Herring Cove, Nova Scotia
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Herring Cove (2006 pop.: 2,790) is a Canadian
suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
an and former fishing community in
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
's
Halifax Regional Municipality Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...
. It is situated on the eastern shore of the
Chebucto Peninsula The Chebucto Peninsula is a peninsula located in central Nova Scotia, Canada, entirely within the Halifax Regional Municipality on the Atlantic coast. It is bordered by St. Margarets Bay in the west, the open Atlantic Ocean to the south, and ...
, south of
Downtown Halifax Downtown Halifax is the primary central business district of the Municipality of Halifax. Located on the central-eastern portion of the Halifax Peninsula, on Halifax Harbour. Along with Downtown Dartmouth, and other de facto central business di ...
. It is near the western approaches to
Halifax Harbour Halifax Harbour is a large natural harbour on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Halifax Regional Municipality. Halifax largely owes its existence to the harbour, being one of the largest and deepest ice-free natural har ...
, and can be reached both via Purcell's Cove along the coastal road and from inland via the Herring Cove Road through
Spryfield Spryfield is a community within the urban area of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. History The land now known as Spryfield was first occupied by the Miꞌkmaq people, who hunted and fished at Beaver Lake (now called Long Lake Provincial Park (Nov ...
. There are two schools in Herring Cove, William King Elementary and Herring Cove Junior High. The community is also home to a small variety of small businesses and programs. It is notable as the landing point for several
transatlantic communications cable A transatlantic telecommunications cable is a submarine communications cable connecting one side of the Atlantic Ocean to the other. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, each cable was a single wire. After mid-century, coaxial cable came into us ...
s including the fastest connectivity between London, England, and New York City.


History

The cove was called "Moolipchugechk" by the indigenous
Miꞌkmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...
people, meaning a narrow and deep chasm or valley. Michael O'Power was granted a 90-hectare land grant in 1749 on the eastern side of Herring Cove. John Salusbury owned a estate there in 1750, renting land to an early settler named Henry Lather. Salusbury sold his estate within a few years. European settlement occurred in earnest in the late 1700s. Many current residents are the descendants of original
Irish-Catholic Irish Catholics () are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland, defined by their adherence to Catholic Christianity and their shared Irish ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage.The term distinguishes Catholics of Irish descent, particul ...
settlers to the area. In 1777, during the
American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
, eleven fishermen from Herring Cove captured seven American privateers. The privateers were making their way back to
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
in a
shallop Shallop is a name used for several types of boats and small ships (French ''chaloupe'') used for coastal navigation from the seventeenth century. Originally smaller boats based on the chalupa, the watercraft named this ranged from small boats a ...
after the American ship destroyed their vessel off the coast of Canso. The fishermen were given a reward for their valour. On November 24, 1797, the frigate ran aground on nearby
shoals In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body of water close to the surface or ...
. Only 12 of the ship's 250 passengers and crew survived. The rescue was orchestrated by Joe Cracker, a 13-year-old Herring Cove resident, who rallied the community to the ship's aid and rescued the first two passengers in his small dory. There is a monument to Cracker at nearby Tribune Head which is named after the wreck. A schoolgirl at the time of the original monument dedication, Margaret Alice (Sullivan) Power recited the story of the ''Tribune'' to all who attended and again recited from memory the same poetic verse story at a re-dedication in 1996 at age 82. Early surveyor's maps list the community as Dunk Cove, named for
George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax (6 October 1716 – 8 June 1771) was a British statesman of the Georgian era. Due to his success in extending commerce in the Americas, he became known as the "father of the colonies". President of the B ...
, also the namesake of the nearby city. Some years prior to establishment of Halifax in 1749, the waters of Halifax Harbour and the outer bay were surveyed by two brothers with the surname Herring who were stationed at the cove during the survey period. The present name has may have been incorrectly attributed to either the surname of early settlers, or the abundance of
herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...
in the cove. The narrow, but deep and sheltered, cove hosted 25 commercial fishing boats at its peak, operating out of a small government wharf and private jetties and fish sheds. However, the last working fisherman, Reg Dempsey, retired in 2018. Some retired fishermen still keep their boats in the cove for recreation. Former fishing wharves and sheds are now used for small recreational boats. As an unincorporated rural community, Herring Cove was part of the Municipality of the County of Halifax until April 1, 1996, when all municipalities in the county were amalgamated into the
Halifax Regional Municipality Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...
(HRM). Today, Herring Cove's economy is dictated not by the fishery, but by its proximity to the HRM's urban core as a bedroom community. Several subdivisions have been built in recent decades (since about 1980), leading to the decision by the
Halifax Regional Water Commission The Halifax Regional Water Commission (HRWC), publicly known as Halifax Water, is the municipal Drinking water, water, wastewater and stormwater water utility, utility serving the residents of the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Hal ...
in February 2007 to extend municipal water and sanitary sewage service to the area.


