There is an argument that Peggy's Cove Lighthouse is the most photographed lighthouse in the world. The argument is plausible: the image of a red-capped white lighthouse perched on massive, rounded granite boulders at the edge of the Atlantic, with the grey-shingled village and fishing boats visible just behind it, is reproduced on approximately one million postcards annually and has appeared in virtually every book ever written about Atlantic Canada. It is an image that works because the place itself is genuinely that striking — the worn, rounded granite sloping down to the sea, the scale of the boulders, the isolation of the lighthouse on its rocky headland.
The Lighthouse
Peggy's Cove Lighthouse (officially Peggy's Point Lighthouse, built in 1914) is an active aid to navigation operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. It is not open for interior visits, but the grounds are open and the walk out to the lighthouse across the granite is remarkable. The rock underfoot is Devonian granite, roughly 375 million years old, worn smooth by millennia of waves and ice. It tilts gently toward the sea and the effect, especially in the right light, is of walking on the back of some enormous creature. The rock is wet and slippery near the waterline, which is why the painted warning signs are there — every year visitors who ignore them end up in serious trouble. Stay back from the lower rocks near the waves.
The village of Peggy's Cove itself is a working fishing community of about 30 year-round residents. The harbour has active lobster boats, and the cluster of houses and fish shacks around it is, from the right angle, as picturesque as the lighthouse. William deGarthe, a Finnish-Canadian artist, spent decades in Peggy's Cove and his gallery (now a provincial heritage property) has a permanent collection of his work that's well worth the short walk.
The South Shore
Most visitors to Peggy's Cove come as a day trip from Halifax and turn back after seeing the lighthouse. The South Shore of Nova Scotia, extending west from Peggy's Cove toward Lunenburg and beyond, rewards the visitor who keeps driving. Mahone Bay, a small town about 45 minutes west, sits at the head of a bay dotted with 365 islands (local tradition holds one for each day of the year, though the actual count is considerably higher) and three churches whose steeples reflect in the harbour water in the most iconic South Shore photograph. The town has excellent independent shops and a very good pie shop.
Lunenburg, a 30-minute drive further west, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site — one of only two planned British colonial settlements in North America to retain their original layout. The town is built on a steep hill overlooking the harbour, and the architecture is a vivid mix of painted wood-frame Victorian houses in every colour of the Atlantic palette. The Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, on the harbour, has the Bluenose II — the replica of the famous racing schooner that appears on the Canadian dime — moored alongside. The museum is excellent and the harbour restaurants are some of the best on the South Shore.
Getting There
Peggy's Cove is 43 kilometres southwest of Halifax via Highway 333. The coastal road passes through a series of small fishing communities and is itself scenic. Public transit does not serve the area, so a car is necessary. Halifax is the gateway — fly into Stanfield International Airport and rent a car for the South Shore section of your Nova Scotia trip.
"The lighthouse is the reason you go. The South Shore is the reason you come back."
Allow a full day for Peggy's Cove, Mahone Bay, and Lunenburg rather than cramming it into a half-day Halifax excursion. The coastline deserves the time, and the drive itself — small fishing communities, rocky headlands, quiet coves with boats hauled up on the shore — is part of what makes the South Shore one of the most rewarding driving routes in eastern Canada.
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