Buildings and More...

Maritime human history is complicated with European contact beginning in 1605 at Port Royal, Nova Scotia. Those original Europeans, under Champlain and Sieur de Monts lived cooperatively with the Mi’kmaq but that harmony ended with arrival of the British. Six colonial wars between England and France, which initiated the expulsion of the Acadians; the Highland Clearances; the Great Irish Famines; and the American Revolution and Civil War; all impacted the area, leaving behind a rich mixture of culture and tradition.

In the 2^nd half of the 19^th century times were good for the rich: the lumber barons, the shipping magnates, and the merchants. On our travels throughout southern Nova Scotia we (Jim, Derek, Gayle, and me) were struck by the beautiful, large, homes of that era, the majority of which seem to be lovingly looked after. Of course there are many that are in stages of disrepair and we speculated what it might cost to bring one back to glory, starting with the foundation, roof, windows, wiring, plumbing, heating systems. You would have a grand dame on your hands that still isn’t insulated against the North Atlantic winds, with endless exterior painting required; a project not for the faint of heart or shallow pockets.

There are a lot of churches in the Maritimes too, many of them empty or repurposed. Along the Acadian Shore we came across two enormous structures for a very sparse population, 10 kilometers apart: Eglise Sainte Marie and Eglise St Bernard. Eglise Ste Marie is one of the largest wooden buildings in North America, built in 2 years (1903-1905) by 1500 volunteers under the supervision of an illiterate architect. The walls are lined with painted canvas! The church holds 800 people but only about 50 people attend mass so it’s held in the community center across the street. Mass is only held in the church at Christmas, Easter and for weddings; the furnace burns 81 litres of fuel an hour and it takes about 3 hours to bring the building to a reasonable temperature. The community is trying to raise enough money to fix the roof before interior repairs are undertaken. St Bernard took 32 (1910-1942) years to build, made from granite hauled by oxen from Yarmouth, open from May to October.

Rounding out the interesting buildings scenario, we came across this amazing cottage/house in Mill Cove near Birchy Head. It looks as though someone drove a lobster boat up on the rocks and then added steel stilts to keep it there. That’s probably not how it happened!

The tides in the Bay of Fundy are the highest and most powerful in the world; boats and buildings are high and dry or afloat, twice a day every day. People have adapted buildings with some very interesting underpinnings which must be a nightmare to repair. So much about a place can be guessed at by the buildings and southern Nova Scotia tells a fascinating story.