Port Hastings, Nova Scotia

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Port Hastings is a Canadian rural community in Inverness County, Nova Scotia.

The community is located at the eastern end of the Canso Causeway on Cape Breton Island.

[edit] History

The community was previously known as Plaster Cove.

The Inverness and Richmond Railway was built from coal mines in Inverness to a loading dock at Point Tupper in 1901.^[1] The construction of the Canso Causeway which opened in 1955 saw the community become a railway junction after the Truro-Sydney mainline of Canadian National Railways (CNR) was diverted from the railcar ferry terminal at Point Tupper. The CNR line to Inverness was eventually abandoned in the 1980s, although the Truro-Sydney mainline continues to operate under the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway.

The construction of the Canso Causeway also brought what would become the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 105 through the community. A traffic circle creates an important interchange with Highway 105, Highway 19 and Highway 4 several hundred metres east of the Canso Canal Bridge.

The growth of automobile-focused tourism following World War II saw several motels and gas stations and a tourist information centre located at the traffic circle.

The community is home to the Gut of Canso Museum which documents local history as well as that of the Canso Causeway.