Sunday, September 1, 2024

Map of Sunken Lake, NS - canoeing and hiking trails

An item that I have retained for many years is a map printed by a some form of early copier that outlines the lakes and trails in Nova Scotia south of the Gaspereau River extending to an area near the centre of the province at the junctions of Lunenburg and Kings counties.

It was a treasured item I gained as a member of the 1st Wolfville Boy Scout troop, and paired with a topographical map of the area (which was backed with glue and cloth) to preserve it through multiple folding and unfolding, they revealed an vast area of connected lakes as well as woods roads and trails. The area which was beyond highway access included woods camps that were simple left unlocked so that anyone needing a place to stay could find shelter for the night. With a woods stove and kerosene lamps they were warm and along with a wood pile and well nearby provided everything needed.



With the Wolfville Boy Scout Camp located at Sunken Lake, the various trails leading to other lakes became the routes that over-night camping trips would follow. Starting with day hikes for Cubs, by the time one reached one's "second class journey" and "first class journey" in Scouts, achieving those goals and badges, required more extensive trips.


By exploring the area on canoe trips (1st Wolfville troop owned three canoes), we learned how hydropower development in the watershed south of the Annapolis Valley had built canals to connect adjacent bodies of water for increased water capacity at power dams. The roads built to these dams provided access to transport a canoe to the dam site and then paddle between lakes with minimal portaging following the canals and in some cases used connecting wetlands to access the next lake. Thus one could put in at Methal's Dam, crossing Methal's Lake and into Methal's Canal which connected into the swampy end of Little River Lake. Quickly one was into the main lake before embarking on the Gaspereau Canal  that eventually led to a the biggest lake of the chain, Gaspereau Lake. All the lakes had great camping locations along the way with islands within the lakes being top choice locations. Gaspereau Lake is close to the New Ross Highway which was a good spot to return to civilization and arrange for transportation.


Amid all these hiking trails, canoe routes and places to explore were little notes on the map indicating "camp" and so we began to explore those as well. One located on the Methal's Lake system was simply known as Scof's Cabin and we learned that a man from the Hantsport area named Mr. Scofield had built the camp and we assumed he still owned it. We never met him and simply knew it was an "open camp". It slept four easily with a pair of double bunks, as well as a step stove, a cast iron cooking range that is known as a "Lunenburg stove" by some Nova Scotians as they were manufactured in the Lunenburg Foundry for many years. Similar step stove designs are known as Waterloo stoves. By any name it could heat a cabin in minutes flat taking the chill out of a frozen space into a toasty spot and with an oven behind and two levels of cooking surface it was a great combination for both space heating and cooking.




Further to the east is the watershed for the Town of Hantsport includes Davidson Lake and to reach it includes a climb up the side of hilly trail to reach the lake at the top. A pristine lake that was protected from development, it was well known for having healthy trout. On one winter camping trip using wooden-framed traditional snowshoes, we discovered a weakened pair which became wet and unraveled as we prepared to return home. Getting down the hill in snow that had accumulated all winter meant the drifts were deep but also wet from melting conditions. An early departure while there was still some early morning crust on the snow helped but the first two people to reach the trail head ended up sending in a pair of intact snowshoes for our companion with the broken snowshoes, who had managed slogging through in boots to make it part way out.



1st Wolfville Boy Scout Troop - history


 When a friend recently mentioned our days in Scouts together in the 1960s, I realized that some items I have saved might be of interest to others. The troop is still active in Wolfville. During the 1960s the group owned a meeting hall in downtown Wolfville as well as a camp with modern lodge at Sunken Lake. An article on the Sunken Lake redevelopment campaign from the March 17, 1960 edition of the Wolfville Acadian, gives a lot of detail on the roots of scouting in Wolfville and on the development of the camp at Sunken Lake. Below is the article:

"The Boy Scout Camp at Sunken Lake is to be rebuilt. Announcement was made by the Wolfville Boy Scout Association this week that a complete rehabilitation of the three-acre site, which was acquired 40 years ago, will commence in the spring and is expected to be finished for the Golden Jubilee of the Wolfville troop of boys in 1961.

