4 Best Sights in The Eastern Shore and Northern Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia

Exhibits spread out over several buildings trace the history of the Fundy region's shipbuilding and lumbering industries, and the museum has an archive and genealogical-research area. The main displays are in the restored 1854 Methodist church. The Wind and Wave Building is shaped to resemble an inverted half-model of a ship, and you can also view a blacksmith shop, a boathouse, and a lighthouse. Be sure to take a stroll on the boardwalk along the wharf. A cute café serves light meals—chowder, lobster rolls, sandwiches, and the like.

Built in 1874, this is one of the few water-powered mills still operating in Nova Scotia, now serving as the centerpiece of a small museum. You can observe milling demonstrations and walk the site's 1-km (½-mile) trail.

Your own job may be the last thing you want to think about while vacationing, but if you're curious about those the industrious locals have traditionally held, Stellarton, just 20 km (12 miles) from Pictou, is worth a detour for this museum that brings our industrial heritage to life with daily demonstrations in the machine shop, sawmill, and print shop. Like factory and mine workers of old, you can punch in with a time card and then get straight to work. Hands-on exhibits will show you how to hook a rag mat, print a bookmark, operate a steam engine, or pack chocolates into a moving box on an assembly line. Interactive computer exhibits explore multimedia as a tool of industry, and some 30,000 industrial artifacts are on display, including Canada's oldest steam locomotives. The kids' train gallery is a hit with very young children.

Creamery Square is the hub of activity in Tatamagouche, and this waterfront heritage center on the square has gathered together several museums that were previously dotted around town. Located in a former dairy facility, the center appropriately includes the Creamery Museum, with butter-making equipment and related displays. The Sunrise Trail Museum traces Tatamagouche's Mi'Kmaq, Acadian, French, and Scottish roots through interactive displays. The Anna Swan Museum relates the story of local giantess Anna Swan (1846–88), who grew to the height of 7 feet 11½ inches. Finally, the Brule Fossil Centre preserves 290-million-year-old fossil tracks that were discovered nearby in 1994. Demonstrations on boatbuilding and butter making are regularly staged. This is also the site of a Saturday-morning farmers' market from February through December.