was further washed away by Hurricane Bill in 2009, allowing waves to seriously damage a home and gift shop, and washed away one of the cove's characteristic wooden fish sheds. In January 2021, the federal and provincial governments announced the construction of a $3.1 million accessible viewing platform at Peggy's Cove, to open in June 2021. The large platform area officially opened in October 2021; while visitors are allowed to walk on the rocks too, the 1,300-square-metre deck area is safer. At that time, other changes were still pending, based on a draft Master Plan for infrastructure improvement. Tourism From its inception, the community's economy revolved around fishery. However, tourism began to overtake fishing in economic importance following the Second World War. Today, Peggy's Cove is a major 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 strict land-use regulations in the vicinity of Peggy's Cove, with most property development being prohibited. Similarly there are restrictions on who can live in the community to prevent inflation of property values for year-round residents. The historic Carpenter Gothic style St. John's Anglican Church, the only church in Peggy's Cove, is a municipally designated heritage site. The first public art gallery, tea-room, and gift shop was opened in a shack in Peggy's Cove in 1937. Geology More than 400 million years ago, in the Devonian Period, the plate tectonics movement of the Earth's crust allowed molten material to bubble up from the Earth's interior. This formed the rocks seen today and are part of the Great Nova Scotia batholith. The landscape of Peggy's Cove and surrounding areas was subsequently carved by the migration of glaciers and the ocean tides. About 20,000 years ago, an ice ridge moved south from Canada's Arctic region covering much of North America. Along with the ebb and flow of the glaciers, the ice ridge eventually melted and shifted and in the process scooped away and scoured large sections of rock, vegetation and topsoil. As melted land glaciers flowed back to the oceans the changing tidal flows and rising sea levels filled the scarred areas with water, forming coves and inlets. Large boulders composed of 415-million-year-old Devonian granite, called glacial erratics, were lifted by the ice and carried for long distances before being deposited upon the landscape as the ice receded, leaving rugged