A campaign to raise $7,500 needed for this protect is to be started at once, and R. Owen DeWolfe, chairman of the finance committee, states that everyone in the community will be asked to help. It isn't likely that anyone will object to an opportunity to put new life in-to an organization which has served three generations of boys in the Wolfville district, which has helped them prepare for the moral obligations, of life and taught them the crafts of usefulness and good citizenship, Mr. DeWolfe also stated that many former scouts who had spent their summers at the Sunken Lake camp when they were boys had offered to assist in the program and contributions are expected from Old Scouts who have now followed their destinies all over the continent. 


The campsite was purchased for the Scouts by Dr. M. C. Smith in 1919, a pavilion was built in 1921 and other buildings were later added. In spite of repeated attempts through the years to resist the ravages of the elements, the camp is now unfit for use. In fact, the old pavilion has been torn down and the ground levelled for the main building of the new camp. This is to be known as the E. P. Brown Lodge, in honour of the man who founded the Boy Scouts in Wolfville and who was Scoutmaster for a quarter-of-a-century.

Included in the project is a fully equipped kitchen, with cook's quarters, a dining room that may be used as on assembly hall, log cabins and shelters, a wharf and float, a fence to separate the Scout property from an adjacent public beach. The camp will be suitable for winter use and will be one of the finest Scout camps in Canada. 



Wolfville has always been a famous Boy Scout centre. E. Percy Brown, a descendant of Sir Joseph Howe and a mining engineer, founded the first patrol in 1911; just a year after Sir Robert Baden-Powell left the British army to organize the world-wide youth movement. One of these eight original scouts was the first boy in Nova Scotia to reach the rank of King's Scout.

For almost half-a-century the town's leading citizens have served on the WoIfville Association, which is responsible for the finances and administration of the troop.




The executive of the original association included J. D. Chambers, father of the well-known cartoonist, Robert Chambers. Mr. Chambers, who was mayor at the time, was honorary president. Dr. G. B. Cutten, president of Acadia University, was honorary vice-president. President was Dr. W. L. Archibald, then principal of Horton Academy. Morgan Tamplin, Sr., was secretary, and he was succeeded in the same year (1912) by Dr. W. H. Rackham, who recently celebrated his 50th anniversary of ordination in Halifax.

Members of the first association were: Rev. R. F. Dixon, Rev. E. D. Webber, Rev, J. W. Prestwood, Dr. A. J McKenna, Councillor William Regan, Mr. MacKinnon, Capt. Tingley, Herbert Stairs, Dr. H. T. DeWolfe, Dr. Spidle, B. O. Davidson, T. W. Sterns, Joseph Howe,  C. Harvey, Dr. E. F. Moore, Rev. G. W. Miller, W. H. Chase and J. E. Holes. Successions of prominent citizens have carried on this essential work to this day.

Finding money to maintain the Scout Hall and to keep the Camp well equipped has always presented a problem, but citizens and the scouts themselves have always come through. On one occasion a proposal was made to the town council that Scout work be budgeted for the rate of $2,000 a year, and although in 1922 there was a petition circulated against the proposal it eventually it eventually reached the provincial government before it was lost.  On another occasion, the troop was divided into three units in the various churches.

Wolfville's Boy Scouts have deserved this support. Their service to the community has taken various forms, and they have always rallied to work in numerous tag days, jam collections for the hospital, selling poppies and TB seals, and doing salvage work in two wars. They have brought honour to themselves on many occasions. Even as early as 1917, Terrence Hogan was recommended for the Silver Cross for stopping a runaway horse and saving a woman, who, having been thrown from a sleigh, was being dragged feet first. In the same year Leo Delaney was recommended for the Bronze Cross for rescuing a small boy from drowning.  And in a series of wars, Wolfville Boy Scouts have been heroes.

Through their Scout training, Wolfville boys have grown into wiser and better men than they otherwise might have been, and they have been a credit to their community and to the nation. Judges of our courts almost invariably say that it is a rare occurrence indeed for a man who had been a Scout to be brought before them for a criminal offence.

Camp training has always been an important part of Scout training, and hundreds of boys will remember the lessons in playing-the-game that they learned at Black River, where the camp was first held in 1912, and after 1921 at Sunken Lake. The Association considers the present campaign to provide accommodations at Sunken Lake for generations of boys yet to come as a worthwhile investment in the youth of Wolfville, and certainly as a tribute to all the men and boys who have kept the site in operation up to this point.

