Fiddlehead 14'

This is a follow up to a story that began in 2012, the story of a man and the boat that was built at the Colchester Historeum. It should be noted that I joined the Historeum in April 2013 so there are some gaps that I will try to fill in.

In the summer of 2012 Colchester Historical Society member David Boehm decided to undertake the task of building a canoe, a model known as a Fiddlehead 14’. Our current exhibit at the time was “Out of the Woodwork” which chronicled the efforts of the people of Colchester County to craft an economy and build an entire society out of the vast and daunting forest that surrounded them. Building a wooden canoe fit rather well with the exhibit.

We also knew that in November 2012 we would be opening the exhibit “A Camera on the Banks”, a display we borrowed from the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. The exhibit would feature photographs from Frederick William Wallace of the last days of Nova Scotia’s schooner fishing industry. Again a perfect fit for canoe building.

For those of you wondering the Fiddlehead 14’ is based on a design by Harry Bryan of Letete, New Brunswick. These canoes were very popular at the turn of the last century in New England and up into the Thousand Islands region where variations on the theme were rigged for sail and raced.  This one too could be rigged to sail with the addition of a centerboard—they often used a paddle instead of a rudder for steering.  The traditional design that most of these decked canoes are based on is a design called the Wee Lassie.  It is flat bottomed like a dory for ease of construction as well as making it easy to pull up on a beach.

                              A Fiddlehead 14' built by New Brunswick boat designer Harry Bryan

So in came David with his tools and his lumber. He set up shop in the corner of our museum and began putting together his canoe. While the Fiddlehead 14’ was not completely built onsite, the frame and most of its coverings were assembled here. So if a visitor came in during the winter of 2012/2013 there was a good chance they would see David working away on his project. Once summer arrived David was able transport the vessel home and complete the job there.

I’ll let David finish off the story in his own words:

“I finished the canoe in early September of this year and it had its

maiden voyage on McElmon's Pond in Debert. Since then I've had it on

Lake Kinsac in Fall River and down the Stewiacke River.

It is just a little heavier than I can safely lift onto the car by

myself, but it is a two person canoe so I suppose I'll usually be able

to find someone willing to go paddling with me. What with climate

change I might soon have waterfront here on Alice Street.

I would like to thank everyone at the museum and the historical

society who gave me moral and other assistance while I was working

there and for letting me whistle while I worked. Without the space to

work to get the frame built right I might have ended up with a

kidney-shaped canoe--that would have been hard to cartop and would

have kept me going in circles once in the water.

I like to think my project is a continuation of the boat building

heritage of Colchester County. There were in the past, as in the

present, master builders and novices who cobbled together what they

could with what they had. I'm pleased enough to continue the line of

the latter.

David Boehm”

The craft was christened "Irene"

David and Irene

The Colchester County Home

           

Photograph courtesy of Allan E.Marble

An Article by Margaret Wagstaff.

             As I was growing up, now and then I heard poor farms mentioned (usually as a dire warning to maintain a good work ethic). A picture of the Colchester County Home was posted on the Colchester Historeum’s Facebook page and had attracted a lot of attention. I mentioned to a friend about seeing the picture and “what a large, beautiful building it was”. My friend then began telling me that he grew up across the street from the site. At that time the road went by the name Poor Farm Road (now Mountain Lee Road). Not knowing much about the Poor Farm in the first place, he told me just enough to pique my interest. It was then that I began my research on what was once called the Poor Farm.

In 1896, the Town of Truro built a Poor Farm on Willow Street to “care for the poor, the aged, the infirm, and indeed anyone who could not survive on their own in the community.”[1]  This was the traditional English way. At that time there was 32 poor houses in Nova Scotia. The Willow Street home was closed in 1928 when better social programs were beginning to be implemented. The building is still there (next to the former Acadian Lines bus station) and now houses several apartments.

