Point Pleasant Park
Encyclopedia
Point Pleasant Park is a large, partially forested municipal park at the southern tip of the Halifax peninsula
. It once hosted several artillery batteries
, and a well-preserved 18th century Martello tower
can be found there. The park is a popular recreational spot for Haligonians
, as it hosts forest walks and affords views across the harbour and out toward the Atlantic
.
Shakespearean plays are performed in the park every summer by the Shakespeare by the Sea
theatre company.
In 2000 Canadian Food Inspection Agency
planned to cut 10,000 trees to halt an outbreak of Brown Spruce Longhorn Beetle
(Tetropium fuscum). This plan was challenged by the Friends of Pt. Pleasant Park in the courts, which resulted in a temporary injunction stopping the cutting. The injunction was later removed but there was a reduction in tree cutting to less than 2000.
arrived under instruction of the British Government to create a sizeable military and civilian settlement of 4000. Halifax was to become a strategic settlement for the British and fortifications were primarily intended to prevent enemy ships from getting into the Halifax Harbour
.
There were a total of seven fortifications constructed: Chain Rock, Chain Battery
, Point Pleasant Battery, Northwest Arm Battery, Fort Ogilvie, Prince of Wales Tower and Cambridge Battery. Most were rebuilt or modified four or five times over the subsequent 200 years.
The first defences were constructed int 1762 and built of logs, earth
, and stone
. They were built with wood-burning fireplace
s, and furnace
s were later added for smelting
cannon
shot.
Chain Battery and Chain Rock were basic fortifications built on the natural terrain to protect the Northwest Arm. Unlike most of the other fortifications, the battery here was not rebuilt in the 19th century, so it retains its original 1762 layout. Because it was abandoned so early, the area has been reforested for most of the historic period.
Point Pleasant Battery is one of the oldest fortification
batteries. Though Point Pleasant Battery was first constructed in 1762, what is visible today dates mostly from the early 20th century. The battery, just west of Point Pleasant, was damaged in 1895 and was falling into the sea
. It was moved further along the Northwest Arm shore.
Northwest Arm Battery was first built in 1762 and disused after the 1860s. Archeological
remains associated with its barracks include a summer house built for the Park in the 1880s. The battery here retains its early 19th century configuration.
In 1792, the threat of an immediate French
attack alerted the British military in Halifax to the possibility of a landing in the harbour and batteries were upgraded and improved. Fort Ogilvie was built at this time and is located in the eastern part of Point Pleasant Park. It was built by the order of General Ogilvie, then commander of the Halifax garrison
. Ogilvie named the battery after himself.
In 1796-97, a battery was built on high ground behind the point at a location capable of defending the point batteries. A few years later, the battery was converted to a large round stone tower known as the Prince of Wales
Tower, similar to the Martello Tower
s built in large numbers elsewhere by the British military. The Prince of Wales
Tower is 26 feet high and is 72 feet in diameter. The exposed material is ironstone rubble masonry, with 8 feet (2.4 m) walls. The original construction permitted six mounted guns on the roof and four guns on the second storey. Further modifications were made over the next seventy years. By 1813, the Tower mounted four 6-pound guns on garrison carriages on its barrack level, two 24-pound guns
on traversing platforms and six 24-pound carronades on traversing slides on top. After 1864, the Tower was used as a self-defensible depot magazine.
Cambridge Battery is situated back from the Point Pleasant and Northwest Arm batteries along the shore. It was approved in 1862 and completed in 1868. The battery was named in honour of the Duke of Cambridge, who was the head of the military during much of Queen Victoria's reign. The battery was abandoned by the time of the First World War.
In 1929, the militarily temporarily vacated the park before returning in 1938 during the Second World War. Although the Martello tower
ceased to be important for military purposes in the late 19th century, some of the other fortifications in the Park continued to be used by the military until the close of the Second World War. Fort Ogilvie and Cambridge Battery were upgraded with modern weapons during the Second World War. A gun from this era is still visible at Fort Ogilvie.
The park was the site of several small farms during the early settlement of Halifax. A rock outcropping at Black Rock Beach was used to gibbet
the bodies of executed criminal such as the pirate Edward Jordan
in 1809. Small amounts of stone were quarried in the park in the 19th century, the small quarries today forming a pond near the park entrance. In the 1920s, the Halifax streetcar line was extended into the park as far as the Prince of Wales Tower but the route was abandoned in the 1940s.
