Welcome to part two of the Prince County Tour. We'll start
at North Cape. Follow along on your map. Remember, if you
don't have a map, you can
order
visitor information online or send us an
e-mail
and we’ll have them mailed to you.
North Cape is home to the wind
energy test site. If you walk out to the very tip of
the Island, you can see the lobster
boats just offshore. After you've had a chance to look
around, head south on Route 12, past Seacow Pond toward
Anglo Tignish.
The area around Anglo Tignish is very exposed and is not great
farmland. A few
cottages
hug the shorelines. A nearby fish plant provides work for local
residents.
The Tignish area is home to the largest number of fishing
boats on the Island. The neighbouring ports of Tignish and
Jude's Point house 130 boats during the fishing season. From
a distance,
Tignish
Run is a colourful collection of boat houses.
If you drive just up the road to Fisherman's Haven Provincial
Park, you can walk
the sandy beach and perhaps watch the boats returning
with the day's catch. Or you can relax and bird watch on
the shore of a nearby
pond.
Follow Route 12 through Kildare Capes and Cape Kildare.
The area was named in 1765 by Samuel Holland for James, 20th
Earl of Kildare. Here too, you'll find
Jacques
Cartier Provincial Park. A nice place to walk the sandy
beaches that cover most of the north shore of the Island.
Jacques Cartier called this area Cap d'Orleans when he visited
in 1534.
Just down the road is the Kildare River where a few local
boats tie up during the fishing season.
Alberton, along with O'Leary are the two major towns in West
Prince. The north shore between Cascumpec Bay and Malpeque Bay
offers terrific boating and beachcombing opportunities yet is
still quiet and "undiscovered". Cascumpec is derived from the
MicMac work "Kaskamkek" which means bold sandy shore.
Past Alberton stay on Route 12. Just before Cascumpec, you
will cross the Mill
River. If you turn right on Route 136 it is only a short
distance to Mill
River Resort and MacAusland's
Woolen Mill. MacAusland's is a family-owned mill which makes
pure virgin wool blankets and yarn. Stop in and visit...you'll
want one of their beautiful blankets! Mill River Resort is one
of the Island's premiere resorts. Featuring golf, indoor pool,
squash, racquetball, tennis, boating, fine dining and more,
the resort is open year-round.
If you stay on Route 12 through Cascumpec you will see fields
of corn, well kept farmhouses
and absolutely
huge flower gardens.
Where route 12 meets Route 2, turn left, drive
about 3 kms. and turn left onto Route 12 again. After a few minutes
you'll pass through "Lot 11", a place name which refers to the
division of the Island into lots. In 1867 the British Government
divided the island into 67 lots and three "royalties" and raffled
them off to men of means and senior military officers. The owners
were supposed to encourage settlement on the lots in return for
the land grant. The three "royalties" were reserved for the government.
Centred around Charlottetown, parts of the city are still called
East Royalty and West Royalty.
A left turn on Route 163 will take you to Lennox Island, home
to a MicMac village. The
church
dominates the village and from behind the craft shop you can see
Bird and Hog islands.
Nearby at Ellerslie, is the Fisheries Museum and
along
the rivers you will see mussel farms in the water.
