Notes for the Visitor McNabs Island Access McNabs and Lawlor Islands Provincial Park has limited McNabs Island is accessible by commercial or private services. Enjoy your visit, keeping the following in mind: boat from Halifax, Dartmouth, Eastern Passage and Purcells Cove. The trip takes about 25 minutes from McNabs and As at many exposed coastal sites, the weather tends to be downtown Halifax, or 10 minutes from Eastern Passage. variable and cooler than on the nearby mainland. Several ferry and charter boat companies offer drop-off and pick-up service, as well as group charters to McNabs Drinking water is not available on the island. Island. Rates and times vary. Lawlor Islands Composting toilets are situated at several locations on Lawlor and Devils Islands Provincial Park the islands. Lawlor Island is 55 ha in size and located opposite Keep the island clean by following the “pack-in” and MacCormicks Beach in Eastern Passage. The island is “pack-out” motto. Please take your garbage off the island mainly forested and supports a colony of great blue heron when you leave. and many osprey. Deer are often seen grazing in the fields on the Beaches are NOT supervised. island. Bicycles, including mountain Lawlor Island was farmed for nearly bikes, are restricted to the main 100 years until 1870 when it was roads, Garrison and Old Military acquired for use as a quarantine Roads; motorized vehicles are station and hospital. Lawlor Island is prohibited. not open to visitors. There is one camp site on the island. Devils Island is a small island at the NS Department of Natural mouth of Halifax Harbour. Once Resources in Waverley must be home to 19 families, the island is now contacted (902-861-2560) for uninhabited. Devils Island is privately permission to camp on the island. Please use “no-trace” owned and not part of the park. camping practices. Credits: Campfires and alcohol consumption are prohibited. Photos: Friends of McNabs Island Society Text and layout: C. Stewart & C. McCarthy Review: M. Tilley, B. Kinsman, R. McDonald, C. Mont, Help protect the island’s natural and cultural heritage. J. Campbell, C. Gallagher & J. Bradley Please do not damage or remove trees, shrubs or plants, Printing: Cansel Wade Map Credits: see map or disturb any buildings or ruins on the island. Removal of any artifacts from the island is strictly prohibited. © 1995, 1997, 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017 Friends of McNabs Island Society Maugers Beach Lighthouse, Hunting is prohibited on McNabs and Lawlor Islands. PO Box 31240 McNabs Island Gladstone RPO, Halifax, NS. B3K 5Y1 Visit the island at your own risk. There are NO emergency facilities or telephones. Remember that the www.mcnabsisland.ca old forts, wharves and other ruins may contain hazards. Distributed by: McNabs Island Produced by the Friends of McNabs Island Society mcnabsisland.ca Welcome to McNabs and Lawlor Islands was cleared and tenant farms were established. The McNabs Natural History Provincial Park McNabs remained a presence on the island for over 150 years. McNabs comprises nine large drumlins overlaid on McNabs and Lawlor Islands Provincial Park, located at slate and granite bedrock. Drumlins are glacially- Beginning in the 1860s, the British Admiralty bought the mouth of Halifax Harbour, comprises all of Lawlor formed deposits of rocks and earth, and are often well large parcels of land from the McNab family and Island and most of McNabs Island. Fort McNab drained and suited to farming. established Ives Point Battery, Fort McNab and National Historic Site of Canada is operated by Parks Hugonin Battery to better defend Halifax. Most of the Canada and is situated on McNabs Island. The island was originally covered in forest, which the northern end of the island remained in private hands. founders of Halifax were quick to exploit. Over the Since the early days of Halifax, McNabs Island has McNabs Island is the larger and more diverse of the years, most of the island was cultivated and the wood been a popular recreational destination. During the two islands. McNabs is about 5 km long and up to 1.5 lots harvested. 