accounts, and follow the story through time, through different people’s eyes.
There are also fun things for the kids, besides the cool knickknacks in the gift shop.
The museum itself took us about 30 minutes to visit, and was well worth the $2 entrance fee. It certainly gave us a lot to talk about on the car ride home!
Crash Site
The UFO Gazebo and picnic site can be found about 3 minutes up the road from the Centre, where visitors can look out on the ocean to the location the object crashed in 1967.
This is free to visit, and also has a public washroom!
Hours, Admission and Location
HOURS
Monday – Saturday – 10AM – 5PM
Sunday – 1PM – 5PM
Admission – $2 (STC)
Learn more about the UFO Museum Here
If you are heading along the southwestern corner of Nova Scotia, definitely take time to stop into the Shag Harbour UFO Incident Museum. Open your mind to new possibilities!
Black Loyalist Heritage Centre in Birchtown NS
Black Loyalist Heritage Centre in Birchtown NS
Disclosure: Our family received a pass to visit the Black Loyalist Heritage Centre in Birchtown, NS in exchange for this blog post. All opinions are our own.
Ever since I read the Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, I became captivated by Nova Scotia’s role in the story and how Birchtown was founded by Black Loyalists in 1783.
Here’s what the website says:
The Book of Negroes, is the name of the historic British military ledger that registered 3,000 Black Loyalists who sailed from New York City to Nova Scotia in 1783.
Birchtown, located near Shelburne on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, was home to the first and largest settlement of free blacks outside Africa in the years following the American Revolution.
About the Museum
The new Black Loyalist Heritage Centre, located on the original settlement grounds in Birchtown, will take visitors through the journey of early Black settlers in Nova Scotia.
Visitors to the Centre can also research the 3,000 names recorded in the Book of Negroes via the digital copy.
About Our Visit
As the Black Loyalist Heritage Museum is only a few years old, they were able to build it from scratch with all the newest technologies available, based on how people visit museums today.
From the moment you step on the property, the Black Loyalist Heritage Centre is captivating.
When you walk into the museum, you are surrounded by the names from the Book of Negroes, whether on the walls, windows, or in the floor, which is open glass in a large part of it.
Because there is so much information, and so many people to read about, the museum has a brilliant technique. When you arrive, you are given a card with the name of a person from the Book of Negroes on it.
Go through the displays and follow the story of your person, learning about their life story! This allows you to focus on just this, rather than feeling overwhelmed by the information around you. Although, all of it is truly fascinating!
Black Loyalist Heritage Centre and Kids
There were plenty of hands-on activities for the kids at the museum. They also received a card with a person’s name to follow, and they enjoyed doing this.
All the displays are touch-screen, so they also watched a few videos and sat on the bench to listen to the audio stories.
Their favourite part was making an electronic traditional quilt, which was later projected on the wall.
What was really special, too, was that one of the guides there actually grew up in Birchtown and attended the schoolhouse and church there in the community! She filled us in on lots of other stories!
Other Places on Site
Besides the museum, visitors can visit a few other historically important places within a few metres. There is the old school house, which was the former museum, and now contains more information panels.
There is the former community church, and a pit house, where people stayed during the first winter.
“With no land to call their own, most Black Loyalists had to face their new homeland’s harsh winter climates without shelter. In order to survive, they dug pit houses such as this replica. Shallow ditches were dug in the ground with a shelter fashioned out of tree branches.
It is a testament to their resourcefulness and strength that they managed to survive the Nova Scotian winter in such a makeshift dwelling” Read more
Hours, Admission and Location
The Black Loyalist Heritage Centre is open year round and is a great place for class trips. Hours change throughout the year, so check ahead!
The museum is located a few minutes from Shelburne.
We highly recommend a visit to the Black Loyalist Heritage Museum. It provides a great history of the black loyalists, and highlights the first community for free blacks. It’s not an area that we studied much in school, so it was good to learn more on the important subject!
This is a great museum for all ages!
A Family Visit to the Rossignol Cultural Centre in Liverpool Nova Scotia
A Family Visit to the Rossignol Cultural Centre in Liverpool Nova Scotia
Disclosure: Our family received tickets to visit the Rossignol Cultural Centre in Liverpool, NS in exchange for this blog post. All opinions are our own.