Colchester County built the more elaborate home, pictured here, in 1908. This home was built in North River, across from the present day North River Elementary School. It was considered to be “a place to keep our poor, and to humanely care for our harmless insane”.[2] It had also became a dumping ground for a large number of “harmless” mental patients from the more expensive accommodation and overcrowded Dartmouth mental hospital. Society didn’t know what to do with the aged who required care, tramps and vagrants, unwed mothers, homeless, Orphaned and severely handicapped children.[3] The solution was the poor farm.

 Other names for the County Home were The Institution for the Insane and Poor, Home of the Poor, Colchester County Asylum, The Home, County Home, Home for Old People, and the Bug House.[4] These names reflect the way people thought in that time.

 The staff consisted of a superintendent and matron (usually a married couple), cook, cook’s helper, male attendant, nurse, farm manager, seamstress, male night watchman, and female helper and their families. They were housed in one whole wing of the building. Reginald Butcher and his wife were superintendents for over 27 years at the Colchester County Home. Thirty residents of the County Home were bedridden. The residents, who were able, were expected to work on the farm. The Farm supplied hay, grain, potatoes, carrots, apples, cattle, pigs, and chickens - most of the food needed to keep the residents fed.

Often inmates (or paupers) were sold at auction to the lowest bidder to be workers in return for their bed and board. Since this was less expensive option than the home, the government would sometimes pay a small stipend for their keep. The winning bidder agreed to take the lowest amount.

When someone died, the men housed there would carry the bodies down to a cold room in the basement. If the bodies were not claimed by family, they were often donated to scientific research in Halifax. Burials were done on site at most poor farms, with the graves often unmarked. Records of those buried behind the County Home in North River were lost in a fire that destroyed the beautiful building in 1954. The fire left over 105 inmates (including six children), the staff and their families’ homeless. Unfortunately, there was a man’s life lost.[5] 

The property was bought later by William A. Sutherland in 1955, and is still in the family. Mr. Sutherland cleaned up the burial site in 2001, and put up a monument to those buried and forgotten there.

---

[1] Senior Scribes of NS. Nova Scotia Poverty Poor Houses and Private Philanthropy. N.p.: A new Horizon Project, 1996. Print.

[2] Peter Allen. "The Poor Farm" to the "Country Home": A Sociological Study of the Poorhouse in Colchester County. N.p.: n.p., 1988. Print.

[3] Butcher, Gordon. 1988.

[4] William Sutherland, History of the County Home, (2002).

[5] " ." The Griffin . no. 04 (2012).

 Photograph courtesy of Kevin Wood 

Scotia Breeze

Pictured: an unopened can of Scotia Breeze.

Recently one of our volunteers, Elinor Maher, has been expanding upon the Onions to Opera Inglis Street exhibit now showing at the Colchester Historeum. In researching the "Sugar Bowl" restaurant on Inglis Street, Elinor contacted Bill Hay, son of the Sugar Bowl owners Betty and Don 'Bun' Hay. Bill was kind enough to loan us a can of Scotia Breeze, which is what I would like to talk more about.

If you haven't guessed by now the item is a gag gift, meant to both poke fun and instil pride in the Nova Scotia way of life. The directions on the can state "Can't you scent the mixture of Salt Air - Rum - Poverty - and Fresh Cod that is so typical of our Beloved Province?"

We were also fortunate enough to get a copy of the cook book as well. 

The recipe book came out small, but here is the directions for "Fried Scotia Breeze"

Place 1 pt. Scotia Breeze in hot (or cold) pan, cook for five minutes. If contents of pan resemble illustration on right (picture of empty frying pan), it is done. Remove from stove, let stand for 30 minutes. By this time it will be tired, so let it set for 30 minutes. Stick nose over pan. Inhale deeply, not forgetting to exhale also.

I hope to see the can of Scotia Breeze and cook book incorporated into the Inglis Street display. When it came into my office I knew I wanted to share it with our fans. Thank you Bill Hay for this blast from the past, of Scotia Breeze air!