19th century, thousands would leave the city to attend km wide. Its 400 ha (1000 acres) present a picnics and socials at the island’s picnic grounds. This combination of historical and natural features, and Today, the island’s forests are of various ages. Older trend continued until the 1920s when Bill Lynch, who recreational and educational opportunities. forests date to the 1800s and comprise red maple, had bought one of the island’s fair grounds, took the The second island, Lawlor, is not open to the public. beech and red spruce with an understory of fair off the island and created the Bill Lynch Shows. hay-scented fern. Old abandoned fields have become colonized by white spruce. McNabs Historical Perspective During WWI and WWII, the island was largely under military control. The island played a key role in In the 1880s, Frederick Perrin, who was a keen A 5000 year-old shell midden (refuse heap) is evidence controlling access to Halifax Harbour. Searchlights on gardener, introduced several hundred plant species to of pre-European contact Mi’kmaq use of McNabs McNabs Island patrolled the Harbour and submarine his Victorian estate on the island (near the site of the Island. nets were laid between the island and mainland. former teahouse). Many of the original trees and shrubs are still standing. In the 1690s, the French used the island as a fishing centre and planned to build a fortress similar to The island’s shoreline varies from cobbled stone to “Louisbourg” on McNabs. In 1713, mainland Nova fine sand, with salt marshes in a few sheltered coves. Scotia was ceded to the British, and the French built McNabs Cove became McNabs Pond with the Fortress Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island. construction of the causeway to the Maugers Beach Lighthouse. When Hurricane Juan struck on When Edward Cornwallis established a British September 29, 2003 the road to the Lighthouse was settlement in Halifax in 1749, he granted most of breached making the pond tidal again. McNabs Island to his nephews. Then in 1782, Peter McNab purchased the island for £1000 from the Cornwallis family. Under the McNab family, the island Fort McNab National Historic Site of Canada In the 1960s, the military transferred most of their holdings on McNabs to Parks Canada for use as parkland. Then in 1983, the Province assumed responsibility for assembling a park on the Halifax Harbour islands. In 2000, Parks Canada transferred all but Fort McNab National Historic Site of Canada to the province for park purposes. Today, less than 1% of McNabs Island is privately owned. McNabs Pond For a more detailed history on the island see Discover Deer, rabbits, coyotes and other animals inhabit the McNabs Island by the Friends of McNabs Island island. The island is known to birders, who have Society. documented 206 species of birds on McNabs Island. Conrad House on McNabs Island McNabs and Lawlor Islands Provincial Park Features of Interest (north to south) McNabs Island The Friends of McNabs Island Society Ives Point was once the gateway to McNabs Island P.O. Box 31240, Gladstone RPO Indian Point Halifax, NS B3K 5Y1 and served as an anchor point for a WWI submarine Trail Phone:(902)434-2254 Indian Point net. It offers panoramic views of Halifax Harbour. Trainer mcnabsisland.ca Farm 20 20 Metres 250 0 250 500 Metres Ives 40 Construction at Fort Ives began in 1864. The Point Fraser Ives Cove Farm fortification was updated in the 1890s and again Yards 500 0 500 1000 1500 Yards Fr a Searchlight 20Ives Point Rd. s e during WW I. The fort features two rifled 40 Wharf & r Emplacement Floating Dock F a 60 (DNR Wharf) r 20 muzzle-loading guns in their original casements. m Road T 40 Fort P Woolnough's r Pleasure ai Ives l 60 Track T Grounds Indian Point, near Ives Cove, takes its name from the Davis- 80 Timmins Conrad Cove Trail House 20 Mi’kmaq people, who were forced to relocate to Jack Lynch we St. rail House Ho T McNabs Island in 1760 by British settlers. P F Matthew Lynch House Hermits o Contour Interval 20 feet rsy 60 40 Fraser O t l 60 20 h Former d e M Lighthouse F 40 S 40 i Woolnough's Pleasure Grounds opened in 1873 l 80 armT t Site i r 100 ta 60 ee r Point Of Interest y Timmins 80 with two large pavilions for dancing and dining. t R rail o ve Trail a Co 100 Navigation Aid Thousands were entertained on these grounds, d Findlay's 120 20 L Anchorage Hugonin Picnic ynch Road including the Governor-General of Canada. Today Garrison RoadGrounds Battery T Findlay ve Toilet nothing remains of this once popular site. Farm & Pop Timmins Hill immins Co Bottle Site T 140 Private Property Trail McLean's P Farrant Farm Site The Conrad House was built as a summer home by Road Site of Hugonin-Perrin C Temporary Camp Site House and140 Gardens Bog Carriage Information Kiosk Jenkins I A.J. Davis, who operated a soda pop factory on the Findlays Lane T Jenkins Cove Teahouse rail Hill Hill 120 island. The home was the residence of Gladys Conrad, (closed) Maps Produced By: Judith Chinn and Francis Kelly Cholera Victims C sister to Bill Lynch, and the last full-time resident on Hugonin Gravesite - 1866 eahouseT Lane Detention the island. Point T Barracks Site I Garrison Pier The Matthew Lynch house was the childhood home D e t e n Garrison Road t of Bill Lynch, the midway king, who got his start in i o n B a the fair ground business on the island.