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Issue # 36, October 2007
Editorial Dear friends, At BHC this summer, 956 people visited with the majority in May (299) and June (232). These included two school groups in June and August, and 9 group tours in May (3), June (3) July (1) and August (1). Of those visitors, 196 came from New Brunswick, 17 from Nova Scotia, 2 PEI, 8 Newfoundland and Labrador, 12 Quebec, 45 Ontario, 1 Alberta, 4 British Columbia, 25 USA (Connecticut (1), Florida (2), Idaho (11), Maine (1), Massachusetts (8), New York (1) and Vermont (1)), one person came from Perth, Australia, and another from Pesana, Italy. Six visitors did not identify their home locations. Not a bad record, even if we consider that 9.8% fewer visitors came to visit compared to the previous year. But many other museums in the South East Museums Zone reported similar decreases. I thank Ad?le Hemple for providing me with the BHC visitor statistics for 2007. So, all readers who have yet to visit this beautiful centre on 29 Queen's Road, Sackville, just remember: itís open all year! I first visited Boultenhouse when it was still privately owned. Even then, I saw something very special about that establishment. On that note, I am sure that many of you have known many people "with an eye" for certain things, one associated with an innate curiosity. Colin MacKinnon has that curiosity and that special eye for historical things (or should I say historical "landscapes"). When Colin hears about the find of an old coin, he not only records it but he goes out and finds and photographs it! Read of Colin's search for Rockport Gold and notice, as you read, how portions of the landscape that you and I might have seen the day before are seen in a remarkably different light through this local historianís eyes. For many of us the "Rockport trenches" that Colin describes would have been simply seen as natural "drainage ditches". But Colin "saw" something else there. He measured and mapped the trenches and found interesting patterns. It is a remarkable exercise in curiosity which was only satisfied by i) detailed investigation, ii) much thought to connect the unexplained, and iii) some mapping on a piece of paper. I won't say more until you read on but please note that mysteries like this probably litter our maritime shores. We just have to look! But if we only had those special eyesÖ Enjoy the mysteries and wonders of the Tantramar! - Peter Hicklin Boultenhouse Heritage CentreSummer of 2007by Peter Hicklin
Jennifer catalogued and photographed about 50 objects from the Read Collection. Some of the objects could not be identified, and, consequently, she consulted with various Trust directors and numerous books in order to correctly identify and label the objects accordingly. She also did some research on the original scenic wallpaper in the living room of the house. In doing so, she was in touch with staff of the Royal Ontario Museum and made numerous contacts (via the ROM) with experts in the United States. Furthermore, she obtained much information from "on-line catalogues" ( Historic New England , for example) and, by the time of our interview for this article in August, she was still waiting for information from these sources. When asked about her impressions on this line of work, she simply answered "quite insightful". Jennifer described her work on the self-guided brochure as "quite an all-encompassing project". The main points of this brochure were to focus not only on the house's special history, but also to describe the artifacts on display and the exhibits such as Peter Manchester's model of shipbuilding, the Wry collection and, more importantly, to "put it all in an insightful form". She found it a challenge to manage all the information she gathered and summarize it in a "compact" brochure format (i.e. to put a lot of information in a small space . . . always a demanding taskóeditor!). At the time of our interview in late August, the brochure was completed and waiting for public review and commentary. Twenty copies were produced for "in-house" use and the brochure is currently being translated into French. Jennifer was pleased with the diverse nature of the work assigned to her at the Heritage Centre. She was given the opportunity to work on exhibition development as well as conducting research and acting as supervisor of the Centre's two tour guides (see below). Overall, Jennifer was very optimistic about the future of the Boultenhouse Heritage Centre: "it has great potential! It's a great building . . .here's so much here that can be exhibited". She indicated how she was impressed with the Tantramar Heritage Trust's willingness to do things "in a museum-professional way". Jennifer came to Sackville as a recent graduate of the University of Toronto and this September, she embarked on a new adventure to do collections management at "The Army Museum Waiouru", part of the National Museum of New Zealand, in Waiouru, New Zealand. The Tantramar Heritage Trust was obviously not the only group to have recognized Jennifer's talents! James Pirie-Hay James conducted numerous tours of the BHC to visitors. He said that
many people were not sure what to expect when they first arrived but
he found that "they soon became very interested and were eager to
learn more." He was especially pleased to see how many citizens of
Sackville visited the site and indicated to him how much they learned
about local history that they were unaware of.
