Tab 7: Shelburne, Yarmouth

"This is so nice I feel we don't deserve to stay here."

-Marco, of the MacKinnon Cann Inn

We set off for Shelburne around 9:00 am in trusty old PT.

As usual, the drive was very scenic:


We got a bit turned around but finally got to Shelburne. I wasn't counting on Shelburne to provide any kind of worthwhile entertainment. Or anything, really.

I was pleasantly surprised.

First, we had lunch at Mr. Fish.

Mr. Fish is an aptly-named fish fry stand on Hwy 3 just outside Shelburne. It looks kind of like a dirty shack. And it is. However, trusty Frommer's had recommended it and so we decided to give it a try. We were not disappointed. The fish and chips we had there were excellent... the best fish we've had so far in Nova Scotia.

Shelburne is a weird little town. The town was settled in 1783 by United Empire Loyalists. Its recent claim to fame involves the spectatularly miscast Scarlet Letter, which was filmed here in 1994. The Hollywood crew buried power lines, built 15 "historic" structures near the waterfront, dumped tons of rubble to create dirt lanes and generally made the place look like 17th century Boston. While most the "new-old" buildings were removed, some remain, making it a weird combination of authentic historic buildings and Hollywood fakes.

We checked out the series of four museums: The Shelburne County Museum, the Dory Shop, The Muir-Cox Shipbuilding Interpretive Centre, and the Ross-Thomson House.

The Shelburne County museum had some interesting pieces including the oldest wooden, horse-drawn hearse in Nova Scotia :

and then a porcelain reminder of you-know-who.

It's nice to know the Victorians appreciated the pug.

We also saw this nifty whilrygig:

Next, it was off to the Dory Shop where we had a surprisingly informative tour of the shop and learned the difference between a Lunenburg dory and a Shelburne dory. (This is trivia for everyday life, people). We also heard about Sidney Mahaney, master dory builder who built dories in this shop



6 days a week, 10 hours a day, for over 75 years. He made over 10,000 dories during his lifetime.

That's dory dedication.


The Muir-Cox Shipbuidling Centre and the Ross-Thompson house were both also interesting. Do you know the hull of Bluenose II is rotting away? We found this out at Muir-Cox. Apparently, the government wants to build a Bluenose III but there is some kind of legal battle brewing over who owns the rights to the designs - the family of the designer or the government of Canada.

I sense a litigation coming on.

Next we rolled into Yarmouth. I had minimal expectations of Yarmouth. And by "minimal" I mean "non-existent." I was very happily surpirsed by the MacKinnon Cann Inn. I love this inn. I love Neil, one of the owners. I love Tres Bien, the dog who lives here. I love the stained glass Neil personally created for the hallways.

This is by far one of the nicest places we have stayed. Ever.

We are the only people staying here this evening and so Neil had time to give us a tour of the entire inn, showed us pictures of the remodelling effort that he and his partner did (which can be viewed on the website). I can't say enough how beautiful the inn is. All the rooms are designed according to a different decade. We were given the lovely 1910's room.


The floor in the bathroom is heated. The sheets have a thread count of about one million.

We have a rain shower head and a jacuzzi tub.

Ordinarily, I would shun the jacuzzi tub for fear of contracting a dread disease through its usage. However, not this time. The sign on the wall erased any misgivings I may have had:

Stylish and clean. I might pass out from sheer joy.

The best part? "Has internet" means "here, let me give you a 10' long blue cable that connects to the high-speed internet outlet in your room".

I'm seriously thinking about living here permanently.

After lazing about the room for a bit, we went into town, which is a bit rough around the edges. Lots of tough-looking locals, crappy stores, and sketchiness. I certainly wasn't expecting to find... AN AMAZING YARN STORE!!! I broke my yarn rules and bought some gorgeous yarn kettle-dyed in Uruguay at Hands-On Crafts, the third stop on the Interprovincial Yarn Crawl of 2007.

Then we went out of the yarn shop and guess what we saw? A pug named Lolo!

Could things be any better? Yarmouth's sweet siren song is calling my name.

I admit, it seems a bit armpitty, but it's hiding amazing inns, excellent yarn, and darling little pugs.

Dinner was at Rudder's, a micro-brewery and restaurant that Neil recommended. Of course it was excellent. I greatly enjoyed my home brew and my lobster and scallop crepe.

See you tomorrow in Annapolis Royal... the bar has been set high, and it has a lot to measure up to.