Port Hawkesbury

Port Hawkesbury is the land entrance to Cape Breton Island from mainland Nova Scotia. It is accessed by a man-made roadway or causeway that was constructed in 1955. We’re on the western end of the Island and the Port Hawkesbury-Port Hastings area is a landing point for people who are traveling by vehicle. One thing about Port Hawkesbury is that where we’re located, it’s kind of a hub for Cape Breton Island.

Take a Day Trip

For day trips, the Port Hood and Inverness area has some of the warmest, sandy beaches in Atlantic Canada. A great family day can be spent there. If you’re looking for an opportunity to go surfing, there’s no better place to go than Point Michaud Beach in Richmond County. It’s a great beach just to relax on, but lots of people travel to Point Michaud for the waves.

Stop at the Visitor Information Centre

Your first stop, once crossing the Causeway, should be the Visitor Information Centre there, welcoming you to the Island. The staff are very knowledgeable and they will help you. They’ll take the time to find out what you’re looking for and tell you how to find it. They’re great at being able to direct you to whatever it is you’re looking for, and giving you options for experiences along the way that you wouldn’t have known about otherwise. That’s one of the cool things about landing on Cape Breton Island, you don’t have to take one road. One road doesn’t lead everywhere.

The Canso Causeway

From the Visitor Information Centre you can look back on the Canso Causeway, and to the left of the causeway, you’ll see the rock that was used to build it at Cape Porcupine. When it was constructed, it was the deepest and longest man-made causeway in the world. At the Canso Canal, just beside the bridge, is a panel story about its construction and they’ve done a really good job of describing the canal and what it does to allow marine traffic to pass through that area. Before the Causeway, ferries were used to transport people, vehicles, and trains back and forth across the strait. When we celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the Causeway, some of those areas between Port Tupper, Port Hawkesbury, the Canso Causeway, and Mulgrave, were designated as significant landmarks and plaques were placed in those communities to describe what had been taking place up to the construction of the Causeway. That could be interesting for people if they wanted to find out more, to see if they can find those four areas and learn what the stories are and were prior to and close to Canso Causeway construction.

See How it was Made

They tell a great story about the Causeway at the Strait Area Museum. They have some wonderful video footage of its construction, which includes blasting the rock from Cape Porcupine and the trucks and machinery filling in that strait, trying to stop the water from flowing through while they build the causeway. The museum concentrates more on the 1950s, but they also have a great ancestral library—it’s a great resource for geneaology. And there’s a gift shop there as well, where you can get all kinds of cool, handcrafted things.

Take a Hike, Without Leaving Town

In Port Hawkesbury proper, we have five amazing hiking trails and the degree of challenge will depend on which trail you take. If you’re looking for a trail that’s fairly easy and level, we’ve got those. We’ve also got some that have a little more challenging terrain to them where you’ll experience more of the wilds of Port Hawkesbury. You are going to encounter some small wildlife and interesting vegetation, and lots of treed areas in and around those trails. You’ll come across a couple of waterfalls as well. They’ve built some beautiful bridges over some of the streams and brooks and it’s quite amazing. Regardless of what time of the year, whether you are here in the summertime or later in the fall with the colours and even in the winter, they’re just gorgeous trails all year round.

Explore the Celtic Shores Coastal Trail

If you are looking to explore beyond Port Hawkesbury, try the Celtic Shores Coastal Trail. That’s a trail that was built on the old railway bed. The railway hasn’t travelled through Inverness county in probably 40 years, and the trails are well-maintained by community groups along the route. You can easily access the water along the way, you’re right on the shore. There’s lots of wildlife and rest stops as well. And the communities along the route are very easily accessible. When you’re travelling you’ll see people walking, biking, and using off road vehicles as well. It’s a multi-use trail that takes you from Port Hastings at the Canso Causeway, right straight through to Inverness. And from the Trail you can connect to Christie’s Look-Off, which is along the Ceilidh Trail. There are lots of great places where you can get a sunset, but Christie’s Look-Off is certainly one of the great ones.