Approached from the mouth of Halifax Harbour, the Northwest Arm is a narrow channel, enclosed on either side by tree-covered hills. Halifax residents have enjoyed its tranquil beauty for more than two hundred years and have used the area for industry and pleasure. Streams that course down to the shore have provided power for mills, while fishermen filled their boats with seafood. Quarries on the western side have supplied stone for roads and fortifications around the harbour. Today, the shores of the Arm are lined with houses and private wharfs where once were rambling country estates.

This lavishly illustrated book rediscovers the history of the Arm, including the prison at Melville Island, now the Armdale Yacht Club, the park and Memorial Tower given to Halifax by Sir Sandford Fleming and villages that grew up on this picturesque corner of Nova Scotia.

MICHELE RAYMOND and HEATHER WATTS have researched the history of both sides of the Northwest Arm. They have been involved in the Mainland South Heritage Society. Raymond started the Urban Farm Museum and helped organize the restoration of the Northwest Arm ferry.

Heather Watts' profile page

MICHELE RAYMOND and HEATHER WATTS have researched the history of both sides of the Northwest Arm. They have been involved in the Mainland South Heritage Society. Raymond started the Urban Farm Museum and helped organize the restoration of the Northwest Arm ferry.

Michele Raymond's profile page

Janet Kitz is the author of Shattered City, Survivors: Children of the Halifax Explosion, Point Pleasant Park: An Illustrated History, and December 1917: Revisiting the Halifax Explosion. In 2004 she received an honorary doctorate of letters from St. Mary’s University. Originally from Carnwath, Scotland, she moved to Nova Scotia in 1971 and currently resides in Halifax..

Janet Kitz's profile page