Point Pleasant Park is owned by the Government of Canada and is leased to Halifax Regional Municipality for a ceremonial 1 shilling per year. The original lease for the land was negotiated by Sir William Young in 1866. Administration of the park lease is performed by the Department of Canadian Heritage
.
. Nearly three quarters of the park's trees were knocked down and the park remained closed until June 2004. While there are still trees remaining, the park now has a very thin canopy
.
Assistance from the Canadian federal government has allowed Halifax Regional Municipality to make significant progress in the recovery and renewal of the park. As of June 2008 over 70,000 Acadian forest trees have been planted in the park, surpassing the number of trees lost to Hurricane Juan.
The recently released comprehensive plan for Point Pleasant Park proposes long-term care for the park's forest based on Canada's national standard for sustainable forest management. The process of Adaptive Management
will be used to guide the renewal and care of Point Pleasant, one of Canada's oldest urban parks.
, the Canadian Merchant Navy
and Canadian Army who were lost at sea. Erected in 1969, the current memorial consists of a Cross of Sacrifice
inscribed with the names of 3257 Canadian men and women who were buried at sea as a result of the World Wars. Commemorated in Pt. Pleasant Park in Halifax are 415 Canadians from naval and merchant ships who died in the Atlantic Ocean during WWI. The original monument has been replaced by 2 later monuments.
The ship's anchor from the aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure serves a a monument to the men and women who died while serving the Canadian Navy during Peacetime. A cairn marks the lives lost in the sinking of the Canadian Merchant Navy ship SS Point Pleasant in 1945. A monument facing the Northwest Arm
honour Walter Hose
, a naval commander who helped build the Royal Canadian Navy
while another honours the families who ran the Northwest Arm ferry and performed many rescues. National Historic Site plaques in the park commemorate the role of Halifax as Naval Port and the Battle between HMS Shannon
and USS Chesapeake
in 1813.
Halifax Peninsula
The Halifax Peninsula is a community and planning area located in the urban core of Halifax Regional Municipality in the province of Nova Scotia. Halifax Peninsula is home to Downtown Halifax, the financial and economic heart of the region, which was also the site of the original settlement and...
. It once hosted several artillery batteries
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
, and a well-preserved 18th century Martello tower
Martello tower
Martello towers are small defensive forts built in several countries of the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards....
can be found there. The park is a popular recreational spot for Haligonians
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
, as it hosts forest walks and affords views across the harbour and out toward the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
.
Shakespearean plays are performed in the park every summer by the Shakespeare by the Sea
Shakespeare by the Sea, Halifax
Shakespeare by the Sea is a professional theatre company and registered society in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Founded in 1994, it specialises in performing the works of William Shakespeare...
theatre company.
In 2000 Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is a science based regulatory agency that is dedicated to the safeguarding of food, animals, and plants, which enhance the health and well-being of Canada's people, environment and economy...
planned to cut 10,000 trees to halt an outbreak of Brown Spruce Longhorn Beetle
Beetle
Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...
(Tetropium fuscum). This plan was challenged by the Friends of Pt. Pleasant Park in the courts, which resulted in a temporary injunction stopping the cutting. The injunction was later removed but there was a reduction in tree cutting to less than 2000.
Fortifications in the Park
In 1749, Edward CornwallisEdward Cornwallis
Lieutenant General Edward Cornwallis was a British military officer who founded Halifax, Nova Scotia with 2500 settlers and later served as the Governor of Gibraltar.-Early life:...
arrived under instruction of the British Government to create a sizeable military and civilian settlement of 4000. Halifax was to become a strategic settlement for the British and fortifications were primarily intended to prevent enemy ships from getting into the Halifax Harbour
Halifax Harbour
Halifax Harbour is a large natural harbour on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Halifax Regional Municipality.-Harbour description:The harbour is called Jipugtug by the Mi'kmaq first nation, anglisized as Chebucto...
.
There were a total of seven fortifications constructed: Chain Rock, Chain Battery
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
, Point Pleasant Battery, Northwest Arm Battery, Fort Ogilvie, Prince of Wales Tower and Cambridge Battery. Most were rebuilt or modified four or five times over the subsequent 200 years.