Underwater cables

As of 2000, undersea connections in Herring Cove connected it with Europe via a cable to Liverpool, another cable to Dublin, to Boston via a cable. As of 2012
Hibernia Atlantic Hibernia Networks, alternately known as Hibernia Atlantic, was a privately held, US-owned provider of telecommunication services. It operated global network routes on self-healing rings in North America, Europe and Asia including submarine comm ...
will add direct connections to London and New York City for a total distance of , about 11% more than the
great circle In mathematics, a great circle or orthodrome is the circular intersection of a sphere and a plane passing through the sphere's center point. Discussion Any arc of a great circle is a geodesic of the sphere, so that great circles in spher ...
route absolute minimum of . The
cable landing station A cable landing point is the location where a submarine or other underwater cable makes landfall. The term is most often used for the landfall points of submarine telecommunications cables and submarine power cables. The landing will either be ...
at Hospital Point on Herring Cove remains the densest cluster of sub-70
millisecond A millisecond (from '' milli-'' and second; symbol: ms) is a unit of time in the International System of Units equal to one thousandth (0.001 or 10−3 or 1/1000) of a second or 1000 microseconds. A millisecond is to one second, as one second i ...
(ms) connectivity on the north Atlantic, the critical link on cables that connect the English speaking world's financial centres. In the late 1990s, the Hibernia Atlantic trans-Atlantic communications cable project landed its western terminus at Herring Cove at Hospital Point. In 2000, Worldwide Telecom Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Vancouver-based Worldwide Fiber Inc., built its cable landing station. In 2010, successor Hibernia Atlantic expanded the facility for new cables including a 59 ms cable connecting London to New York City that was expected to enter service in 2012 and to provide a strategic speed advantage to financial trading.


Events

Popular events include the annual Herring Cove Polar Bear Dip, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2019. Swimmers jump from Government Wharf into the frigid Atlantic waters on New Years Day, raising money for a local charity. Ron James and
Rick Mercer Richard Vincent "Rick" Mercer (born October 17, 1969) is a Canadian comedian, television personality, Political satire, political satirist, and author. He is best known for his work on the CBC Television comedy shows ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes'' ...
participated in the 2011 jump, filming a segment for the ''
Rick Mercer Report ''Rick Mercer Report'' (also called the ''Mercer Report'' or ''RMR'') is a Canadian television comedy series which aired on CBC Television from 2004 to 2018. Launched as ''Rick Mercer's Monday Report'', or simply ''Monday Report'', by comedian ...
''.


Notable people

* Shane Bowers, professional
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
player. * Archbishop James Martin Hayes, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Halifax from 1967 to 1990 who participated in the
Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...
.


Setting

The community is at the intersection of Route 253 and Route 349, local roads servicing the southeastern side of the
Chebucto Peninsula The Chebucto Peninsula is a peninsula located in central Nova Scotia, Canada, entirely within the Halifax Regional Municipality on the Atlantic coast. It is bordered by St. Margarets Bay in the west, the open Atlantic Ocean to the south, and ...
. There are several hiking trails in the community; one begins at 'Hayes's garden's' (accessible from the coast road leading to Purcell's Cove) to "The Monument" and has become a popular place to picnic, and features a splendid view of the Atlantic. This area is N.S. Provincial Park lands. At the highest point on the cliffs ( above sea level), there are two stone monuments constructed of granite boulders in memory of George Brown, a Canadian and Olympic rowing athlete. The look-off also affords a panoramic view of the entrance to
Halifax Harbour Halifax Harbour is a large natural harbour on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Halifax Regional Municipality. Halifax largely owes its existence to the harbour, being one of the largest and deepest ice-free natural har ...
north to Halifax and east to Eastern Passage.


Gallery

File:HerringCoveP1.jpg, Herring Cove during the early Spring File:HerringCoveP2.jpg, Herring Cove during the early Spring File:HerringCoveArea.jpg, The area surrounding Herring Cove at sunset. File:HerringCoveMem.jpg, A memorial plaque at Herring Cove


References


External links


Explore HRM (map)
{{coord, 44, 34, 13, N, 63, 34, 06, W, region:CA-NS_source:http://www4.rncan.gc.ca/search-place-names/unique/CAQIC_type:landmark, display=title Communities in Halifax, Nova Scotia Unincorporated communities in Nova Scotia