Duncan's Cove, Nova Scotia

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Coordinates: 44°30′03″N, 63°31′54″W Duncan's Cove is a rural fishing community on the Chebucto Peninsula in the Halifax Regional Municipality on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean on the Ketch Harbour Road (Route 349 ), 19 kilometers from Halifax. The community is located at Chebucto Head.

Contents

[edit] History

Overlooking the entrance to Halifax Harbour made it a strategic part of Halifax's defense system in the 1700s. The Camperdown Signal Station, a few miles northward in nearby Portuguese Cove, was erected by Prince Edward ,Duke of Kent in 1797, and was operational until 1925 when it was replaced. It was the first such military signal stations in Nova Scotia. The name of the cove was in honour of Admiral Duncan who defeated the Dutch.

In World War Two, the area around Chebucto Head, including Duncan's Cove, became a fortified coastal battery armed with three BL 6 inch Gun Mk 7 guns. For these cannon, a four-story concrete director tower was built near the eastern shore of Duncan's Cove with a long-range optical rangefiner installed on the top floor. By 1943, this had been supplanted by the latest radar gun control unit.

After the Second World War the settlement was settled by two families of musicians who played with the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra. One of those families embarked upon a decades-long construction project of unconventionally shaped timber-framed dwellings, and even had a small private airstrip. By the late 1960s Duncan's Cove had become known as an artists colony, with many symphony players, visual artists and theatrical actors residing there. The landmark gunnery director tower stood derelict for many years, until finally passing into private hands in the 1990s. The building is virtually unrecognizable today, having been radically converted into a luxury residence.

[edit] Communications

[edit] Lighthouse

  • Chebucto Head Lighthouse

[edit] Parks

  • Duncans Cove Nature Reserve

[edit] External links

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