Although E. Percy Brown, who was honoured by King George V in 1935, has continued to show an interest in his old troop after 50 years, there have been a number of his Scouts succeeding to the active post of Scoutmaster. Among them were Waldo Davidson, R. T. Steeves, Lloyd R. Shaw, Murray Cameron, O. Rex Porter, Lem Morine, Keith Forbes, Charles Eaton, Charles Strong, Glen Hancock, Henry Watson, Gerald Porter and Prof. David Haley, who is now master of the troop.

Cubmasters have been Ralph Creighton, Jr., Beverly Starr, Atlee Sproule, Lloyd Gesner, David Waterbury, Ken Harris, John Eaton and the current masters are George Frank and William Bevan. In all there are 100 boys taking training in the movement in Wolfville.

Presidents of the association over the years have included Prof. Alexander Sutherland, Edson Graham, L. E. Shaw, G. A. Boggs, R. M. Kierstead, H. H. Jackson, Harry VanZoost, J. G. Waterbury, Dr. G. H. Wheelock, S. C. Gordon, L. C. Trites, R. H. MacNeil, and N. H. Grant. The current president of the Association is Murdock MacLeod."





The actual text (above) from the original article is included below.



Friday, October 22, 2010

Welcome Aboard

This is meant as an introduction to the blogs and websites I'm involved with.

Websites:

  • HomePort located at IanScott.ca is my family history site covering various ancestral lines, each grouped by surname.
  • New London Village Pottery - was founded by my wife Daphne Large in 1973, it now features the work of ten other Island potters as well as Daphne, myself and our daughter Suzanne Scott who currently owns the business and manages the website. 
  • While serving as president of Seniors College of Prince Edward Island I developed an anniversary site for the College called Celebration of the Arts. Seniors College is affiliated with UPEI and offers courses for members age 50 or better.
  • NaturePEI.ca - is the site of Nature PEI: The Natural History Society of Prince Edward Island I established while on the board.
  • I have been the content creator for Vintage Charlottetown on Facebook since 2012. The site features historic images and stories related to local history. I continue to provide content to the Nature PEI Facebook page as well as my personal page.
  •  My various blogs are listed on the right side bar.

Internal Search Engine Added -







Remembering Lloyd Clifford Rees (1927-2010)

Lloyd Rees second from right. 2004
Lloyd was a very special person to me, the first people whom I met "on-line", and eventually met in person.

It was through his Lance Cove research on Bell Island, that we first connected, helping me discover my own Pitts family roots in Newfoundland. His publication of a history of Lance Cove which included pictures of the Pitts family homes, opened an interest in my own roots there. When in St. John's with my family in 2004 we arranged to meet Lloyd at the Bell Island ferry terminal as he guided on our first visit to Lance Cove.

His concern for the state of the graves of James Pitts Sr., and others in Lance Cove led to more regular contact as Lloyd led a campaign to have the grave restored. With his leadership I opened a bank account and we started soliciting support from others. Reaching our financial goal Lloyd oversaw the creation and placement of the replica stone. Eventually with visitors from Ireland, and several Canadian provinces as well as a grand Newfoundland contingent on July 27, 2005 the new memorial was dedicated in a well planned community ceremony at which Lloyd's role was recognized.

I continued to stay in touch with Lloyd and as my research progressed his encouragement and support was vital. Our friendship had became more personal and he had revealed to me his ongoing battle with Prostate Cancer. In 2007, he was one of the first persons I contacted when I received my own diagnosis. My decisions on treatment (which has been 100% successful) were assisted by his sage advice.

Fearing that his research could be lost - I contact him when I learned of the closure of Geocities where his work was hosted, and was pleased to know that a migration of his work was already prepared.

Lloyd was a leading light - and inspiration to many.

I feel a better person for having known him and will continue to cherish his role in caring for, and conveying a great love of both the natural world as well as the rich field of local
history in Newfoundland.

A history of Lance Cove.

As well his two blogs:


Lloyd was a man of great depth and simply put - he was a good man. I will miss our contact and continue to treasure the friendship that we have shared. I want to extend my sincere condolences to all of Lloyd's family.

Lloyd's memorial site, with his obituary is available through InMemoriam.ca

Tony Francis, Lloyd Rees, Ian Scott - July 27, 2005