Wise Woman Travel

In the time of Glooscap, so the Mi’kmaq people say, a pod of cruel great whales who lived in the Bay of Fundy, enslaved some of their people, forcing them to do their will.

One day, the people saw the chance to escape. They made it all the way to the beach before the whales noticed and angrily transformed them into statues of their former selves.

Today, we can visit these frozen in time beings, now called the Hopewell Rocks or the flowerpots, on a quick trip from Moncton, NB , or after a drive along the Fundy Trail Parkway.

A park pass is good for two days so that you can see the rocks at low tide and high tide. A low tide ramble means you’re walking right on the ocean floor.

Curiously, it’s not an area to beachcomb for shells. A guide told me this is because bivalves can’t filter the sandy water. But if rocks are your thing, you’ll find lots of those!

Look up and you’ll see why the rocks are called flowerpots. They support all kinds of plant life.

Scientists tell us that the constant motion of the Bay of Fundy tides has carved the rocks into the fantastical shapes we can experience today. But it doesn’t take much imagination to see those ancient Mi’kmaq people, so close to and yet so far from achieving their freedom.