With a population of just seven hundred, the township of ANNAPOLIS
ROYAL , 40km northeast of Digby and 118km northwest of Liverpool,
spreads across a podgy promontory tucked between the Annapolis River and
its tributary, the Allain River. The long main drag, St George Street,
part of Hwy 8, sweeps through the leafy southern outskirts to reach the
end of the promontory, where it turns right to run parallel to the
waterfront through the commercial heart of town. Here, restaurants and
shops have replaced the merchants and shipwrights of yesteryear and
there's a tourist-oriented boardwalk near the jetty, but it's all very
low-key and the town maintains a relaxed and retiring air that's hard to
resist.
Edging St George Street just before it swings right are the remains of
Fort Anne (open access), whose grass-covered ramparts surround the old
parade ground. A few military remains are encased within the ramparts -
namely a couple of powder magazines - but the only significant remaining
building is the officers' quarters right in the middle of the compound.
These quarters were completed by the British during the Napoleonic Wars
and, surmounted by three outsize chimney stacks, they now house a small
museum (mid-May to mid-Oct daily 9am-6pm; $2.75) comprising a ragbag of
military memorabilia, a reconstruction of an Acadian domestic interior
and an outline of the fort's development. There's also a contemporaneous
copy of the original charter by which James I incorporated "Nova Scotia"
in 1621, and a cheerful community tapestry tracing the town's history.
The view downriver from Fort Anne is simply delightful and it's a lovely
peaceful spot, but it wasn't always so. Both colonial powers, France and
England, neglected the fort and its garrison, and when a new military
governor arrived at the fort in 1708 he told his superiors in Paris that
the officers stationed here were "more in need of a madhouse than a
barracks". If you want more of the flavour of early Annapolis Royal, ask
at the museum (or your B&B) for details of the candlelight tours of the
old graveyard (June to mid-Oct 3 weekly) next to the fort - good fun,
and a snip at $4.
Five-minutes' walk from the fort - back along St George Street - lie the
ten-acre Historic Gardens (daily: June-Aug 8am-dusk; late May, Sept &
early Oct 9am-5pm; $5), which feature a string of "theme gardens", from
the formality of a Victorian garden to an extensive rose collection in
which the different varieties are arranged broadly in chronological
order. The whole site slopes gently down towards the Allain River, with
a dykewalk offering views of mud flats and salt marshes and also
twisting through elephant grass, a reed imported by the Acadians to
thatch their cottages.
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