Downtown Dartmouth

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Downtown Dartmouth is the main business, banking and government office core of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

Contents

[edit] Business and Buildings

Located in downtown Dartmouth are the home of the Halifax Regional School Board (located in the former city hall of the former city of Dartmouth), Alderney Gate which houses a branch of the Halifax Public Libraries and other office space, the Alderney Landing market, gallery and theatre building, the 19-story highrise office building Queen Square, as well as the main branches of the Royal Bank of Canada and CIBC. Also in the area there several condominium highrise buildings.

[edit] Transportation

Downtown Dartmouth is connected by ferry to downtown Halifax operated by Metro Transit from Alderney Landing. North America's oldest continually operating saltwater ferry service was started in 1752 by one man rowing customers across the harbour for three cents per trip. The three main streets are Alderney Drive (Nova Scotia Route 7), Portland Street (Nova Scotia Route 207), and Octerlonley Street. Along Alderney Drive is the CN railyard.

[edit] Parks

Ferry Terminal Park is the park space along the waterfront adjacent to the Dartmouth Ferry Terminal. In it resides the World Peace Pavilion, opened during the 1995 Halifax G-7 Economic Summit. Conceived by Metro Youth for Global Unity, this structure contains stones and bricks donated by more than 70 countries, lying on a bed of Nova Scotian sand. Also within the Ferry Terminal Park is the huge bronze propeller from the icebreaker Sir John A. Macdonald, damaged during its 1969 journey through the Northwest Passage, as well as the inlaid granite compass rose in the park, which is a replica of the compass detail on a 1749 map of Halifax Harbour. Extending from Alderney Landing is the Events Plaza, a specially designed and equipped outdoor space for festivals and events. Eastern Front Theatre performs at Alderney Landing's theatre.

The Leighton Dillman Scenic Garden, named after a diligent voluntary keeper of the gardens, sits adjacent to Alderney Drive on a hillside of what is left of the Dartmouth Commons, approximately 300 acres set aside by the government in the late 1700s for the settlers' common use. Only a small portion of the Commons today remains.

[edit] Past Industry

On Dartmouth Cove are the former Dartmouth Marine Slips owned by the J.D. Irving Limited group of Companies, former site of the Nantucket Whaling Company.