Peggys Cove is a small rural community located on the eastern shore of St. Margarets Bay, 43 kilometres southwest of downtown Halifax and comprises one of the numerous small fishing communities. The community is named after the cove of the same name, a name also shared with Peggys Point, immediately to the east of the cove.

The first recorded name of the cove was Eastern Point Harbour or Peggs Harbour in 1766. The village may have been named after the wife of an early settler or taken its name from St. Margaret's Bay as it marks the eastern beginning of the Bay and Peggy is a nickname for Margaret. Two versions of the popular legend claim that the name came from the sole survivor of a shipwreck at Halibut Rock near the cove. Artist and resident William deGarthe said she was a young woman while others claim she was a little girl too young to remember her name and the family who adopted her called her Peggy. In both versions, she supposedly married a resident of the cove and became known as "Peggy of the Cove" attracting visitors from around the bay who eventually named the village, Peggy's Cove, after her nickname.

The village was formally founded in 1811 when the province of Nova Scotia issued a land grant of more than 800 acres to six families of German descent. The settlers relied on fishing as the mainstay of their economy but also farmed where the soil was fertile, they used surrounding lands to pasture cattle. In the early 1900s the population peaked at about 300 and supported a schoolhouse, church, general store, lobster cannery and boats of all sizes that were nestled in the Cove. Many artists and photographers flocked to Peggys Cove, as roads improved, the number of tourists increased. Today the population is smaller but Peggys Cove remains an active fishing village and a favourite tourist destination.

Peggys Cove is one of the busiest tourist attractions in Nova Scotia and is a prime attraction on the Lighthouse Trail scenic drive. The community's famous lighthouse marks the eastern entrance of St. Margarets Bay and is officially known as the Peggys Point Lighthouse, a classic red-and-white lighthouse still operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The light station is situated on an extensive granite outcrop at Peggys Point, immediately south of the village and its cove. This lighthouse is one of the most-photographed structures in Atlantic Canada and one of the most recognizable lighthouses in the world. Visitors may explore the granite outcrop on Peggys Point around the lighthouse, despite numerous signs warning of unpredictable surf, including one on a bronze plaque on the lighthouse itself, several incautious visitors each year are swept off the rocks by waves, sometimes drowning.

The first lighthouse at Peggys Cove was built in 1868 and was a wooden house with a beacon on the roof. Every evening the keeper lit a kerosene oil lamp magnified by a catoptric reflector, a silver-plated mirror, creating the red beacon light marking the eastern entrance to St. Margarets Bay. It was replaced by the current structure, an octagonal lighthouse was built in 1914, made of concrete and reinforced steel but retains the eight side shape of earlier generations of wooden light towers, it stands almost 15 metres (50 ft) high. The old wooden lighthouse became the keeper’s dwelling and remained near to the current lighthouse until it was damaged by Hurricane Edna in 1954 and removed. The lighthouse was automated in 1958, since then, the red light was changed to white light, then to a green light in the late 1970s. Finally to conform to world standards the light was changed to red in 2007.

The lighthouse used to contain a small Canada Post office in the lower level during the summer months serving as the village post office where visitors can sent postcards and letters. Each piece of mail received a special cancellation mark in the shape of the lighthouse. The historic Carpenter Gothic style St. John's Anglican Church, the only church in Peggys Cove, is a municipally designated heritage site.

From its inception, the community's economy revolved around the fishery, however, tourism began to overtake fishing in economic importance following the 2nd World War. Today, Peggys Cove is primarily a tourist attraction, although its inhabitants still fish for lobster, and the community maintains a rustic undeveloped appearance. The regional municipality and the provincial government have very strict land-use regulations in the vicinity of Peggys Cove, with most property development being prohibited. Peggys Cove has been declared a preservation area to preserve its rugged beauty, it prohibits development in and around the surrounding village and restricts development within Peggys Cove, stretching from Indian Harbour to West Dover and includes barrens, bogs, inland ponds, and rocky coastline.

The Swissair Flight 111 Memorial is located at The Whalesback, a point approximately 1 km northwest of Peggys Cove, one of two memorials built to commemorate the victims of the Swissair Flight 111 disaster, which saw the aircraft crash into St. Margarets Bay on September 2, 1998. The crash site is roughly between the Whalesback Memorial and another memorial at Bayswater, opposite Peggys Cove.

The monument reads in English and French: "In memory of the 229 men, women and children aboard Swissair Flight 111 who perished off these shores September 2nd, 1998, They have been joined to the sea, and the sky. May they rest in peace." The site of the crash and the two monuments form a triangle, the three notches on the monument at Whalesback represent the numerals 111, the sight line from the three grooves in the stone points to the crash site, while the markings on the facing stone point to the memorial at Bayswater. The memorial wall at Bayswater contains the names of the 229 passengers and crew of flight 111, the facing stone points to the crash site.

I visited Peggys Point in 1997, after seeing pictures I wanted to see the Atlantic coast, I had been exploring much of western Canada already. Getting there was not the easiest of methods, unless of course you rent a car. On this occasion I found myself using my thumb to get me there, the first time (and only) I ever hitched a ride.

On the outskirts of Halifax I raised my hand with my thumb upwards looking in the direction of the the on-coming traffic. At least the weather was fine, no rain, and I waited all but fifteen minutes before I got a ride in a pick-up which took me further along my route, but not to my final destination Peggys Cove. I was dropped off at a fork in the road with only a small shop shop and woodland around, there was even less traffic going in my direction than I had hoped. I waited about half an hour with only about a dozen cars pass me.

Across the road someone was watching from the steps of the shop, I saw them approach and asked where I was going with my backpack at my side. A local teenager skipping the day from school wondered why I had ventured so far just to see Peggys Cove, he wasn't convinced I would get there on my own, and disappeared.

Within ten minutes a car pulled up in front of me, it was this teenager who had questioned me earlier and said it was the only way I was going to make it to Peggys Cove. I got in and we went on our way, he was more curious about why I wanted to see this place as he consistently said there was nothing there to see. Roughly forty minutes later we had reached the the bay and the town, it was misty and slightly grey and foggy. He was right, there was nothing there but a few shacks and boats, and on the edge sitting on the rocks was the well photographed lighthouse with the sea beyond. My intent was to stay the night but soon discovered there was no-where to stay except for the one and only B&B, also realising that getting out would be difficult, since it was not serviced by public transport.

We stayed for about half an hour as I wandered the area, it was tranquil and quiet, and colourful with painted boats and buildings. The ocean waves and a horizon made a spectacular site, it was like having just discovered land after a long voyage.

I was driven around by my sudden roadside and local companion who drove to see other sites along the coast, dirt roads and all. It was mostly baron, rugged and rocky. For a teenager, life here was 'just boring' and 'un-stimulating'. I was treated to tea at his home before I was driven back to a local bus stop that would get me back to Halifax late that afternoon, but I was impressed by the hospitality and friendliness, and the effort made to get me where I wanted.

Overall, Peggys Cove can be seen and done in a day and requires no overnight stay, unless you really want to live by sea in such an islolated place like this.