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8 Events to Celebrate Heritage at this Holiday Season
It seems like we were just carving pumpkins and snacking on Halloween candy, but the cold weather has creeped up and leaves are slowly making their way off the branches. Atlas, the Holiday Season is right around the corner and it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! It’s time to get into the holiday spirit and there’s no better way to do that (in my humble opinion) than exploring local heritage and celebrating historic traditions. Why not put a vintage twist on your Christmas season by attending these exciting events? This year I have found 8 (yes, 8!) exciting events at heritage sites or celebrating the history of the…
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Welcome to The Maritime Historian – And Goodbye to History with Kirby
Hi everyone! Hope you had a good week or so. As you may have noticed, since I posted a couple of weeks ago some big changes have happened on this blog. I’m not talking colour schemes or social media buttons. I’m talking about a full rebranding. The site domain (aka the URL and identity of this brand) has transitioned from History with Kirby to The Maritime Historian. With this change, my social media handles have been modified as well (they’re all @themaritimehistorian, except for twitter which is still @historykirby). But why change up the website? I have thought about this question a lot. Why fix something that isn’t broken, right?…
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History over Hot Drinks: Open Book Coffee
There’s a little coffee shop I know, where the roasts are local and shelves are lined with history books. This café is called Open Book Coffee. Nothing quite pulls at my heartstrings like a local coffee shop. To be completely honest, I had no clue that this cafe/ bookstore existed a few weeks ago. It was entirely by chance that I discovered its existence. There’s a specific book that I have been searching for online, in bookstores and thrift shops. The Terry Punch book, called “Genealogical Research in Nova Scotia” is one of the must-reads when it comes to Nova Scotian genealogy. I had to have it. I saw the…
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Visiting Georges Island, Nova Scotia
I remember drifting over the waves of Halifax Harbour last fall as I made my way to McNab’s Island. It’s not often that I see the harbour’s islands up close, and it made me wonder if I would ever have the chance to trail any of the others. This summer, during the year that has been full of disasters and worse case scenarios, I was lucky enough to be able to book tickets to Georges Island. An Introduction to Georges Island Georges Island is a national historic site located in Halifax Harbour. Home to Fort Charlotte, Georges Island has one of the five major fortifications that enforced Halifax’s defence system.…
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Pre-History Trip: Fundy Geological Museum
The first part of our day was spent at the Joggins Fossil Cliffs, exploring the museum and rocky beach. Once we left Joggins, we headed over to the Fundy Geological Museum. The Fundy Geological Museum, though also focusing on the geological past of Nova Scotia, has a larger focus on dinosaurs! Only about a half an hour drive from the cliffs, we arrived by mid-afternoon. Eldon’s Dinosaur Statue While parking, we (myself, my boyfriend, and a friend) were greeted by a statue that I had seen before. It was a green dinosaur, clearly looking as though it has lived a long life. I first encountered the dinosaur about ten years…
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Pre-History Trip: Joggins Fossil Cliffs
There’s nothing like digging up good local spots to spend a day. And this week’s write up takes a turn towards prehistory, time before humans and their impact on the world. History is defined exclusively to humanity’s past, with prehistory covering the world’s developments beforehand. Events thousands, if not millions of years ago, have a profound effect on our relationship and understanding of the Earth today. And there’s nothing quite like the excitement of getting to unbury some of that knowledge. It may come as a surprise to many that Nova Scotia has very rich geological history. One of the main geological or fossil related attractions in the province is…
My name is Kirby and I’m a 20-something year old with an M.A. in History. Needless to say, history is a huge passion of mine.
