Before the telegraph reached Nova Scotia and railroad tracks were laid across the province there was news delivery by pony express.

In reality it was a horse express – the name “pony express” was borrowed from the Americans – and while it was a short-lived venture, it stirred the imagination of Nova Scotians. The pony express operated Between Halifax and Digby Gut in 1849 for a period of about nine months for the sole purpose of rushing European news to a group of newspapers in New York.

I have Ivan Smith, Canning, to thank for pointing out that February 21 is the anniversary date of the first running of this little-known enterprise. “This occasion deserves some media recognition,” Mr. Smith said recently via e-mail.

Mr. Smith forwarded an article on the pony express by John W. Regan which ran in the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society in 1912. In a nutshell, the pony express was a relay service which met mail steamers from England and rushed dispatches to Digby Gut; from there the dispatches were ferried to the St. John telegraph office and wired to New York. The pony express, in other words, was simply an effort by the group of New York newspapers to be the first to print European news in America.

As mentioned, the pony express had a short life span. The telegraph lines were extended to Halifax in November, putting an end to the courier service. However, from February to November, Nova Scotians were treated to the dashing, often daily runs of the pony express. In his Historical Society article Regan said that at first there were “two rival expresses” and the competition between them “passing through a post-village caused as much excitement as a mail-steamer arriving in Halifax.”

According to Regan the “relays of galloping horses covered the 144 miles from Halifax to the Digby Gut ferry in an average time of eight hours or a mile in about 3.29 minutes.” The fastest time for the run may have been seven hours and 15 minutes according to a letter published in the Windsor Mail in 1879.

There is no doubt that these times were excellent compared to other means of relaying news in Nova Scotia in that period. In 1830, for example, the top time for a passenger coach running from Halifax to Annapolis was 18 hours, excluding the overnight stop in Kentville. (Source: Woodworth’s history of the Dominion Atlantic Railway.)

In his article Regan said that the journey from Halifax to the ferry was “performed by two riders who changed at Kentville and was divided into twelve stages with a fresh horse about every twelve miles.” Although it isn’t made clear in the article, relay stations may have been located in the Valley at Windsor, Kentville (and a point halfway between these towns), Berwick, near Kingston and so on down the line.

Another early means of communication in Nova Scotia was mentioned recently by Leon Barron. At one time there was a telegraph semaphore system linking Halifax with Annapolis. Apparently the semaphore stations were placed in sight of each other (obviously given the means of communication) on hills along the old Annapolis Road.

According to Ivan Smith, this system was in operation in the late 1790s or early 1800s. However, few details are available. Leon Barron says that years ago a history of this system was published in the newsletter of a provincial ham radio club – perhaps an Annapolis Valley club – and I’m trying to track it down.

I’m also looking for information on an old military road in Kings County – the Six Rod Road – and the so-called August Gale that created havoc in Nova Scotia in 1873. Can any readers help?

Every time a ferocious storm paralyzes an area someone always asks, “Are Canadian winters getting worse?”

You’d know the answer to this question if you had experienced past storms that literally brought the Annapolis Valley to a standstill. Ask some of our seniors about the great storm of 1905, for example. This storm made the history books and has been the topic of numerous magazine articles and historical talks.

My grandfather was in his late 30s and my father a teenager when this storm struck in late winter; both referred to the storm as the greatest catastrophe of their time and they had many tales of the hardships suffered. I’ve read the newspaper and magazine articles, heard the folktales and listened to discussions about the storm; and I’ve looked at those unbelievable photographs of Valley towns with snow tunnels up and down the main streets. There’s little doubt that the 1905 storm was a doozer.

How severe the 1905 storm was may been seen in Marguerite Woodworth’s history of the Dominion Atlantic Railway. The storm totally disrupted operation of the railroad throughout Nova Scotia, closing it down in some areas for weeks and months. The Annapolis Valley may have been the hardest hit since, according to Woodworth, the rail line from Kentville to Yarmouth and from Halifax to Kentville was clogged for a lengthy period and all commerce depending on the railway ceased.

“Heavy snowfalls lasting for days, storms, thaws, then freezing temperatures that locked the line in a grip of snow and ice caused all operations to cease for weeks at a time,” is Woodworth’s summary of the 1905 storm’s effect on the railroad.

When the lines had been cleared – and it took hundreds of volunteers working with shovels to accomplish this since railroad snowplows were almost useless – the railroad had spent over $100,000 in snow clearance alone. Woodworth said it was a “severe financial setback” for the railway that curtailed expansion plans and “disposed of any immediate hope of paying dividends to the shareholders.”

One magazine article I read mentioned that hundreds of people nearly starved to death and many were without sufficient means of heat while the railway struggled to clear the lines. Several deaths were attributed to the storm.  Woodworth ignored the hardship and personal suffering, although there is an oblique reference, and instead wrings her hands over the railway’s financial losses.