The first defences were constructed int 1762 and built of logs, earth
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
, and stone
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
. They were built with wood-burning fireplace
Fireplace
A fireplace is an architectural structure to contain a fire for heating and, especially historically, for cooking. A fire is contained in a firebox or firepit; a chimney or other flue allows gas and particulate exhaust to escape...
s, and furnace
Furnace
A furnace is a device used for heating. The name derives from Latin fornax, oven.In American English and Canadian English, the term furnace on its own is generally used to describe household heating systems based on a central furnace , and sometimes as a synonym for kiln, a device used in the...
s were later added for smelting
Smelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
shot.
Chain Battery and Chain Rock were basic fortifications built on the natural terrain to protect the Northwest Arm. Unlike most of the other fortifications, the battery here was not rebuilt in the 19th century, so it retains its original 1762 layout. Because it was abandoned so early, the area has been reforested for most of the historic period.
Point Pleasant Battery is one of the oldest fortification
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
batteries. Though Point Pleasant Battery was first constructed in 1762, what is visible today dates mostly from the early 20th century. The battery, just west of Point Pleasant, was damaged in 1895 and was falling into the sea
Sea
A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, it means a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean...
. It was moved further along the Northwest Arm shore.
Northwest Arm Battery was first built in 1762 and disused after the 1860s. Archeological
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
remains associated with its barracks include a summer house built for the Park in the 1880s. The battery here retains its early 19th century configuration.
In 1792, the threat of an immediate French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
attack alerted the British military in Halifax to the possibility of a landing in the harbour and batteries were upgraded and improved. Fort Ogilvie was built at this time and is located in the eastern part of Point Pleasant Park. It was built by the order of General Ogilvie, then commander of the Halifax garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
. Ogilvie named the battery after himself.
In 1796-97, a battery was built on high ground behind the point at a location capable of defending the point batteries. A few years later, the battery was converted to a large round stone tower known as the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
Tower, similar to the Martello Tower
Martello tower
Martello towers are small defensive forts built in several countries of the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards....
s built in large numbers elsewhere by the British military. The Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
Tower is 26 feet high and is 72 feet in diameter. The exposed material is ironstone rubble masonry, with 8 feet (2.4 m) walls. The original construction permitted six mounted guns on the roof and four guns on the second storey. Further modifications were made over the next seventy years. By 1813, the Tower mounted four 6-pound guns on garrison carriages on its barrack level, two 24-pound guns
Güns
Güns or Guens may refer to:* Kőszeg, Hungary * Kőszeg Mountains, Hungary * Akiva Güns , birth name of Akiva Eger, a Hungarian-Polish rabbi- See also :* Guns * Gün, a surname...
on traversing platforms and six 24-pound carronades on traversing slides on top. After 1864, the Tower was used as a self-defensible depot magazine.
Cambridge Battery is situated back from the Point Pleasant and Northwest Arm batteries along the shore. It was approved in 1862 and completed in 1868. The battery was named in honour of the Duke of Cambridge, who was the head of the military during much of Queen Victoria's reign. The battery was abandoned by the time of the First World War.
In 1929, the militarily temporarily vacated the park before returning in 1938 during the Second World War. Although the Martello tower
Martello tower
Martello towers are small defensive forts built in several countries of the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards....
ceased to be important for military purposes in the late 19th century, some of the other fortifications in the Park continued to be used by the military until the close of the Second World War. Fort Ogilvie and Cambridge Battery were upgraded with modern weapons during the Second World War. A gun from this era is still visible at Fort Ogilvie.
Other historic uses
Gibbet
A gibbet is a gallows-type structure from which the dead bodies of executed criminals were hung on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals. In earlier times, up to the late 17th century, live gibbeting also took place, in which the criminal was placed alive in a metal cage...
the bodies of executed criminal such as the pirate Edward Jordan
Edward Jordan
Edward Jordan was an Irish rebel, fisherman and pirate in Nova Scotia. He was typical of the violent but short-lived pirates in the 19th century following the end of "Golden Age of Piracy" in the 18th century. Born in County Carlow, Ireland, he took part in the Irish rebellions of 1797-98 but...
in 1809. Small amounts of stone were quarried in the park in the 19th century, the small quarries today forming a pond near the park entrance. In the 1920s, the Halifax streetcar line was extended into the park as far as the Prince of Wales Tower but the route was abandoned in the 1940s.
