|
Wolfville
|
|
|
The well-heeled university town of
WOLFVILLE
, 110km northeast from Annapolis Royal, was originally called Mud Creek until the daughter of a local dignitary, Justice DeWolf, expressed her embarrassment at the hick-sounding name. He modestly had it renamed after himself, but the mud flats around the dinky little
harbour
- now a park located just off Main Street - remain the town's most distinctive feature. They are the creation of the
Fundy tides
, which rush up the Cornwallis River from the Minas Basin to dump the expanse of silt that's become home to hundreds of herons and waders, with thousands of sandpipers arriving in early August on their annual migration from Arctic breeding grounds. From Wolfville harbour, two short and easy loop walking trails lead out along the causeway that encircles a portion of the wetland and its enclosing dykes. The more westerly route, the Wolfville Dyke Trail - running from the harbour to Cherry Lane - is the one to take as it also provides pleasing views of Wolfville, its skyline punctured by the sedate lines of
Acadia University
, whose three thousand students double the resident population.
Wolfville's other curiosity is the
Robie Tufts Nature Centre
, down Elm Avenue from Main Street, which is best visited an hour before sunset on a summer's evening - usually from the second or third week in May till late August - when there's an amazing performance by an enormous flock of brown-grey
chimney swifts
. After a long day hunting for insects, the birds fly in ever-decreasing circles above the centre, which is no more than a wooden shelter built around an old chimney, then suddenly swoop en masse into the chimney to roost for the night. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
|
Canada,
|