Road Trip, Day 13: Halifax to Island #5: Cape Breton!

DAY 13: AT A GLANCE
Starting Point: Halifax, Nova Scotia
End Point: St. Peter’s, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
Starting mileage: 189,815
Ending mileage: 190,016
Daily total (miles): 201
Trip total (miles): 1721

This morning, after two days of feet-powered adventures, we returned to the van and began our journey out of Halifax. First stop: Wal-Mart to pick up a few odds and ends and to see if G’s quest for unsweetened iced tea would be fulfilled. Nope. Not until we hit a gas station did I find unsweetened iced tea; I proceeded to buy all seven bottles the gas station had. Sorry!

The next stop was to Fairview Cemetery, where 150 victims of the Titanic are buried. The White Star Line (the company that owned the Titanic) paid for the lots and to have plan granite stones for each of the victims. Each stone is inscribed “Died: April 15, 1912” and includes an identification number that relates to the order in which the victim was recovered. Some have identification; others, just the inscription. There are a few stones that have more details or are more personalized; those were paid for by friends or family members. While it may seem odd to visit a cemetery, I’m actually kind of fascinated with old cemeteries and the resting places of the both the known and unknown. I remember visiting Arlington as a kid and being mesmerized—by both the layout and by the fact that so many icons/legends/heroes were buried there.

The Fairview Cemetery is one of three Halifax cemeteries that serves as the final resting place for Titanic victims. The others are Mount Olivet cemetery (for victims identified as Catholic) and Baron de Hirsch Private Cemetery (for those identified as Jewish). Those identified as Protestant were buried at Fairview. According to literature on Nova Scotia and the RMS Titanic, “Of the 209 victims placed in the morgue, only 59 were shipped out by train to their families. The rest were buried in three Halifax cemeteries between May 3 and June 12.”

The graves are arranged in a slightly curved display; looking at the layout, you can just make out the shape of a ship’s bow.

The graves are stunning in their similarity and inscriptions; some of the more personalized stones carry heartbreaking inscriptions. This, written on the grave of Titanic crew member Ernest Edward Samuel Freeman: “He remained at his post of duty, seeking to save others, regardless of his own life and went down with the ship.” That stone was erected by Mr. J. Bruce Ismay, chairman and managing director of the White Star Line, who managed to survive the sinking ship. Another crew member’s stone reads “ Each man stood at his post while all the weaker ones went by, and showed once more to all the world how Englishmen should die.” One stone lists the victim as Alma Paulson, aged 29, who died along with her four children, aged 8, 6, 4, and 2. One of the most poignant stones is that marking the grave of the unknown child—who, in 2011, was identified as 19-month-old Sidney Leslie Goodwin from England. The last body to be recovered was that of James McGrady, listed as #330 (although only 328 were reportedly recovered). Finally, of particular interest to fans of the 1997 film, there is a grave marked “J. Dawson.” The character made famous by Leonardo DiCaprio, however, was not based on the actual victim of the ship. In fact, the naming of the character seems to have been a coincidence.

Soon, we were on the highway and headed toward our next destination: Cape Breton Island. We were initially going to drive the coastal route, but we opted for the faster route, which would be far less scenic but save us at least an hour, if not more.

Unfortunately, our route consisted of mainly highway miles, so our food options weren’t great. We swung through the cute town of Antigonish, home of “St. FX”—Saint Francis Xavier University, but just about everything in town was closed on this Sunday. Oh well. We ended up stopping at a Subway for a late lunch, and honestly, that was perfect.

Our destination for the night was Battery Provincial Park, located in St. Peter’s, not too far from the Canso Causeway that links Cape Breton Island with the rest of Nova Scotia. I’m always nervous about booking campground sites, as I never know if the location is good, if the bathroom is closer (or further away!) than it looks on a map, and what “privacy” and “shade” actually mean. The park has 53 campsites (we had site #8), and let me say this: it’s GORGEOUS. We had site 8, and an awesome view of St. Peter’s Bay.

We got to the site around 4, which was great, as we could spend the afternoon and evening just relaxing. We explored the campground a little, drank a few sodas we had left from Garrison Brewing, worked on the blog while G caught up on some work, played a few rounds of Hive (a FANTASTIC two-person game that I’m addicted to—even though I tend to lose…a lot), had a great fire, and enjoyed my first s’mores of summer.

And that’s a wrap on the end of our first two weeks of the road trip; tomorrow, we begin our third and final week…we’re trying not to think about the end, though. There’s too much in between to enjoy—Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island—before heading back home…