HRM Point of Interest #25: Royal Artillery Park

Located just across the street from The Citadel fortress, Royal Artillery Park was acquired in 1799 to provide soldiers quarters, stores, officers' accommodations and a headquarters for the Royal Artillery personnel stationed in Halifax. As an interesting factoid for Haligonians: the old location was across the street from the Grand Parade where the World Trade and Convention Centre is now.

In 1812 work began on the Officers' Mess. Rather, it would have begun, but the War of 1812 got in the way, and so work wasn't completed until 1816. At 196 years old though, it is officially the oldest Officers' Mess in Canada.

My favourite part of the park is being able to walk around and look at the well preserved pieces of artillery from wars past.



(Breech-loaded Howitzer used in the Boer War of 1895. This gun was actually still in use even up to 1917.)



(WWII Gun used in desert battles in Africa in 1941.)



(Armour piercing howitzer gun used from 1940-1952.)

HRM Monument #32: Norwegian Soldiers Monument

This sharp looking monument was erected in memory of the Norwegian sailors and soldiers who gave their life in WWII, and who were buried in Nova Scotia or who were lost at sea around Nova Scotia. It has a few practical uses as well, especially when I need to check my hair in my reflection, or when I have to get a few inches higher to take a nice picture of Sackville Landing (the open area in which the monument is located) or the Harbour, both of which you can see in the reflection in the monument.

It's been nearly a year since I originally stepped off the train and dropped my bags off here - in Halifax - during my cross Canada adventure. Although I became a little busy this winter collecting more funds with which to go exploring in the upcoming months, looking at this photo I took last summer I was reminded again about just how strongly Halifax's sometimes sad, but always important history has been largely effected and shaped by war.

HRM Monument #31: WWII Lost Ships

Perhaps the newest monument in Halifax, this large stone slab located at the start of the Halifax Waterfront board walk was dedicated in 2010 by the Atlantic Chief and Petty Officers Association to, "commemorate the ships and men of the Royal Canadian Navy who failed to return through enemy action, stress of weather and accidents during the Battle of the Atlantic and to remind future generations of the price of victory."

On the backside of the monument is a list of all the names of the Canadian ships lost from 1939-1945.

(Notice EP Dan to the right of the monument. For the trivia buffs out there, this is the earliest taken photo on EPTN that includes him.)

HRM Monument #17: Grand Parade Cenotaph War Memorial

Located on the Grand Parade, and unveiled on July 1 1929, this giant monument commemorated all those Haligonians who fought and died in The Great War. Later, special mentions of WWII and the Korean War were added.

On either side of the monument are the names of the battles in WWI in which Haligonians fought and died: Amiens, Arras, Canal du Nord, Cambrai, Somme, Vimy Ridge, Ypres, Hill 7O, and of course Passchendaele. On the back of the monument are inscriptions giving special mention to those battles in which Canadians fought and died in WWII: the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic, the Sicily Landings, the Battle of Ortona, the Gothic Line, the Normandy Landings, the Battle of the Falaise Gap (Pocket), the Battle of the Sheldt, the Battle of the Rhinland, and the Crossing of the Rhine. There is also a message stating that the names of all 1 360 men and women of Halifax who sacrificed their lives in these battles is kept on record in the City Archives.