Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island all offer picturesque fishing ports, dramatic seacoasts and pristine landscapes, as well as superlative fish and seafood. Owing to an excellent network of highways and ferries, the ideal way to see the region is a circular tour by car. Before setting out, I did not expect to return with a galaxy of highly rated discoveries. This proved to be the case, but my trip was nonetheless exceptionally enjoyable and worthwhile.
A two-hour flight northeast of New York, Halifax is the center of commercial and financial life in the Maritimes. Founded in 1749, it remains a small city of some 298,000 inhabitants, and its heart is still the waterfront, around which a collection of neighborhoods has coalesced. It is an appealing place, worth a visit for its own attractions, as well as for being convenient to the charming towns on the so-called “South Shore” of Nova Scotia.
We chose to stay at the 203-room Prince George Hotel, close to the harbor and numerous restaurants. Enter the lobby, and you find an attractive mix of marble and dark wood, plus pleasant and attentive staff, always ready to offer helpful advice. Our suite was spacious, with a living room separated from the bedroom by pocket doors. The master bath was large, the appointments were excellent, and we lacked for nothing in the way of comfort. Overall, however, the design was somewhat unsophisticated. Fortunately, the same could not be said of the hotel’s restaurant, Gio. Warm wood floors, louvered panels in the ceiling, a lively bar and comfortable seating at both tables and banquettes combined to create an inviting space. Canadian chefs are justifiably enthusiastic about the local produce, and we began with mussels served two ways: in a curry-inflected broth and with a gremolata (lemon zest, garlic and parsley) sauce. The standout entrée was a simple salmon fillet, roasted and glazed with maple syrup.
From Halifax, we made a 63-mile excursion to the picturesque South Shore town of Lunenburg, a UNESCO World Heritage site regarded as the best-preserved example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America. Once famous for its fishing fleet, Lunenburg is today better known for its galleries and attractive shops. We returned to Halifax via the pretty towns of Mahone Bay and Chester.
AT A GLANCE
LIKE: A convenient location; extremely spacious rooms.
DISLIKE: Uninspired décor; business hotel atmosphere of breakfast restaurant.
GOOD TO KNOW: The hotel has valet parking and its own garage, invaluable in a city where it can be hard to find a space.
PRINCE GEORGE HOTEL, Rating 87 Deluxe Double, $205; Deluxe Suite, $305. 1725 Market Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Tel. (902) 425-1986.
The following day, we headed southwest on a three-and-a-half-hour drive to our next destination, Trout Point Lodge in Kemptville. After 130 miles, we turned onto the NS-203, which passed through the pristine Tobeatic Wilderness Area. Comprising more than 400 square miles of old-growth pine and hemlock, barrens and wetlands, the wilderness is home to moose, black bears, bobcats and pine martens.
A conspicuous sign directed us to Trout Point, and what we found at the end of the road was precisely what you would hope to discover deep in the woods: a handsome Adirondack-style lodge with solid log walls, a gabled roof, a wide veranda and a stone chimney emitting signs of a welcoming blaze.
Inside, we discovered a setting of camp-style elegance: a Great Room with stone fireplaces, soaring ceilings and full-length windows that looked out onto the rushing waters of the Tusket River. The décor included muted Oriental carpets, local carvings and folk art. A charming young woman escorted us to our suite, and there we found all the touchstones of rustic refinement: twig-style furniture, leather chairs, a hand-cut stone fireplace and wall-to-wall wool carpeting, accented by an Oriental rug. Double doors led out to a porch, an ideal perch from which to contemplate the river. A deep whirlpool tub (with shower) added to the general level of comfort.
Trout Point Lodge is renowned for cooking classes that bring a touch of the owners’ Louisiana origins to Nova Scotia. To my regret, none was in session during our stay, but we certainly enjoyed the kitchen’s inventiveness. I particularly liked a zesty chowder, crammed with seafood and reminiscent of gumbo or cioppino. This was followed by simply but perfectly cooked cod.
Trout Point is the kind of place where you can take on the great outdoors — guided canoeing, hiking and more — or simply find the right spot and settle in for a nap masquerading as an attempt to read. (The sound of the Tusket is an ideal lullaby.) As the location is extremely remote, there is little else to do within convenient driving distance.
Some shortcomings prevent me from giving Trout Point a higher rating. A designated swimming area in the river is made accessible by a series of floating platforms, but I found these to be quite unsteady. And an enticing wood-heated hot tub right at the river’s edge lacks adequate support railings and is hard to get into.
AT A GLANCE
LIKE: The sense of being in a true wilderness; easy walking trails.