James was also responsible for
developing a walking tour of Sackvilleís historic south end, in the
vicinity of the Heritage Centre. The proposed walking tour is to
begin at Boultenhouse, and, based on a number of historical
buildings, follow a route along Queenís Road, Lorne, Dufferin, and
Main Streets. In light of this proposal, the main objective was for
James to produce a reference
document to assist future summer guides to describe to visitors the
historical significance of sites they would encounter (or would have
encountered ñ depending on year) along this route. By the time of our
interview in mid-August, James had completed a second draft of this
document and he was expecting a third (and final) draft by end of
August.
Another of James' duties was to
catalogue artifacts at the Heritage Centre and, in particular,
artifacts from the Read stone quarry which were on exhibit. He
obtained much of the required information about these artifacts from
Trust directors as well as from books in the Trust's library sources.
James also spent time at the Mount Allison archives to collect
information on prominent Sackville merchants (e.g. Pickards and
Blacks) and which he collated in binders to make
available to BHC staff and visitors who might want more detailed
historical information than what was available in the exhibits.
According to James, much work remains to be done. But with his
efforts over the summer months, he completed a "draft binder" which
can now be passed on to the next researcher. He was confident that a
finalized "binder of information" about these merchants would be
available to members of the public
in 2008.
Overall, James indicated that he found the work "rewarding and
challenging" and that he "enjoyed the work and learned a lot about
local history". Emma Hicklin
Museum Interpreter/Assistant
Emma's summer activities at Boultenhouse progressed as follows:
Working alongside James (above), Emma conducted tours of the
Boultenhouse Heritage Centre to the visiting public and was assigned
research dealing with various aspects of the history of the
shipbuilding industry in Sackville between 1820 and 1880. Her duties
were to search for information related specifically to ships built in
Sackville and collated it in the form of a binder (like James') to be
maintained by the Trust.
She sought material in the old newspapers The Borderer and Westmorland and Cumberland Advertiser
(more familiarly known as The Borderer ), and The Chignecto Post
(which, in 1879, were both merged to become the Chignecto Post and Borderer ) to obtain information on
the ships' owners, builders, and their travels. Of 198 vessels built
in Sackville in those years, she obtained information from the newspapers on
24 of them. Of these, only four had remained in the local area. All
this information served to ensure accuracy of the information in the
binder on ships built the Sackville area in mid-19th century.
According to Emma, thereís lots of work for future
assistants to add information to
this binder.
Although she expressed disappointment at finding "so little
information" in the course of her work, she became very interested in
the many people involved in the shipping industry in Sackville at
that time. She indicated that she would like to pursue this work in
greater detail someday.
Beyond the guided tours (presented
in both French and English) and research activities, she gathered and
filed a growing body of literature associated with the Boultenhouse
Heritage Centre and set up a "Press Releases" binder dealing with
historical properties. She also assisted Jennifer with collections
management and did French translations of the brochures on the
Heritage Centre.
Emma's personal views about her work with the Tantramar Heritage
Trust are as follows: Having lived and gone to school in Sackville
for most of her life (including university), she was very surprised
to learn how much she had "missed" about local industries
in Sackville (grindstones, paper box
factory, enamel and heating) and especially about shipping and
shipbuilding. She said that the work gave her a new pride in her town
and in the Tantramar Heritage Trust. She felt that she might have
also contributed something to the Trust (and the town) with her tours
of the BHC and the research she conducted there about early
shipbuilding.
Emma also had an interesting story connected with a particular
visitor during one of the tours of the BHC she gave this past summer.
In the course of this tour, this visitor told Emma that he had an
ancestor who had been involved in the building of the ship the "Two
Sisters" in 1896. He was shown the binder that Emma and James had
been working on and which included information about the "Two
Sisters" and the folks who worked on it. He expressed his pride that
his ancestor had been involved in its construction. This ship was the
second-last ship built in Sackville and the visitor expressed great
satisfaction that the Trust was making this information available to
the public and that he was able to read about it at the BHC.
Other favorite moments for Emma were visitors who recognized people
photographed in the Enterprise foundry exhibit, including one woman
who found a picture of her aunt and was pleased to see that the
family connection was recognized by the Trust.
Emma described her experience at
the BHC this summer as "very rewarding".
Please note : the board of directors of
the Tantramar Heritage Trust (THT) extends its gratitude to the Town
of Sackville for creating an attractive and useful parking area
beside the Boultenhouse Heritage Centre at no cost to the Trust! On
behalf of the membership, the THT board of directors extends its
sincere thanks to the Town of Sackville.- Editor
This story is centered in the Peck's Cove area of Upper Rockport
about 3.2 km above the steel bridge heading towards Sackville ( Figure
1 ). In the early decades of the 20th century, Captain Amos Pickering
"Pick" Ward (1849-1918) lived next to the shore across from Cole's
Point while Bedford Milledge Cole (1849 - 192?), his wife Ada
(1856 - 1935) and family, lived across the road ( Figure 2 ).
