march 2025 Editorial Dear Friends, Our home, the Isthmus of Chignecto, is highly vulnerable to flooding. The construction of flood mitigation ponds in Sackville over the past few years to collect floodwaters during severe storms is clear proof of this. In this issue of your newsletter, Al Smith documents historic floods in the area spanning… Continue reading…
Category: The White Fence
The White Fence, issue #112
White_Fence #112 FEBRUARY 2025 Editorial Dear Friends, When I first came to Sackville in 1969, I recall seeing all the small barns on the so-named “Tantramar Marshes” and wondering why so many barns were present and no cattle (nor marsh!) of any kind were apparent anywhere. Well, here I am, fifty-six years later, able unequivocally… Continue reading…
The White Fence, issue #111
White Fence #111 PDF NOVEMBER 2024 Editorial Dear Friends, The grindstone industry is one of the earliest industries in the Tantramar region. In 1686, the Intendant des Meulles, accompanied by cartographer Franquelin, travelled to Acadia and produced a map of La Baye Françoise (Bay of Fundy). This detailed illustration showed the presence of a small… Continue reading…
The White Fence, issue #110
White Fence #110 PDF October 2024 Editorial Dear Friends, You are in for a treat! Colin MacKinnon presents us with a most innovative reconstruction of a vessel, the remains of which Colin found many years ago trapped in the muddy waters of Cumberland Basin in the Bay of Fundy. Colin’s research is a very interesting… Continue reading…
The White Fence, issue #109
april 2024 Editorial Dear Friends, In 2012, Colin MacKinnon wrote an article entitled “Mysteries Carved in Stone on Mary’s Point and Grindstone Island” for The White Fence No. 57 in which he presented a photo of a large flat stone at Mary’s Point with the name “R. Hale” engraved on it. Dr. Robert Hale was… Continue reading…
The White Fence, issue #108
february 2024 Editorial Dear Friends, For those of you interested in aspects of the history of Sackville’s streetscape, this issue should be of special interest. It deals with one street: Weldon Street. I, for one, found the investigative talents and common interests of Paul Bogaard and Al Smith especially captivating. Every street in every New… Continue reading…
The White Fence, issue #107
december 2023 Editorial Dear Friends, Come sail with us through familiar waters in the 1830s with Captain George McAllister. Captain McAllister kept a diary in which he described day-to-day living, battling the weather and the exceptionally high tides of the Bay of Fundy. The time frame is late fall 1831, including Christmas and the New… Continue reading…
The White Fence, issue #106
November 2023 Editorial Dear Friends, In this issue we present two articles which, by their titles, may appear unrelated. They were sent to me separately without notification of any connection between the two authors. But they are in fact interestingly connected. In the mid- to late-18th century, much construction in the Tantramar area would have… Continue reading…
The White Fence, issue #105
May 2023 White Fence #105 PDF Editorial Dear Friends, The Tantramar Heritage Trust has embarked on an exciting new phase of heritage conservation: we’re physically growing! We have added a new building to the Campbell Carriage Factory Museum – a Carriage Shed which will allow us to better conserve and display creations made many years… Continue reading…
The White Fence, issue #104
March 2023 White Fence #104 PDF Editorial Dear Friends, Come walk an historic path with me. Janet Crawford and Al Smith explore the creation and installation of stone carver Scott Harris’s Yorkshire monument in Sackville. The immigration of Yorkshire settlers to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the late eighteenth century was a significant event… Continue reading…
