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Writer's pictureTerynn Boulton

Places to Visit in Nova Scotia - Part 1

Updated: Aug 13, 2021

In no particular order here are some awesome places to visit in Nova Scotia that I have personally visited!


Sherwood Forest Campground, Coldbrook, NS


As a child, my parents took my two younger brothers and I camping a lot. Two of our favourite places were Kejimkujik and Sherwood Forest Campground. Sherwood Forest Campground is located in Coldbrook and boasts 223 spacious camping sites for tents, trailers and motorhomes, nestled amongst a natural pine forest. Occasional and seasonal campers welcome! Hosted by the Shaw family, you will also find a variety of wildlife, a large fresh water pond as well as a spring-fed trout brook! It has been a long time since I have been on a hayride at Sherwood Forest Campground but I definitely remember them and according to their website, young riders may even have chance encounters with Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men during a hayride! Here is a picture of me back in the day on a Sherwood Forest Campground hayride!

It was 40 years ago - July 22, 1980!

Centrally located, your family is within easy driving distance of Annapolis Valley's scenic and historic sites such as from Sherwood Campground:


Grand Pré National Historic Site is a 20 minute drive

Blue Beach Fossil Museum is a 25 minute drive

Fort Edward National Historic Site is a 30 minutes drive

Oaklawn Farm Zoo is less than a 20 minute drive and one of the my favourite places in Nova Scotia to visit



Oaklawn Farm Zoo - 1007 Ward Road, Aysleford


Oaklawn Farm Zoo is family-owned and operated by Ron and Gail Rogerson and is open from Easter weekend to mid-November. Everyone that knows me knows that bonobo chimpanzees are my favourite animals. While there are no bonobos at Oaklawn, there are many other primates I enjoy watching. In fact, this zoo boasts the largest displays of Big Cats and Primates in Eastern Canada! Come and see the Black and White Angolan Colobus, Black and White Ruffed Lemurs, Common Mormosets, Cotton Top Tamarins, Japanese Macaques, Lion Tailed Macaques, Red Ruffed Lemurs, Ring Tailed Lemurs, Squirrel Monkeys and White Handed Gibbons! Another main attraction is feeding time - in particular for the lions and other big cats. As for my father, well, he quite enjoyed the alpacas.



For more information visit Oaklawn Farm Zoo website and the Oaklawn Farm Zoo Facebook Page


Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site - 59 Wolfe Street, Louisbourg


Time-warp into the 1700s in this living history museum. The official website says "send your senses back 300 years by taking part in historical gardening, cooking over an open fire, tasting rum or firing a cannon, and learn first-hand from authentically-clad 'residents' what it was like to be a soldier, a woman or a kid…way back when". The last time I visited the Fortress of Louisbourg was in 1984, the summer before I turned 10 years old. They quite literally take your senses back 300 years. I still remember, to this day, eating bread, made as it was made in the 1700s. What a shock to my tastebuds, used to only the sweet taste of Ben's White Bread, when I bit into a slice of brown bread made true to the 18th century recipe of only flour, yeast, water and salt. I refer to this as "soldier bread".

Learn about the Fortress of Louisbourg's history and reconstruction. Check them out on their Facebook Page as well.


I don't know if they still issue these certificates but this is an antique now - June 20, 1979

Let me know what places in Nova Scotia you have visited that you think others should know about. Email me or visit Bluenoser on Facebook!




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