The South Shore is a region of Nova Scotia Canada. It is the Atlantic coast running south from Halifax to the end of the peninsula at Yarmouth.

The South Shore is the centre of Nova Scotia's tourism industry with it being home to many cottages, hotels, and tourist attractions. The tourist trade is centred on the towns of Lunenburg, Chester, Mahone Bay, and Liverpool. (Peggys Cove is located just outside the region.) The largest community in the area is the town of Bridgewater, which is the commercial and industrial heart of the region but does not have a large tourist industry.

Politically the South Shore is part of the South Shore electoral district.

History

The region was one of the first areas of North America to be colonized by Europeans with the French arrival at Port Royal in 1605. The region, without good agricultural land was only sparsely inhabited by the Acadians, however. When the British took control of the region they initiated a program of importing colonists from continental Europe, known as the Foreign Protestants, mostly from Germany and Switzerland. To this day the South Shore retains many German place names and surnames.

The region became the centre of Nova Scotia's fishing industry as fishers in small boats operated from tiny villages dotted along the coast. The larger communities had fish plants. In the 1960s and 1970s the small fishers began to be displaced by the giant trawlers and the way of life on the South Shore began to end. Many communities all but disappeared as the people moved to Halifax, or further west in Canada.

A completely different culture developed as the area became one of Canada's largest tourist areas. Land prices skyrocketed as wealthy Americans and Ontarians sought to buy land for cottages. The towns became infused with trendy restaurants and stores dedicated to the tourist trade.