We went in search of toilets, but walked away with so much more!
From having done some freelance journalism for a newspaper on the South Shore, I had heard of this infamous museum in Liverpool that was dedicated to outhouses. That’s all I knew, besides the fact that we had to go check it out so we could tell everyone about it.
We did some investigative journalism, and this is what we discovered.
About the Rossignol Cultural Centre
The Rossignol is a multi-faceted cultural centre, featuring a variety of Museums, Art Galleries, Libraries and Wildlife. It also houses the Sherman Hines Museum of Photography.
Sherman Hines is a famous Canadian photographer from Liverpool, NS. Everything in the museum is from Hines’ personal collection of artifacts, or are items that were donated to be used in his museum.
The museum is actually housed in Liverpool’s old high school.
At the age of 17, Hines was expelled from this very school, but later joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, where he received a diploma in photography. He traveled the world with his photography, where he amassed quite the collection of eclectic items.
Needing a place to store and display his treasures, Hines purchased his old high school for $1 and turned it into this incredible treasure trove. Incidentally, he also turned the principal’s office, where it is said he spent a lot of time, into his own personal office!
About the Collections
Every room has a different theme.
You can read about each room on the Rossignol Cultural Centre’s website.
These include displays dedicated to hunting, fishing, Mi’kmaq culture and game sports.
Can you find the 10,000 year old mammoth tusk?
The Apothecary. Yes, Sherman Hines found an old drug store in Halifax that was falling down and being demolished. He went in and bought the store and re-set it up in his museum!
Not to mention an entire dining room from a mansion in England, complete with the rounded wooden doors!
Our favourite room might have been the wildlife rooms, where there is an 18 foot giraffe!
And, don’t forget the outhouses, which is why we originally went!
Hines is the president of the Outhouse Preservation Society in Canada, so it’s only fitting there is a whole room full of outhouse collectibles!
And, if you go this year, the 2007 outhouse calendars are free and the dates line up perfectly for this year!
And, to top it off, there is a lot of Hines’ photography throughout the museum. Did you know he was the Trudeau family photographer, and there are some great pictures of young Prime Minister Justin Trudeau here!
Rossignol Cultural Centre and Kids
There is so much to do and see and touch inside that kids will be happy exploring the museum.
At the entrance, there is a basket of animal furs. If children can correctly identify two of them, they will get 2 free postcards featuring Sherman Hines’ photography!
Just make sure children don’t touch the animals and other things they shouldn’t. Use your common sense.
Stay at the Rossignol Cultural Centre in the Cultural Village
The cultural village features plains Indian tipis, Mongolian ger tent, Mi’kmaq wigwam, guides tent, log cabin, square log cottage, Acadian cottage,a replica of Maud Lewis house and a British block house.
These houses are available to stay in as a fundraiser for the museum! They are rustic, but what a great experience.
Contact the museum for details.
Hours, Admission, Conact and Location
The hours are Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm in season.
Admissions: $20 Season Pass • $5 adult • $4 seniors $3 Youth • Children under 6 free (STC)
The website is not updated, but the Facebook page has someone answering it all the time, so for any information, please contact them through the website. The email address on the website does not work.
Facebook page for Rossignol Cultural Centre
Website for the Rossignol Cultural Centre that discusses the exhibits.
Our family had a wonderful visit to the Rossignol Cultural Centre in Liverpool. We spent about 1.5 hours wandering the exhibits. What made it so great was the museum guide who popped in and out telling us fantastical stories about some of the items!
This is a treasure trove of so many interesting things you won’t know where to look first! Please stop by to visit and support this fun, whimsical museum. You never know where your imagination might lead.
Where to go in Nova Scotia to learn about Maud Lewis
Where to go in Nova Scotia to learn about Maud Lewis
Maud Lewis (born Maud Dowley, March 7, 1903 – July 30, 1970) was a Canadian folk artist from Nova Scotia. Living in poverty with her husband in a small house in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia, most of her life, she achieved national recognition in 1964 and 1965. Several books, plays and films have since been produced about her. Lewis remains one of Canada’s best-known folk artists. Read more
My dad grew up in Digby and visited Maud Lewis and her husband several times during his childhood.
