Shubie Park

Shubie Park is a 40 acre urban park in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia maintained by the Halifax Regional Municipality.

Heavily forested, Shubie Park is roughly linear in shape as it is bounded on the north and west by Highway 118 expressway and on the south and east by Lake Micmac and the southern edge of Lake Charles. A portion of the abandoned Shubenacadie Canal passes through the park, from which the park takes its name.

The land comprising Shubie Park was part of a larger estate called "Countryview" that had been established in 1722 as the King's wood lot, providing masts for the Royal Navy. In 1783, the Countryview estate became the first Royal land grant in Dartmouth, issued by King George III to naval mast maker Samuel Greenwood.

Since then, the land exchanged hands several times, and in recent decades became home to industry including a rock quarry, asphalt plant and construction and demolition dump. At the time that Highway 118 was extended through the area on the northwest side of Lake Micmac during the 1960s-1970s, the remaining undeveloped land of the Countryview Estate bordering the greenbelt between the highway and lake was set aside as a municipal park for the City of Dartmouth.

That municipality developed the park primarily as a green space, although an area bordering Lake Charles has been established with a beach, day use picnic area and campground - all operated since a 1996 municipal amalgamation by the Halifax Regional Municipality.

Shubie Park contains trails and an interpretive area called the Fairbanks Center next to the abandoned canal at the location of a series of locks between Lake Micmac and Lake Charles. The Fairbanks Centre features a scale model of canal lock mechanisms and various displays. The wooded trails of the Shubie Canal Park follow a remaining section of the canal and are envisioned to include part of the Trans-Canada Trail, which has yet to be developed in this area.

Camping Services

Shubie also offers locals and tourists a peaceful home Campground, which has gained local & international fame amongst travelers as an ideal resting place for those who are either starting, or ending, a round trip of any of the surrounding areas or provinces. This is primarily due to the proximity to local Motorhome rental businesses, as well as to the Halifax International Airport and Greater Halifax/Dartmouth area. In 2003, according to their [http://shubiecampground.com/news.php website] , Shubie Campground started a multi-tiered, multi-year upgrade of its electrical and hydro services. In 2004, the first phase was complete. It currently has 101 sites, consisting of 29 Unserviced, or tenting, sites; 19 15Amp Electric+Water sites; 40 30Amp+Water sites; 16 50Amp+Water sites; and five 15/30Amp Electric+Water+Sewer. *1Rates for these lots range from $25 to $37.50/night *2

# (While this does not add up to 101, some sites are split to offer 15Amp or 30Amp)
# (2006 rates)

External links

* [http://www.shubiecampground.com. Shubie Campground]
* [http://www.halifax.ca/recreation/parks.html HRM Parks / Picnics]
* [http://www.trails.gov.ns.ca/shareduse/hx010.html Trail Map of Shubie Park (Gov. of N.S.)]