Herring Cove, Nova Scotia

Herring Cove (2001 pop.: 1,530) is a Canadian suburban community in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality. The community is situated on the eastern shore of the Chebucto Peninsula, 15 kilometres south of Downtown Halifax. It is near the western approaches to Halifax Harbour.

History

European settlement in the area occurred following the settlement of Halifax, sometime around 1790. Many current residents are the descendants of original Irish-Catholic settlers to the area.

On November 24, 1797, the frigate HMS "Tribune" ran aground on nearby shoals. Only 12 of the ship's 250 passengers and crew survived. The rescue was orchestrated by 13-year old Herring Cove resident Joe Cracker who rallied the community to the ship's aid and rescued the first two passengers in his small dory. There is a monument to Cracker at nearby Tribune Head which is named after the wreck.

Early surveyor's maps list the community as Dunk Cove, named for George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, also the namesake of the nearby city. The present name has been attributed to either the surname of early settlers, or the abundance of herring in the cove.

As a rural unincorporated community, Herring Cove was part of the Municipality of the County of Halifax until April 1, 1996 when all municipalities in the county were amalgamated into the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM).Fact|date=May 2007 Today, Herring Cove's economy is dictated not by the fishery, but by its proximity to the HRM's urban core. Several subdivisions have been built in recent decades, leading to the decision by the Halifax Regional Water Commission in February 2007 to extend municipal water and sanitary sewage service to the area.

The community is at the intersection of Route 253 and Route 349, local roads servicing the southeastern side of the Chebucto Peninsula.

There are several hiking trails in the community; one to "The Look-off" (accessible from Purcell's Cove road) has become a popular place to picnic, and features a splendid view of the Atlantic. At the highest point on the cliffs (30 metres above sea level), there is an unfinished monument constructed of a pile of rocks in memory of George Brown, an Olympic rowing athlete. The Look-off also affords a panoramic view of the entrance to Halifax Harbour north to Halifax and east to Eastern Passage.

In the late 1990s, the Hibernia Atlantic trans-Atlantic communications cable project landed its western terminus at Herring Cove at Hospital Point.