The Story Behind Carters Beach Provincial Park

Carters Beach could rival any beach in the Caribbean. In fact, when you go, you’ll ask yourself, “is this really Nova Scotia?” The 93-hectare property includes three interconnected beaches with soft white sand, delicate sand dunes, a wooded area, a rocky outcrop, and islands. If the beauty doesn’t take your breath away, the water will. It’s ice cold.  

Despite the numbingly cool water, locals flock to Carters Beach year after year, and more so than ever in the summer of 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, when families began to crave the outdoors, and explore the beauty of their own backyard. 

Problems at Carters Beach

Carters Beach had three main problems, which were highlighted during the Covid-19 beach rush. Firstly, the parking lot was extremely congested, with cars spilling out to line Carters Beach Road, where “No Parking” signs were placed. At times, parking was so dense that it would prevent emergency vehicles from getting to the area.

The Call of Nature

The second problem was human nature, more specifically the “call of nature.” During peak season, the Department of Lands and Forestry places two portable toilets at the entrance to the beach, but these were not enough. In reality, what happened is that visiting families – who in their defence, might be first-time visitors and expected better facilities – would arrive at the beach and trek out to a remote spot to lay their towels.

When nature called, rather than walk back to the overflowing porta-potties in the parking lot, beach-goers trampled over the delicate sand dunes to pee – or worse, poop – in the forest. According to locals, visitors occasionally relieved themselves on the front lawns of residents who live along Carters Beach Road.

“Pack in, Pack out” Wasn’t Working

The third problem was garbage. The government’s gentle “pack-in, pack-out” policy, which maintained that “removing trash bins can reduce litter in public places by encouraging people to be responsible for any waste materials that they bring,” was first discussed during public consultation in 2013. Although well-meaning, the approach was a failure, because in the absence of garbage receptacles, families would leave their garbage at the entrance to the beach. In 2020, this resulted in a disgusting pile of garbage at the entrance to the beach.

More than a Beach: A Beach-Dune- Salt Marsh-Stream-Forest System

From an ecological point of view, Carters Beach is more than just a beach: It’s a beach- dune-salt marsh-stream-forest system, which merits protection. Carters Beach is a habitat for several at-risk species in Atlantic Canada, including the endangered piping plover; scaly jellyskin (a lichen), a rare species of orchid, as well as two rare mosses, one of which may be the only known location in Nova Scotia. The area may also hold valuable Mi’kmaq archeology.

In 2013 as part of the Province’s Parks and Protected Areas Plan, Carter’s beach was slated to become a nature reserve. Public consultation revealed that the main problems for the beach were adequate parking and “garbage disposal and human waste,” and reported that piping plovers that once nested on the beach had not been observed for a number of years.

Carters Beach was Literally Taken off the Map

Thus it was decided that Carters Beach would not be a commercially developed tourist destination. Its name was literally taken off Queens County tourism maps, and removed from tourist brochures in the hopes that it would not be “discovered.” 

But despite the lack of promotion, people came in greater numbers each year. Soon, Carters became the worst-kept secret on the South Shore.

By 2020, measures to protect the beach (gently encouraging people to “pack out” their garbage, putting up a few signs describing the ecology of the area, and placing two temporary portable toilets at the site) became grossly inadequate. 

In July 2020, a press release described the frustration of Queens-Shelburne MLA Kim Masland who repeatedly requested that the government address proper parking, washrooms and refuse facilities. Masland said: “Carters Beach is listed as one of the top ten beaches in Nova Scotia, but it is not being treated with the care it deserves.”

“No plans to make Carters Beach a park”

While I was writining my travel guide, 25 Family Adventures in Nova Scotia (Formac 2021), I visited the beach three times, and saw the beauty – and destruction – first-hand. In the interest of research for the book, I wrote to the Department of Lands and Forests to ask whether there were plans to install permanent toilets and better parking, and also whether the beach might become a provincial park.

The Deputy Minister of Lands and Forestry, Julie Towers replied by email, first asking me to deter my readers from visiting the site, saying: “individuals or families looking to visit a beach for an extended period of time or requiring more facilities are invited to visit nearby Provincial Parks such as Summerville or Thomas Raddall.” She also said that “…it would be premature to describe plans on the items you raised (i.e. access, parking and infrastructure). There are no plans to make Carters Beach a park in the immediate future.”

The province had been aware of the Carters Beach problem since at least 2013, with nothing in place except a few signs and a couple of portable toilets – all in the name of deterrence, which was no longer a successful approach. It broke my heart to realise that Carters was one of the most beautiful, and yet one of the most vulnerable beaches in Nova Scotia.

The Department of Lands and Forestry needed to step up its game, either by installing the appropriate infrastructure (better toilets, better garbage receptacles and better parking) or by rubber-stamping the beach’s pending designation as a nature reserve — or better yet, a provincial park.

A Happy Ending: Carters Beach Provincial Park

This story has a happy ending.

In November 2023, 10 years after the first official public consultation, Tony Rushton, minister of Natural Resources and Renewables announced that Carter’s Beach would become a provincial park. “We’re pleased to add Carters Beach to our system of provincial parks that offer opportunities for recreation, education, research, tourism and enjoying nature, ” he said.

The image below, from a video by a member of Nova Scotia Staycation (a popular Nova Scotia travel Facebook group) shows the new parking facilities, which finally provide adequate parking for the influx of visitors.

As a travel writer, I now have the freedom to recommend that you go to Carter’s Beach. But I also advise caution. Please continue to be careful and respectful of the environment, as well as the residents of Carters Beach Road. If the beach and parking lot are full, you can go elsewhere. It’s true that Thomas Raddall, Summerville and the gorgeous Beach Meadows are just down the road.

Finally, once you do get to Carters Beach, don’t say I didn’t warn you about the temperature of the water!