Description of Historic Place

The Mont Blanc Anchor Site is located in a quiet residential area, formerly the Edmonds Grounds Estate, near the head of the Northwest Arm in Halifax, NS. The monument consists of the anchor shaft from the "Mont Blanc" munitions ship which exploded during the 1917 Halifax Explosion. The designation applies to the monument and the land it presently occupies. The Edmonds Grounds Estate was re-developed in the late 1980s, and subdivision of this Estate created the present parcel on which the monument stands. Designation includes the monument and surrounding property.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Mont Blanc Anchor Site lies in its commemoration of the Halifax Explosion of 1917 when the “Mont-Blanc,” an ammunitions vessel, collided with the Norwegian relief ship “Imo.” Over 2,000 people died, and an additional 5,000 were injured as a direct result of the explosion classifying the event as the largest manmade explosion prior to Hiroshima. The explosion projected the 1140 pound anchor shaft of the “Mont Blanc” approximately two and one half miles from the point of the explosion, a fact which attests to the power of the explosion. It should be noted that the shaft has been relocated several times on the Edmonds Ground Estate for various reasons. The site of the monument is not the original location where the shaft landed.

Other heritage value is derived from the fact that the anchor landed on the Edmonds Grounds Estate which was commandeered by the authorities after the explosion, as a sheltering area for many of the people of lost their homes and belongings to the disaster. Many of these people wintered on this site in the Edmonds family summer cottages and in tents on the grounds.

Source: "An Evaluation and Protection System for Heritage Resources in Halifax." Municipal Development Plan. City of Halifax, October 1978. III-233.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Mont Blanc Anchor Site include:

- the shaft of the Mont Blanc anchor incorporated into a monument;
- the location of the monument within the bounds of the former Edmonds Grounds Estate;
- the location in proximity to the North West Arm approxmiately two and one half miles from the location of the explosion.