When we had finished Cape Breton, we drove down as far as Truro and parked up for a couple of nights in, yes you guessed it a “Walmart” carpark.
We didn’t want to drive down to Halifax, Nova Scotia (new Scotland) with the Rv only to retrace our steps with her.
The one thing we wanted to see in Halifax, were the Titanic grave sites, of which there are three.
It was a 63 mile drive from Truro, so we took the car down and spent the day Geocaching and sight seeing.
The first geocache we did was actually at the main gravesite, in Fairview cemetery with 121 graves.
When we arrived there were 2 coach loads of people there. We found out later that a cruise ship was in port, the “Caribbean Princess” which carries 3140 guests and 1200 crew!!
The graves here are laid out in the shape of the hull of the ship.
It was interesting to listen to their tour guides though, who explained that the “J.Dawson” grave was not Jack (Leo DiCaprio, as per the film) but Joseph Dawson, who was a coal shoveller in the bowels of the Titanic!
Apparently, since the film, his grave gets lots of Bouquets of flowers from visitors thinking it was “Jack”.
Some of the graves have no names on, some have been identified via DNA since the tragedy.
There is a piece in the movie of a woman on a bed with her 4 children as the ship was sinking, that was based on “Alma Paulson” who was sailing over to be with her husband who had already gone to the USA. The movie depicts it differently to how her last moments were spent. Apparently when they unlocked the steerage, she went topside and realised all the boats had gone, so she sat with her children and played a harmonica to soothe her children. The harmonica was later found in her pocket!
The two other grave sites were Mount Olivet cemetery with 19 graves, of which 14 are identified and the Baron de Hirsch cemetery (Jewish) with 10 graves, of which only 2 were identified.
From the information board at the Baron De Hirsch cemetery;
From the information board at the mount Olivet cemetery;
If you have watched the film, you may remember the part played by Kathy Bates, “the unsinkable Molly Brown” who was the down to earth first class lady in the lifeboat number 6 who pleaded for them to turn around and pick up survivors, only to be told to sit down and shut her cakehole or she would be shot and thrown overboard herself!!!
Well Mrs Molly Brown and her daughter visited the Fairview cemetery at a later date and placed flowers on EVERY Titanic grave!
A few of the other graves;
Another place we came across via Geocaching was a memorial that talked about the Halifax explosion!
Halifax explosion? What was that about then?
I guess like us, some of you knew nothing about this. Apparently one of the cannons on one of the ships was blown in the blast 3.5 miles away and an anchor landed 2.5 miles away. More can be learnt here; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion
A few random pictures from Halifax
After doing Halifax we headed up to Moncton again to stay in the same place we had stayed on the way up, a very large Casino where we could stay for 7 days if we wanted. Pictures this time;
We headed back into the USA after overnighting at Saint Johns, New Brunswick and then headed over the border and back into the USA at Calais in Maine. From there we went to Bangor, Pumpkin patch RV park which was our base for a trip to Acadia NP.
Acadia was only about 45 miles south east of us, so we toodled down there for the day.
If you zoom in on the above pictures, you may see my vomit or even little people scrambling up the sides of cliffs!!
Not a bad hike for a 60 year old acrophobic and a wife who has a broken thermostat!
Not much planned for the next 2 weeks so we will leave you alone. Next will be Boston, Salem and anything else we find along the way.
G&T xx
Terry, Gill & Kathryn in the US of A 
Wow! Great blog and info on the Titanic graves! We stayed at Pumpkin Patch in 2019 for almost a week because our toilet broke and we had to wait on parts!
Looking forward to your next blog! Safe travels!
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Pumpkin patch was a lovely park
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We loved Acadia. Had the neatest restaurant in an old hotel with some of the best food ever!
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