DISLIKE: Inadequate bar in the Great Room.
GOOD TO KNOW: Confirm your daily dining reservation, as the restaurant is often fully booked.
TROUT POINT LODGE, Rating 89 Island Meadow Room, $245; Fireplace Junior Suite, $305; Two-Bedroom Cottage, $450. Full Board for Two, $235. 189 Trout Point Road, East Kemptville, Nova Scotia. Tel. (902) 482-8360.
From Trout Point, we drove 69 miles up the north coast of Nova Scotia to Digby, where we boarded a car ferry that carried us across the Bay of Fundy to New Brunswick. Landing in Saint John, we headed west to the charming little town of St. Andrews, just across the St. Croix River from Maine.
St. Andrews is laid out on a gently sloping hillside that descends to the river. At the crest of the hill stands Kingsbrae Arms, set in a dignified 1887 shingled house. Long a personal favorite (and twice a Grand Award winner), it succeeds in creating the atmosphere of a refined private home (there is no front desk or office) with wainscoted walls, a graceful staircase and rigorously selected art.
An engaging young man — the staff all strike that ideal balance between the professional and the personal—took our bags upstairs to a suite that was an oasis of civility. With a fireplace, couch and Oriental carpeting, the living room proved a soothing place to relax. Even more appealing was the splendid bedroom, with a four-poster bed at the head of which was displayed a radiant Japanese wedding kimono. The pleasing bath came with sea-green floor tiles and a deep tub, and a large balcony afforded views of the pool and the meticulously tended back garden.
Every evening, we met our fellow guests in the attractive library lounge — over perfect icy martinis — to compare notes about the day’s activities. The subsequent dinners were invariably superb. Under the care of chef Guillaume Delaune, we feasted on dishes such as roasted sea scallops and Brunswick porcinis, lobster served in a ginger and coriander consommé, and grilled quail Rossini, stuffed with porcini and spinach and served with herb risotto and Port sauce.
There is much to do in the St. Andrews area, including whale-watching in season (May through October). And I never tire of the day trip to the summer home of President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Campobello Island, 75 miles away. Kingsbrae Arms is a place of elegance, charm and genuine hospitality. I derived great pleasure from finding an old favorite in such excellent form.
AT A GLANCE
LIKE: Refined atmosphere; superlative food; exemplary service.
DISLIKE: Sometimes having to rely on a security keypad to enter the house, as there is no formal reception.
GOOD TO KNOW: Next door, the seasonal Kingsbrae Garden has an excellent shop and café.
KINGSBRAE ARMS, Rating 95 Grand King Room, $660; Grand King Suite, $865. Half-Board for Two, from $150. 219 King Street, St. Andrews, New Brunswick. Tel. (506) 529-1897.
The next leg of our tour took us northeast through Fundy National Park, where a rugged landscape of dense forest and impressive waterfalls rises to the Acadian Highlands. A brief fueling stop in the quaint town of Alma gave us our first look at the 50-foot Bay of Fundy tides, as several large fishing boats could be seen resting on the sandy bottom of the harbor.
For our stay in eastern New Brunswick, I had chosen Maison Tait House in Shediac, as the town is just 45 miles west of the bridge across to Prince Edward Island. Although it is a handsome structure, I was disappointed by the hotel’s location on the main road, and a nearby industrial plant that spoiled an otherwise agreeable garden. The house itself dates from 1911 and has imposing public areas and a grand staircase. Our room came with a large, comfortable bed; an electric fireplace; and a recently redone bath with a combined tub/shower.
We went down to dinner with modest expectations, but were more than pleasantly surprised. I particularly relished superb oysters cooked with a topping of roasted red pepper sauce, bacon and Parmesan. (It was a dish to give first-rate oysters Rockefeller some serious competition.) For our main courses, we chose salmon glazed with molasses and a mix of dark rums, served on lemongrass skewers with pearl couscous, and boned chicken breast stuffed and rolled with wild mushrooms, caramelized red onions and potatoes.
Overall, I found the Maison Tait House to be a slightly frustrating place, but it is the best available option and offers a comfortable stay, plus food of some distinction.
AT A GLANCE
LIKE: Impressive public areas; excellent food.
DISLIKE: Location on a busy main road; the industrial plant next door.
GOOD TO KNOW: The hotel is a short drive from Parlee Beach, one of the prettiest in the area.
Maison Tait House, Rating 84 King Room, $185. 293 Main Street, Shediac, New Brunswick. Tel. (506) 532-4233.