Point Pleasant Park is owned by the Government of Canada and is leased to Halifax Regional Municipality for a ceremonial 1 shilling per year. The original lease for the land was negotiated by Sir William Young in 1866. Administration of the park lease is performed by the Department of Canadian Heritage
Department of Canadian Heritage
The Department of Canadian Heritage, or simply Canadian Heritage |department]] of the Government of Canada with responsibility for policies and programs regarding the arts, culture, media, communications networks, official languages , status of women, sports , and multiculturalism...
.
1994 bombing attempt
The park was the target of a "group" calling itself "Loki 7" in 1994, when they planted a pipe bomb in a garbage bin. Nobody was injured.Hurricane Juan
In September, 2003, Point Pleasant Park was devastated by Hurricane JuanHurricane Juan
Hurricane Juan was a significant hurricane that struck the southern part of Atlantic Canada in late September 2003. It was the tenth named storm and the sixth hurricane of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. Juan formed southeast of Bermuda on September 24, 2003 out of a tropical wave that tracked...
. Nearly three quarters of the park's trees were knocked down and the park remained closed until June 2004. While there are still trees remaining, the park now has a very thin canopy
Canopy (forest)
In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant community or crop, formed by plant crowns.For forests, canopy also refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and including other biological organisms .Sometimes the term canopy is used to refer to the extent...
.
Assistance from the Canadian federal government has allowed Halifax Regional Municipality to make significant progress in the recovery and renewal of the park. As of June 2008 over 70,000 Acadian forest trees have been planted in the park, surpassing the number of trees lost to Hurricane Juan.
The recently released comprehensive plan for Point Pleasant Park proposes long-term care for the park's forest based on Canada's national standard for sustainable forest management. The process of Adaptive Management
Adaptive management
-What is Adaptive Management ?:Adaptive management , also known as adaptive resource management , is a structured, iterative process of optimal decision making in the face of uncertainty, with an aim to reducing uncertainty over time via system monitoring...
will be used to guide the renewal and care of Point Pleasant, one of Canada's oldest urban parks.
Monuments
Point Pleasant is the location to numerous monuments associated with the heritage of Halifax and the sea. The largest is the Halifax Monument, better known as the Sailor's Memorial, which commemorates members of the Royal Canadian NavyRoyal Canadian Navy
The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...
, the Canadian Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
Canada, like several other Commonwealth nations, created its own Merchant Navy in a large-scale effort during World War II. Within hours of Canada's declaration of war on September 10, 1939, the Canadian government passed laws to create the Canadian Merchant Navy setting out rules and controls to...
and Canadian Army who were lost at sea. Erected in 1969, the current memorial consists of a Cross of Sacrifice
Cross of Sacrifice
The Cross of Sacrifice was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Imperial War Graves Commission and is usually present in Commonwealth war cemeteries containing 40 or more graves. It is normally a freestanding four point limestone Latin cross in one of three sizes ranging in height from 18 to...
inscribed with the names of 3257 Canadian men and women who were buried at sea as a result of the World Wars. Commemorated in Pt. Pleasant Park in Halifax are 415 Canadians from naval and merchant ships who died in the Atlantic Ocean during WWI. The original monument has been replaced by 2 later monuments.
The ship's anchor from the aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure serves a a monument to the men and women who died while serving the Canadian Navy during Peacetime. A cairn marks the lives lost in the sinking of the Canadian Merchant Navy ship SS Point Pleasant in 1945. A monument facing the Northwest Arm
Northwest Arm
The Northwest Arm, originally named Sandwich River, is an inlet in eastern Canada off the Atlantic Ocean in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality.-Geography:...
honour Walter Hose
Walter Hose
Walter Hose was a Canadian Admiral. He was the founder of the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve.Hose was born on a ship in the Indian Ocean and joined the Royal Navy when he was 14. Hose transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in 1912, serving in a variety of commands during World War I...
, a naval commander who helped build the Royal Canadian Navy
Royal Canadian Navy
The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...
while another honours the families who ran the Northwest Arm ferry and performed many rescues. National Historic Site plaques in the park commemorate the role of Halifax as Naval Port and the Battle between HMS Shannon
HMS Shannon (1806)
HMS Shannon was a 38-gun Leda-class frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1806 and served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812...
and USS Chesapeake
USS Chesapeake
Five ships of the United States Navy have been named Chesapeake after the Chesapeake Bay, the body of water along Maryland and Virginia., a 38-gun frigate in commission from 1800 to 1813...
in 1813.