Free things to do in Halifax

Free things to do in Halifax

1. See

   Halifax Central Library

   After decades of planning, the new Central Library finally opened in December 2014. The striking architecture, said to resemble a stack of books, garnered international attention. The building is unique in Halifax for its bold modernity, standing in attractive contrast to the stately School of Architecture and Planning building next door. Visitors can enjoy a bite at the cafes housed within, peruse the local history section, and enjoy views of Citadel Hill and Halifax Harbour from the freely accessible rooftop patio.

   Mon-Thu 9AM-9PM; Fri Sat 9AM-6PM; Sun noon-6PM·Free

2. See

   Halifax Public Gardens

   A beautiful Victorian-era garden occupying a large city block. There are ponds, flowers, ducks, geese, and sometimes music in the gazebo.

   Free

3. See

   Point Pleasant Park

   A large peaceful park that serves as a vantage point to see the mouth of the harbour and into the Atlantic Ocean. It used to be a dense wood, but was left with patches of devastation and clear-cut from Hurricane Juan in 2003. It remains a popular place to walk dogs and stroll. The park contains some preserved historic military fortifications such as the 18th-century Martello tower, and ruins of several other fortifications.

   Dawn to dusk·Free

4. See

   Province House

   Home to Canada's oldest provincial legislature and of Britain's first overseas self-government. A fine example of Georgian architecture, the building was opened in 1842. Visitors can learn about the history of the site and the current Legislative Assembly through guided tours, displays and an audio-visual presentation. Province House is open year-round.

   Jul-Aug: Mon-Fri 9AM-5PM, Sat Sun and holidays 10AM-4PM; rest of year Mon-Fri 9AM-4PM·Free

5. See

   St. Paul's Anglican Church

   Historic St. Paul's on the Grand Parade

   St. Paul's is the old­est build­ing in Hal­i­fax and the old­est exist­ing Protes­tant place of wor­ship in Canada. Founded by procla­ma­tion of King George II in 1749, the build­ing was erected in the sum­mer of 1750. On Sep­tem­ber 2, 1750 the Rev­erend William Tutty held the first ser­vice inside what was, accord­ing to Mr. Tutty, "not com­pletely fit­ted up". The archi­tec­tural plans were based on St. Peter's Church, Vere Street, Lon­don which was designed in 1722 by James Gibbs, a pupil of Sir Christo­pher Wren. The resem­blance between the two churches is remark­able despite the addi­tion of St. Paul's vestibule and steeple, 1812, the side wings, 1868, and the chan­cel, 1872. The tim­bers of St. Paul's were cut in Saco, Maine and shipped to Hal­i­fax. Most of the mate­ri­als includ­ing the bricks to line the walls were made locally. Over 2½ cen­turies later, the orig­i­nal wooden struc­ture remains as sound as the day it was built. Charles Inglis, first over­seas Bishop of the Church of Eng­land, arrived in 1787 mak­ing St. Paul's his cathe­dral. Until the con­struc­tion of a gar­ri­son chapel in 1844, St. Paul's was also the first gar­ri­son church in Hal­i­fax.

   open to the pub­lic for self-directed vis­its from 9AM-4:30PM·Free

6. See

   York Redoubt

   A sprawling complex of forts from 1790s to 1940s. Plan to spend hours exploring tunnels, caves, cliffs, cannons, bunkers, trails, and views of the harbour. 1-hour bus ride from downtown.

   Parking and washrooms: June 25-Sep 4 (Labour Day): daily 8AM-8PM. Pedestrians may continue to access the site throughout the remainder of the year when the fortification will be closed to vehicles. Parking is available outside the gate·Free

7. See Not mapped

   Fairview Lawn Cemetery

   It was developed as a non-denominational cemetery from 1893, on what had been farm smallholdings, when the Camp Hill Cemetery was running out of room. It was privately run until 1944 when the city took it over. So it holds a large collection of the city's residents, with a Greek and a Chinese section, but is best known as the burial place of 121 of the victims of RMS Titanic. Their graves are in three lines with simple low grey-granite markers: the lines follow the contour so they resemble the curving structure of a ship. Those unidentified have just a number and date. Several were later identified, notably the "Unknown Child", now known to be the 19 month old Sidney Leslie Goodwin of Wiltshire in England. The rest of his family were not found: they were emigrating to Niagara Falls where the hydroelectric power plant needed labour. After the 1997 film Titanic, there was a flurry of tourist visits to the grave of J Dawson: "Jack Dawson" was the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio. The grave actually holds Joe Dawson, an Irish coal-trimmer, so he had one of the worst jobs on Titanic even in normal conditions. These 73 fellows laboured mightily during the sinking to feed coal to the boilers to maintain the ship's power, pumps and lighting; only 20 of them survived.

   Mon-Fri 8AM-4PM·Free

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Halifax (CC BY-SA 4.0).