Fort Anne National Historic Site is a four-bastion fort built to protect the harbour of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia/Parks Canada, Chris Reardon

Four Parks Canada sites in mainland Nova Scotia have opened for the season and two more are poised to open this month.

We’ve rounded up details of what to expect.

Halifax Citadel National Historic Site:

• The new signature exhibit, Fortress Halifax: A City Shaped by Conflict, chronicles the history of Kjipuktuk, through its establishment as Halifax in 1749 to today. The exhibit recounts stories of the people here — the Mi’kmaq and settlers of British, French, Acadian, Black Loyalist, and other immigrant cultures — told through the lens of the four forts that stood atop Citadel Hill. It’s the most comprehensive history of Halifax’s social and military past in one location.

• Entry includes guided tours, noon gun, pipes and drum performances, period rooms, exhibits, family programs and the Army Museum that preserve Atlantic Canada’s military history.

• Additional programs this season with the Halifax Citadel Society include ghost tours, experiential military programs and spirit tasting programs with Compass Distillers.

Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site:

• Visitors will enjoy 6.3 kilometres (3.9 miles) of twists and turns with optional mountain bike features on the new multi-use Ukme’k Trail, crossing the new Mill Falls bridge and the inclusive rainbow crosswalk.

• Whynot Adventure – the Keji Outfitters offers equipment rentals and guiding services.

• Todd Labrador returns to the canoe-building shop at Merrymakedge to offer public birchbark canoe-building experiences. Mi’kmaw cultural programs include daily petroglyph tours, evening petroglyph paddles in the Big Canoe, and Mi’kmaw encampments.

• Other interpretation activities include guided hikes, guided paddles, dark sky programs, family campfires, puppet theatre, dark-sky kit rentals and geocaching.

• Keji is investing in a climate-resilient, four-season, permanent pedestrian bridge at Jake’s Landing. There will be no bridge at Jake’s Landing this season.

• Enjoy two separate biking/hiking areas — the visitor center to Jeremy’s Bay Campground, and Jake’s Landing to Merrymakedge and beyond.

• Kejimkujik Seaside National Park, on the Atlantic coast, offers a wild and isolated stretch of coastline with white sand and turquoise water. The newly revitalized Port Joli Head Trail is now open following extensive trail work.

There's a new tapestry by Mi'kmaw artist Loretta Gould at Fort Anne National Historic Site/Parks Canada

Fort Anne National Historic Site:

• In the Tapestry Room, a new mural by Mi’kmaw artist Loretta Gould presents Mi’kmaw presence since time immemorial, and connections between Mi’kmaq and the land. Together with the existing tapestry that depicted the arrival of Europeans, the room holds 3,000 years of rich stories.

• Site tours help visitors learn about what has happened over the years at this hotly contested territory. Vauban Fortification and Cradle of Acadia tours are offered daily on-demand, while White Glove tours of the extensive collection of artifacts can be pre-booked.

Port-Royal National Historic Site:

• Guides are the key so first-person interpretation connects visitors with characters of the Habitation. Visitors can talk to artisans and laborers inside the fort or in the “potager” vegetable garden, and perhaps use the “new” reproduction 17th century garden tools from Ross Farm Museum, or the “new” reproduction 17th century astrolabe, used by explorers to navigate based on star positioning. 

• The immersive “A Meeting with the Governor” program brings visitors into the colony to receive their orders for work and provides a unique glimpse of what life was like in the Habitation in 1605.

Georges Island National Historic Site opens June 10/Parks Canada

While those four sites are already open, two others don't open until later in June.

Georges Island National Historic Site:

• The season starts June 10 and the site will be open weekends from June 10 to Oct. 8, as well as five days a week (Thursday to Monday) in July and August.

• New panels share more of the island’s past and let people see and hear stories of Acadians, Mi’kmaq and lighthouse keeper families.

• Along with touring the underground tunnels, visitors can now also see inside the Married Officers’ Quarters.

• The ferry to Georges Island can be booked with Ambassatours, or plan to arrive as part of a guided kayak tour with Harbour Watercraft Tours & Adventures.

Fort Edward National Historic Site:

• The season at this Acadian Deportation site starts June 30 and there is free entry.

• The West Hants Historical Society offers on-site interpretation. Visitors can check out Canada’s oldest surviving Blockhouse and enjoy a walking trail, picnic area and geocaching.

• New special events this year will highlight British as well as Acadian histories.