Our Favourite Nova Scotia Beach: Cleveland Beach
Cleveland Beach, on Nova Scotia’s Highway 3, is our favourite summer family beach.
If you go there at 4pm on any day of the week- even the hottest and busiest of summer Sundays- you’ll always find a parking space and a spot to lay your blanket. Even during a busy summer heatwave, the daytime sunbathers start heading home at about 3:30. They are considerate. I have rarely found litter on Cleveland Beach.
In the past, our family has brought a small Hibachi, and barbecued, but now we bring a cooler of sandwiches, fruit, water and a bay of salty chips. When the kids are older, we will start barbecuing again.
Ten years ago, my sister got married at the lovely, yellow St. James’ Church in nearby Boutlier’s Point. After the wedding, we stopped at Cleveland Beach to take some photos. My sister held on to a family heirloom: a horseshoe that my mother had carried in her own wedding bouquet. We lost the horseshoe at the beach that day. I am sure of this, because after the beach, it didn’t appear in any of the wedding photos.
Years later, I imagine it buried beneath the sand, as I float and turn in the waves.
