Cow Bay is an unincorporated rural community within Halifax Regional Municipality Nova Scotia on the Eastern Shore on Route 322 along the Marine Drive scenic route.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Cow Bay had a population of 1,224 living in 455 of its 474 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 1,257. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Geography and attractions
Besides being an ocean community, Cow Bay also has 3 lakes, Bissett Lake, Cow Bay Lake, and Car Wash Lake. The Cow Bay River cuts through the centre of the community which consists of a number of small waterfalls before it enters Cow Bay Lake. Cow Bay is also famous for its jogging/walking/bicycle trails, the Salt Marsh Trail and Shearwater Flyer trail which follow an abandoned rail line known as the Dartmouth Eastern Railway. It is also unique in the Halifax region because horses are a common sight in the community because of the significant number of farms. Daily wildlife sightings in the community are pheasants, deer, bobcats, rabbits, bear, plus wide and varied species of birds. Cow Bay's motto is "Cow Bay Attracting Visitors Since 1773". In 1959 a large concrete moose statue by Winston Bronnum was constructed and still remains a landmark. Cow Bay is also famous for the annual 25 km "Moose Run", part of a running series in Nova Scotia which has had a growing number of participants because of the scenic views the run offers.
According to Magen Hudak, of Cow Bay, in "Cow Bay's Ocean Playground: The Shifting Landscape of Silver Sands Beach, 1860s - Present" (MA thesis, 2014), "Silver Sands Beach [...] has been an integral landmark, for many generations, for locals and non-locals, alike. Known as Cow Bay Beach until the early 1920s when it assumed its present name, Silver Sands was once touted as one of the Halifax area's most popular beaches. A "long stretch of fine white sand," it was flanked by a tree-lined picnic area, situated against a lake. It boasted various sundry amenities - including an open concept pavilion, in the early decades of the twentieth century, and by midcentury, it was equipped with modern style beach canteens and a dancehall. In 1893, local history essayist, Mary Jane Katzmann, praised the small rural community of Cow Bay as "a spot where Nature with her fairest and sweetest attractions [was] always to be found," further illustrating its prestige as a favourite summer resort, "not only for picnic parties, but also for those who [enjoyed] a few days or weeks by the sea." Lying approximately fifteen kilometers east of Dartmouth, many would make the journey there via horse and wagon – or even via steamboat in the late nineteenth century- before the days of the automobile, in order to escape the "dinginess of a garrisoned city" [Halifax]. The beach was then known far and wide for its unparalleled beauty, figuring not only in local materials, but within publications in New England, as well. Silver Sands sustained this resort fame for nearly one hundred years - from about 1866 until the mid 1960s."