It’s not the trees which are the attraction at Peggy’s Cove in the fall or at any other time of year. For many, it is the rocks, the granite, which brings thousands of visitors to this Nova Scotian mecca.
The contrast of the sea and the unusual rock formations, with the lighthouse as the beacon,
is a combination which people love and thousands of visitors come to see each year.
Peggy’s Cove sits in St. Margaret’s Bay, on the south shore of Nova Scotia. It is a fishing village at its heart and the signs of the trade are everywhere.
The tiny cove, with its crystal clear water, is lined with fishing stages, gear and boats.
The rock is unique in this area. Pushed up from below or within the earth’s crust, the molten rock or magma, cools forming igneous rock, in this case, granite. The granite at Peggy’s Cove has various crystals which expand over time and slough off the exposed surfaces, producing rounded rock faces.
The granite was further affected by the receding glaciers of the Ice Age. The glaciers carried rocks along with them which scratched the surface of the bedrock, leaving striations or furrows behind.
As glaciers melted, they left rocks, known as erratics, on the landscape.
The erratics, striations and rounded granite make Peggy’s Cove an area of natural wonder.
Add in the lighthouse and you have a rare treasure.
