Halifax - Province House

This Georgian sandstone building known as Province House (main entrance on Hollis Street), completed in 1819, is the seat of Nova Scotia's Parliament, in existence since 1758. The guided tour includes the "Red Chamber" where the Council used to meet. The two portraits are of Caroline von Anspach, wife of King George II, and of her father-in-law, King George I, whose portrait was sent over from England in 1820 in mistake for that of his son. The tour also takes in the parliament chamber and the library which, with its two grand staircases, was once the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. This is where, in 1835, Joseph Howe defended himself against the charge of defamation. His acquittal is regarded as the beginning of a free press in Nova Scotia. He later went into politics and led the campaign against confederation, but ultimately joined the dominion government in Ottawa.

The last room on the tour has two sculptures of headless hawks. They were beheaded at the height of anti-American feeling in the 1840s because they looked too much like the American eagle!