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Top Attractions in Downtown Halifax

Halifax Boardwalk

The Halifax Waterfront Boardwalk is a public footpath located on the Halifax Harbour waterfront in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Constructed of durable heavy timber, the Halifax boardwalk is open to the public 24 hours a day. The boardwalk also includes shops at Bishop's Landing (Halifax) and the Historic Properties (Halifax) buildings as well as the "Cable Wharf" a former cable ship terminal now used as a tour boat base for several vessels including Theodore Too. The only working vessels to operate from the waterfront are pilot boats which are based at a small pier at the foot of Sackville Street. A fleet of tugs operated from the tug wharves at the foot of Salter Street for over a hundred years, including the famous tug Foundation Franklin but in 2010 the last tugs such as Point Chebucto were transferred to Port Hawkesbury. The boardwalk's southern terminus is at Halifax Seaport. It stretches northwards along the coast for approximately 3 km before it terminates in front of Casino Nova Scotia at its northern terminus. Three notable museums are located on the waterfront. The Pier 21 immigration museum is located at the southern terminus. The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic at the boardwalk's centre and includes the museum ship CSS Acadia. Just south of Acadia is the summer home of the HMCS Sackville naval museum. The waterfront boardwalk is administered by the Waterfront Development Corporation Limited, a provincial crown corporation located at the Cable Wharf.

Theodore Tugboat

Theodore Tugboat is a Canadian children's television series about a tugboat named Theodore who lives in the Big Harbour with all of his friends. The show originated (and is set) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada as a co-production between the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), and the now defunct Cochran Entertainment, and was filmed on a model set using radio controlled tugboats, ships, and machinery. Production of the show ended in 2001, and its distribution rights were later sold to Classic Media (now DreamWorks Classics). The show premiered in Canada on CBC Television, then went to PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), was on Qubo in the US, and at one time had appeared in eighty different countries. The show deals with life learning issues portrayed by the tugs or other ships in the harbour. Most often, the tugs have a problem, or get involved in a struggle with each other or another ship, but they always manage to help one another resolve these problems and see them through. Their main focus however, is to always make the Big Harbour the friendliest harbour in the world, and to always do a good job with their work related tasks. Qubo broadcast the series from 2007–2009. The original idea for the series came to Halifax native Andrew Cochran, as he tried to explain the unique characteristics and work of Halifax Harbour vessels to his three-year-old son while walking along the Halifax waterfront. According to Cochran, "When you are with kids, you tend to give human characteristics to buildings, cars and boats." Cochran and his production company, Cochran Entertainment, went on to lead the development of the series with the CBC in Canada, starting in 1989. Production commenced in 1992 with the first broadcasts aired on CBC in 1993. Cochran Entertainment produced all 130 original episodes with Cochran as the executive producer. Jeff Rosen served as the Executive Story Editor and Principal Writer of the series. The designs and faces for most of the characters were created by art director and master model maker Fred Allen. CBC Art Director Tom Anthes designed the set, which featured buildings and structures of Halifax Harbour. More than 60 of the 130 episodes were directed by Robert Cardona, the co-creator of the television show Tugs and producer of Thomas & Friends. These series employed techniques later used in Theodore Tugboat such as humanized vehicles, life lessons and the use of a 1960s pop culture figure as narrator.

Welsford-Parker Monument

The Welsford-Parker Monument is a triumphal arch that is located in the Old Burial Ground, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. This is the 2nd oldest war monument in Canada and the only monument to the Crimean War in North America. The arch and lion were built in 1860 by stone sculptor George Lang to commemorate British victory in the Crimean war and the Nova Scotians who had fought in the war. Britain and France invaded the Crimea and decided to destroy the Russian naval base at the capital Sevastopol. They landed at Eupatoria on 14 September 1854, intending to make a 35 mile triumphal march to Sevastopol the capital of the Crimea, with 50,000 men. To traverse the 35 miles, the British forces fought for a year against the Russians. Inscribed on the monument are names of the battles the British army fought to reach the capital: "Alma", "Balaklava", "Inkerman", "Tchernaya", "Redan", and, finally, "Sebastopol" . Sebastopol is one of the classic sieges of all time. The culminating struggle for the strategic Russian port in 1854-5 was the final bloody episode in the costly Crimean War. During the Victorian Era, these battles were repeatedly memorialized. The Siege of Sevastopol was the subject of Crimean soldier Leo Tolstoys Sebastopol Sketches and the subject of the first Russian feature film, Defence of Sevastopol. The Battle of Balaklava was made famous by Alfred, Lord Tennysons poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and Robert Gibbs painting Thin Red Line. The Nova Scotia memorial is named after two Haligonians, Major Augustus F. Welsford of the 97th Regiment and Captain William B.C.A. Parker of the 77 Regiment, who both died in the Battle of the Great Redan in 1855 during the Siege of Sevastopol, in present-day Crimea which was annexed by Russia in 2014. The monument was unveiled on 17 July 1860. During March and April 1855, Nova Scotian Joseph Howe worked tiredlessly to recruit troops for the war effort.

