Peggy's Cove Drive

Today we drove south on Hwy-333, also known as the Lighthouse Route, to Peggy's Cove. The Lighthouse Route follows the scenic shoreline along St. Margaret's Bay. This is a rugged and barren coastline made up of large granite boulders.


About a mile north of Peggy's Cove we saw a sign for the Swissair Flight 111 Memorial. We pulled into the parking lot and took the path out to the memorial.

From Nova Scotia

Swissair Flight 111 departed JFK Airport in New York City enroute to Geneva, Switzerland on September 2, 1998 with 215 passengers, 2 pilots and 12 flight attendants. Swissair Flight 111 was known as the "U.N. shuttle" because of its popularity with U.N. officials. About 2 hours after takeoff, the crew first noticed an odor in the cockpit and eventually started seeing smoke. The pilot reported an urgent problem and was routed to Halifax airport. About 14 minutes later the pilot reported an emergency and 7 minutes after that Flight 111 crashed into the ocean. This is one of two memorials for Flight 111 - the other one is across St. Margaret's Bay at Bayswater.


After visiting the memorial we continued on into Peggy's Cove. Peggy's Cove was founded in 1811 when a land grant was issued to six families of German descent. There are several theories regarding the origin of the name for Peggy's Cove. Some say it's named after St. Margaret's Bay (Peggy being a nickname for Margaret). Some people say Peggy was an early settler and others say Peggy was a young shipwreck survivor with no memory of her earlier life and was given the name Peggy by the family who took her in.

From Nova Scotia

Peggy's Point Lighthouse is one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world. The original lighthouse was erected in 1868 to mark the point of land, not the cove. The current lighthouse dates to 1915. In 1969 the lantern was painted red and in 1990 an electric lantern was installed. It is still an active lighthouse and has a small Canada Post office in the lower lever. During the summer months it is the village post office where visitors can send postcard and letters. Each piece of mail is stamped with a special cancellation mark in the shape of the lighthouse.

From Nova Scotia