The following day, we set off for Prince Edward Island, crossing over from New Brunswick on the eight-mile Confederation Bridge before stopping for lunch in the pretty port city of Charlottetown. After a long day at the wheel, the sight of The Inn at Bay Fortune was cheering. Set on the east coast of the island, this handsome gray-shingled house served as a summer getaway for both playwright Elmer Harris and actress Colleen Dewhurst.
We took the short stroll from the main house through pretty gardens to our third-story North Tower suite. Sunny and welcoming, it combined style with comfort in the manner of a British country house hotel. The large bedroom came with recessed lights, a gas fireplace and a lovely sitting area with a couch done in a pink-green plaid. The bath provided a whirlpool tub and a separate shower. French doors led out to a balcony with a view of Fortune Bay.
The same reassuring hominess prevailed in the inn’s lounge, where, before dinner, we sat beside a log fire going through old scrapbooks of the house’s early days. The dining room has an unbroken wall of windows providing memorable water views. Chef Domenic Serio is a proponent of the farm-to-table philosophy that places a premium on local produce. His fish cakes with chopped pickled vegetables, fresh beets with sorrel and croutons were so good that I had them two nights in a row. Another standout was the entrée of braised halibut cheeks with house-made chorizo sausage, served with braised green lentils, succotash and a tangy purée of Kalamata olives.
Alas, some maintenance issues slightly diminish my enthusiasm for the inn. The metal door to our room was marred with spots where rust had come through the paint; in the bath, the seams in the wallpaper were beginning to separate and the surface of the vanity was an inexpensive laminate, serviceable but unattractive. These are minor faults, but they oblige me to give the property a lower rating.
During our stay, we made a circular journey around the well-marked Points East Coastal Drive, starting at the Greenwich section of Prince Edward Island National Park on the north shore. (Fronting the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the thin strip of park is 37 miles long but only a few hundred yards wide in places, and includes beaches, dunes, wetlands and salt marshes.) We then proceeded east to the little port of Naufrage for a picnic lunch by the sea, followed by a tour of the Prince Edward Distillery. Further stops included North Lake Harbour, “Tuna Capital of the World;” the East Point Lighthouse; and the long golden beach at Basin Head.
AT A GLANCE
LIKE: Country house style; pretty gardens; delicious food.
DISLIKE: Old-fashioned baths; minor maintenance issues.
GOOD TO KNOW: The staff are extremely knowledgeable about local restaurants.
The Inn at Bay Fortune, Rating 89 Deluxe Room, $340 (Peak Summer Season). Closed early October to mid-May. Bay Fortune, Prince Edward Island. Tel. (902) 687-3745.
For our final stop in the Maritimes, we headed west to Dalvay by the Sea within Prince Edward Island National Park. A Scots immigrant to America, Alexander MacDonald, built the home as a summer retreat in 1895, after having made his fortune as president of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. Constructed of local stone and wood, with numerous gables and windows, the house is steps from the beach and overlooks lawns that lead to the waters of Dalvay Lake. Inside, it is the embodiment of bygone opulence, with an impressive central hall, a massive stone fireplace and a carved grand staircase. (In addition to 25 rooms in the main house, Dalvay offers eight cottages on the grounds. All have three bedrooms and seem ideal for families.)
Our large room came with a view of the lake and the sea beyond. Although comfortably furnished with period pieces (there was no phone or television), it had a small bath, with a just-adequate tub/shower combination and unattractive, linoleum- like simulated tiling on the wall. Fortunately, the main public areas were more appealing, particularly the semicircular dining room with views of the lake from almost every seat. The food was good, if scarcely groundbreaking, my favorite dishes being fettuccine with a rich lobster-tomato-cream sauce, a succulent pork chop with a whiskey-enlivened applesauce, and exemplary sticky toffee pudding. Although Dalvay is not fully up to Harper standards, I enjoyed the opportunity to stay in a fine old house beside the ocean.
We concluded our circular journey through the Maritimes by taking the ferry from Wood Islands on the southern shore of Prince Edward Island to Caribou in Nova Scotia, which is just 88 miles north of the Halifax airport.
AT A GLANCE
LIKE: Historic atmosphere; oceanfront location; afternoon tea by the fire in the main hall.
DISLIKE: Small, old-fashioned baths; proximity to the administrative office of the national park.
GOOD TO KNOW: In season, you must pay the national park entry fee to reach the hotel.
DALVAY BY THE SEA, "Charming" King Suite, $300. Closed September 30 To May 20. 16 Cottage Crescent, Dalvay, Prince Edward Island. Tel. (902) 672-2048.
Illustrations ©Melissa Colson
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