Cape d’Or

Towering cliffs of basalt extend out into the Bay of Fundy where a scenic lighthouse overlooks powerful tidal currents known as the Dory Rips. It is said that explorer Samuel de Champlain named this point Cap d’Or (Cape of Gold) in the 1600s because of the golden colour of the copper shining in the cliffs. For the Mi’kmaq, it was the veins of hard and dense agate found in these basalt cliffs, as well as the copper, that had great value for making sharp-edged tools like scrapers, projectile points and knives. They traded copper as far west as the Great Lakes.