The Cole house is long gone but the "Cole Orchard" still marks the
site of the farm.
I have also been told that this treasure "came out of the bank" and did not wash up on shore (as might be expected from a shipwreck). Apparently it was young Harold Cole (Bedford's grandson) who first found some coins on the beach below Captain Ward's property during the mid - to late 1930s. Later Bedford "Beffy" Cole (b.1926), Harold's brother, also found coins and "Beffyís" mother Agnes (Bainbridge) Cole (1902 - 1981) used most of the money the boys found in support of the family but saved one of the coins for him. There were reports that other people found coins as well.
Adrian King recalled that when he was a teenager, he and Leonard Smith found a hole on the beach below Pick Ward's. They dug into the hole (6 x 6 feet) to a depth of 5 or 6 feet, as far as they could go, and found a buried ladder, barrel hoops and some wood where the original hole had been "slabbed up the side" . . . but no gold! I have asked a number of people for "confirmation" of the story in the form of something tangible, specifically hoping to see one of the actual coins. My main reason for this search was to narrow down the approximate date when the "treasure" was hidden.
Captain Ward was also involved in building and repairing boats along the shore below his house so it is also conceivable that one of the transient ship builders or labourers could also have been responsible for hiding the money (possibly the stolen goods from some nefarious deed!). The reader must remember that one hundred years ago there was less faith in banks and many people kept their cash at home, stashed in the proverbial mattress, or buried in a secret location. There is also a story that Captain Ward had a "secret" and that, on his death bed, he tried to tell his family where the money was buried! So did Captain Ward bury the coins? I suppose we will never know. THE ROCKPORT TRENCHES
If so, the only other plausible explanation for those trenches I can come up with is that these are remnants of fish-drying racks. Many years ago, while on a trip to the Grassy Island Fort National Historic Site, near Canso, Nova Scotia, I was shown linear depressions in the earth that vaguely looked like the Rockport trenches. These depressions at Canso were formed by fishermen walking up and down the length of wooden drying racks to place the fish and, in the process, leaving linear depressions in the soil. Cole's Point faces south and lies next to a natural harbour in the adjacent creek. The bay has been noted for its Shad fishery for generations but fish drying, as far as I know, was not practiced locally. In light of this, it is noteworthy that at the head of the creek, behind Cole's Point, are the remains of a small wharf. This wharf could only have accommodated a very small boat and may even have been used for pulling small "shad boats" out of the water for winter ( Figure 2 ). I am not particularly convinced with my "fish drying rack" explanation so I welcome supporting evidence for it or any other possible interpretations. ISRAEL'S POINT
It is this peninsula that is called "Israelís Point" ( Figure 6 ). It was at the North West corner of this point that I finally found the basements. But were they French or English? I found two basements in a small clearing, about 20 yards square, not far from the edge of the marsh ( Figure 7 ). The entire point is forested but the clearing is more open and, at an earlier time, it is obvious that the land had been cleared. One foundation along the South East corner of the clearing consisted of an earthen ridge (about 12' x15' square) with a shallow depression in the middle. This feature may have actually just been the footing for a building and not actually a true basement.
The more interesting site is a slightly smaller basement (12' x 14') in the North West corner of the clearing that was about 3 feet deep and had the remains of a few stone footings that had fallen in towards the centre of the depression. Leading from the west corner of the basement was a peculiar 27 foot long, "V" shaped, ditch that terminated in a small pit that was about 7.5 feet in diameter and 3 feet deep ( Figure 8 ). Again, we have a mystery: what was this hole leading away from the basement built for? Was it just some type of drainage ditch or could it have been a tunnel? If the latter, it may have, at one time, concealed an alternate escape route from the house and even have been a place to store contraband? Apparently some people actually dug for "treasure" on Israelís point many decades ago and so it is possible that some of these depressions may be from that work. In the area of the basement, we found the remains of a severely rusted ox shoe, an iron wedge (probably for splitting stone) and a piece of "Shell-edged, Pearl-ware" pottery that dates circa 1780-1830 ( Figure 9 ). It's not much to go on but suggests that the site was occupied during settlement by early New England "Planters" and not pre-expulsion Acadians (before 1755). Just one more Rockport mystery! I would be interested in hearing of any additional information regarding the above stories. I can be reached by phone at 536-4283, mail (176 King Street, Sackville, NB, E4L 3C2) or email (cnanmac@nbnet.nb.ca). Acknowledgements |
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