In this video, my dad shares his memory. Sorry, it was windy and a bit hard to hear in places!
Because of these stories we heard growing up, we have always had an interest in Maud Lewis. In fact, one year in Kentville when the theme was “Canada 150” we created our pumpkin person in honour of Maud Lewis!
Nova Scotia is so blessed to have Maud Lewis as one of our own.
In recognition of this great artist, there are several places you can go and a few activities to try to help you learn more about Maud.
Maud Lewis Replica House
On the location of Maud Lewis’ former house, now stands a replica. You can peer in and get a sense of the size and environs.
Read about the Maud Lewis replica house in my blog post.
Acadia Art Gallery, Wolfville
The Acadia Art Gallery in Wolfville has a Maud Lewis Exhibit on until September 30, 2018.
The exhibition Maud Lewis: A Life Collected is a selection of artwork from private collections of Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis. The collection is currently on public display at the Acadia University Art Gallery until September 30, 2018.
This is such a rare opportunity to see authentic Maud Lewis pieces in the Valley!
Admission is by free-will donation.
Learn more about the exhibit at Acadia.
Rossignol Cultural Centre, Liverpool
Outside the Rossignol Cultural Centre in Liverpoool, there is a replica of Maud Lewis’ house. As a fundraiser for the museum, you can even book to stay a night on site!
Contact the museum directly for information.
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax
This is on our hit list of places to visit!
If you want to see Maud Lewis’ real house, head to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax! The fully-restored house is on permanent display here.
Visit the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia’s website to learn more.
Maud Lewis Inspired Cookies
One day, we decided to make Maud Lewis house cookies.
I used a regular sugar cookie recipe. USE THIS RECIPE
I happened to have a cookie cutter in the shape of a house, but you could always draw one, too! Before the cookies were baked, I made an edible paint.
Combine a few tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk with food colouring, and paint it on the cookies. Then bake in the oven, and you have Maud Lewis cookies! 
Maud Lewis Inspired Christmas Cards
Fellow blogger Heidi Rushton, who runs Itsy Bitsy Haligonians (please check her out for all the awesome things to do in Halifax with your family!) has a blog post on how to make Maud Lewis inspired cards based on the children’s book Maud Lewis 1 2 3.
There are lots of ways to learn about Maud Lewis and celebrate this great Nova Scotian artist!
Local Litterless Lunch List Submission Guide
Local Litterless Lunch List Submission Guide
It’s time to admit that Back-to-School is already here, and with that comes making school lunches!
Many schools are now adopting a litterless lunch policy, where students are to bring everything in reusable containers rather than wrappers that will be thrown out, or even containers that will be recycled.
Parents are now left with the question of “What do I use to pack food in, now?”
To help parents, I want to create a Local Litterless Lunch List. A guide to places to shop locally that make or sell containers for school lunches!
The Valley Family Fun Local Litterless Lunch List is now open for submissions.
What you’ll get:
- You supply an image of your product, description the price, and link to your website or Facebook page. Up to two products can be featured for each processing fee.
- We’ll promote the blog post during the month of September on all our social media accounts including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The blog post will be featured on the homepage of ValleyFamilyFun.ca (with 40,000 pageviews a month); shared in the enewsletter (1800+ subscribers) and shared to local networks included schools and special interest groups.
Processing fee: $25 (includes a feature on up to two products). If you have more products you would like to feature, you may purchase more than one “slot”.
Deadline: Please have your submissions to info@valleyfamilyfun.ca by Wednesday, September 12, 2018.
Publication date: Monday, September 17, 2018.
Payment: Etransfers can be sent to lauracd@ns.sympatico.ca, or cheques made out to Laura Churchill Duke. Invoices and receipts available upon request.
If you are interested in participating in the Local Litterless Lunch List on ValleyFamilyFun.ca please contact info@valleyfamilyfun.ca.
Thank you for your consideration and helping to make local lunches litterless!
Laura Churchill Duke