St. Matthew's United Church

St. Matthew's United Church is a United Church of Canada church in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia. The church was founded at the same time as the original colony in 1749 as a home for the various groups of dissenting Protestants who did not follow the Church of England. It originally met Sunday afternoons in St. Paul's Church, the Church of England building completed in 1750. The church got its own home in 1754 when a church was constructed at Hollis and Prince Streets. This building was destroyed by fire in 1857, and a new church was built at the current location at 1479 Barrington Street. The church was originally an amalgam of various dissenting Protestant groups with it mostly being a mix of Scottish Presbyterians and Puritan Congregationalists from the American colonies. Over the course of the 19th century the number of Presbyterians gradually increased and they came to dominate the church. In 1787, an agreement was made to adhere closer to Church of Scotland polity. They formally joined the Church of Scotland in the 1830s and joined Presbyterian Church in Canada in 1875. In 1925, however, it returned somewhat to its roots when the United Church of Canada was formed uniting several of the major Protestant denominations including the Presbyterians and Congregationalists. George Monro Grant, grandfather of George Parkin Grant and great-grandfather of Michael Ignatieff, was Minister from 1863 1877. Grant was appointed to Kingston, Ontario as Principal of Queen's University, by the Presbyterian Church in Canada's General Assembly, meeting within the congregation in June 1877. Sir Sandford Fleming was also an Elder in congregation during Grant's tenure. The 250th Anniversary celebrated in 1999, with a new history book, A sentinel on the street; St Matthew's United Church, Halifax 1749-1999 by Elizabeth Townsend, et al.

Old Burying Ground

The Old Burying Ground (also known as St. Paul's Church Cemetery) is a historic cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located at the intersection of Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road in Downtown Halifax. It was founded in 1749, the same year as the settlement, as the town's first burial ground. It was originally non-denominational and for several decades was the only burial place for all Haligonians. In 1793 it was turned over to the Anglican St. Paul's Church. The cemetery was closed in 1843 and the Camp Hill Cemetery established for subsequent burials. The site steadily declined until the 1980s when it was restored and refurbished by the Old Burying Ground Foundation, which now maintains the site and employ tour guides to interpret the site in the summer. Ongoing restoration of the rare 18th century grave markers continues. Over the decades some 12,000 people were interred in the Old Burial Ground. Today there are only some 1,200 headstones, some having been lost and many others being buried with no headstone. Many notable residents are buried in the cemetery, including British Major General Robert Ross, who led the successful Washington Raid of 1814 and burned the White House before being killed in battle at Baltimore a few days later. The most prominent structure is the Welsford-Parker Monument, a Triumphal arch standing at the entrance to the cemetery commemorating British victory in the Crimean War. This is the second oldest war monument in Canada and the only monument to the Crimean War in North America. The arch was built in 1860 by George Lang and is named after two Haligonians, Major Welsford and Captain Parker, who both died in the battle at Redan in 1855 during the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855). The Old Burying Ground was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1991. It had earlier been designated a Provincially Registered Property in 1988 under Nova Scotia's Heritage Property Act.

Cambridge Military Library

Cambridge Military Library is a public library building in Royal Artillery Park in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada which was created in 1886. The building was created to house the garrison library collection, which had been moved from various locations in the city since its creation in 1817. It is the oldest library collection in Atlantic Canada. (When the library was established, there were still no bookstores in the region.) This building was the social and literary centre of military Halifax. In 1902, the officers of the garrison requested the library be named after the Prince George, Duke of Cambridge. Along with Dalhousie College, Lord Dalhousie established the book collection with the Castine Fund, established from the fortune taken from New Ireland (Maine) during the War of 1812. Dalhousie housed the collection in a building adjacent to the Glacis Barracks. It was later moved to Water Street before being re-established in its current location. The original membership of the library in 1818 included: Col. Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres Oliver Goldsmith (Canadian poet) Sir George Head Sir Howard Douglas John Frederick Fitzgerald de Roos Captain William Moorsom By 1835, the library included the best works published in the English language. In the 1860s the library holdings were considerably augmented by a very valuable collection of books transferred from Corfu, which originated from the Garrison Library at Messina in 1810. By 1886, by the time the Cambridge Military Library was built, the library collection totaled 30, 000 volumes.

Great Pontack

The Great Pontack (also known as Great Pontac, Pontack Inn, Pontiac Inn, Pontack Hotel, Pontack House, Pontac Tavern) was a large three-story building, erected by the Hon.John Butler (and run by John Willis ), previous to 1754, at the corner of Duke and Water Streets in Halifax, Nova Scotia. (Present-day sites of the Waterside Centre and the Pontac House at the Historic Properties (Halifax).) It was named after the famous Pontack Club in London. The first resident professional company in Canada was The American Company of Comedians, believed to have performed at The Great Pontack, Halifax, in the summer and fall of 1768. (A lively garrison and amateur theatrical tradition emerged in the Maritimes, among these was a romantic comedy called Acadius: or, Love in a Calm, the first recorded English Canadian play, performed in Halifax in 1774.) The most famous event to take place at the establishment was on May 24, 1758, when James Wolfe, who was headquartered on Hollis Street, Halifax, threw a party at the Great Pontack prior to departing for the Siege of Louisbourg (1758). Wolfe and his men purchased 70 bottles of Madeira wine, 50 bottles of claret and 25 bottles of brandy. Four days later, on May 29 the invasion fleet departed. Wolfe returned to his headquarters in Halifax and the Great Pontack before his Battle of the Plains of Abraham. The building housed auctions, dramatic productions, balls and civic ceremonies. The building contained a slaughter-house, ballroom, public conveniences, bakers, butchers’ stalls and stabling. It was the principal hotel in Halifax. On the first floor was the kitchen. There were several assembly rooms on the second floor. There was also a large veranda which encompassed the four sides of the building off the second floor.

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