Long Island Nova Scotia - Looking northward

Long Island is a Canadian island in

Digby County Digby County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. History It was named after the Township of Digby; this was named in honour of Rear Admiral Robert Digby, who dispatched HMS ''Atalanta'' to convey Loyalists from New York City in ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. Situated in the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy (french: Baie de Fundy) is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its extremely high tidal range is t ...

immediately southwest of the Digby Neck,

Brier Island Brier Island is an island in the Bay of Fundy in Digby County, Nova Scotia. Geography The island is the westernmost part of Nova Scotia and the southern end of the North Mountain ridge with Long Island lying immediately northeast; both islands ...

is located immediately west. Long Island is separated from the Digby Neck by the "Petit Passage" and from Brier Island by the "Grand Passage". Route 217 runs the length of Long Island from the ferry crossing at Tiverton at the eastern end of the island (connecting to East Ferry on the Digby Neck) to the ferry crossing at Freeport at the western end of the island (connecting to Westport). Long Island is approximately 15 km long and 5 km wide and is primarily basalt rock of the North Mountain ridge. The southern coast (St. Mary's Bay side) of the island is mostly faced with steep cliffs with the north coast (Bay of Fundy side) featuring smaller cliffs and round-rock beaches. There are several coves along both sides with Bear Cove (in Tiverton), Israel's Cove (also known as Pirate's Cove, located in Tiverton), Flour Cove (central on the island), and Beautiful Cove (in Freeport) being the best known and easily accessed coves. There are two shallow lakes located together in the centre of the island with a small brook leading in either directions and ending on either end of the island, one in Tiverton and the other in Freeport. There is a

tidal bore Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (se ...

that occurs on the outgoing (ebb)

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

in St. Mary's Bay just south of Petit Passage that is commonly referred to as ''The Bull''. Long Island was first discovered by the explorer

Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fr ...

in 1604 but was not settled until the late 18th century when the land was granted to British loyalists who fought for the British against the Americans in the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

. The primary industry is

lobster Lobsters are a family (Nephropidae, synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, ...

catching with a season running from the last Monday in November until the last day of May. A second, and growing industry, is tourism. The Bay of Fundy is known for

whale watching Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins (cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity (cf. birdwatching), but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes.Hoyt, E. 2 ...

and Long Island offers several tour operator throughout the summer months. Another attraction is Balancing Rock, a large

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

column that appears to be balancing on its end on the southern shore just outside Tiverton. It also has commonly-sighted

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

, sea birds, and as of 2013 a

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the No ...

which had not previously been seen for a century. Sometimes whales can be seen from the water's edge. Image:Tiverton ferry.JPG, Ferry leaving from Tiverton, Nova Scotia going to Digby Neck File:Balancing Rock, NS.jpg, The Balancing Column on Long Island

External links

Virtual Museum - Survival of a People: Using our Natural Resources 1875-1975

Nova Scotia Oceanfronts
{{coord, 44, 19, 35, N, 66, 16, 22, W, type:isle_region:CA, display=title Islands of Nova Scotia Landforms of Digby County, Nova Scotia Volcanism of Nova Scotia

See also

External links