During the winter of 1923/24 another severe storm struck this area and Leon Barron recently recalled the effect it had on the Dominion Atlantic Railway. While not as severe and persistent as the 1905 storm, the blizzard of 23/24 disrupted rail service for several days. In many areas the trains were unable to move, the snow piling up so deep on the tracks that railway plows couldn’t cope with it.

Hardest hit locally was the old Cornwallis Valley Railway (CVR) which ran from north from Kentville through Steam Mill and Centreville and then east to terminate in Kingsport. Leon Barron tells me that to clear the CVR line, the railway used two engines behind a plow with a third engine as backup. In some sections of the CVR even this wasn’t enough machinery to clear snow from the tracks and the railroad put out a call to communities along the line for help.

Answering the railroad’s call, men from Kingsport, Habitant, Canning, Pereau and other communities showed up on a Sunday morning with shovels to tackle the worst hit area between Pereau Road and the Jackson Barkhouse Road. In this half-mile stretch, known as the Kinsman Cutting, snowdrifts were as high as the locomotive’s smokestack and it took nine hours to clear the tracks.

The Federal Government’s Sessional Papers for 1906 records an expenditure of $260.00 for a lighthouse keeper, one Jno. (sic) Corbett, at Port Williams; an entry in the Papers for the same year indicates that under Wharf Work, a sum of money was authorized for repairs to the pier at Port Lorne.

It appears that these expenditures are in no way connected but when you finish this column you will see that they are. But let’s start with an earlier Sessional Paper, one dated 1883. Two years ago when Leon Barron was scanning this Paper for Kings County items he came across reference to payment of a salary to a lighthouse keeper (a man named Graves) at Port Williams.

This entry was puzzling because to the best of Leon’s knowledge there had never been a lighthouse at or near Port Williams. Since he is an avid marine history buff, Leon was fairly certain of this. But to be sure he searched for other references to the Port Williams lighthouse.

While Leon found no mention of a lighthouse at the Port in local history books he continued his search. A number of older Kings County residents were quizzed but none remembered a lighthouse; most were skeptical that one had ever existed.

Then in the Sessional Papers for 1871 Leon found a payment of $253.00 to one James Dunn for his services as lighthouse keeper at Port Williams. He was now partly convinced that the lighthouse had existed and he continued to look for more evidence. By chance he happened to mention his search to another marine history buff, Reg. Clarke of Walton. Mr. Clarke told Leon that the Port Williams lighthouse not only existed, he could provide a photograph of it from his collection.

Numerous references to the Port Williams lighthouse in Federal records and a photograph: This was enough evidence to suggest that the lighthouse existed even though no one could recall it and it was apparently ignored by historians. Eaton’s Kings County history mentions only one lighthouse, for example, and this was at Horton Bluff. The history of Port Williams (“The Port Remembers”) notes that the Cornwallis River channel was hazardous but there is no mention that a lighthouse was a necessity nor is there any inference that one was required.

Leon Barron had his photograph and the Sessional Paper references but he was still mystified by a lack of local knowledge of the lighthouse. He continued to ask around but was met with blank looks and chuckles. Then with the photograph in hand, he tried to pinpoint the exact location of the lighthouse which appeared to have been on a rise, possibly where a plant and warehouses are located today. The task proved impossible; there had been too many changes in the village of Port Williams over the years.

Two years went by and the location of the Port Williams lighthouse was still a mystery. And despite apparently concrete evidence that it once existed, Leon was still doubtful. Too many people were telling him otherwise.

Last December Leon Barron was again going through the onerous task of reading the Sessional Papers. The Papers number in the thousands and for the most part they are dull, dry, boring and difficult to read. After several hours of thumbing through the Papers Leon was half asleep and he almost missed the item that explained the references to the Port Williams lighthouse. The Paper was dated 1883 and under “Pier Work” was this enlightening entry: “Port Lorne, formerly Port Williams or Marshall’s Cover.”

The mystery of the Port Williams lighthouse was solved.

Thanks to a retired Kings County school teacher, I have an inkling of how some of us observed Christmas half a century ago.

Gordon Hansford grew up in Wolfville in the ’30s and while in high school he played in the brass and reed band. Every Christmas members of the band would be asked to carry their instruments to the belfry of the Baptist Church; from the belfry they would serenade the town with Christmas carols.

At the December meeting of the Kings County Historical Society, Gordon Hansford spoke about those Christmas serenades from the church belfry. It was a tradition for a long time, Hansford said as he recalled the difficult climb up the ladders to the belfry carrying his drum.

One snowy Christmas night he was unable to accompany the band on their climb to the belfry. His father who ran a barber shop asked him to shovel the sidewalks and while he was removing ice and snow, he heard music from the belfry wafting over the town. Until that moment he didn’t realize how beautiful the carols sounded.

“I’ll always cherish the memory of those Christmas nights in the belfry,” Gordon said as he sat down.

I regretted not taking notes while he talked. His tale of the belfry serenades was a glimpse of a Christmas few of us will ever know and I felt it was worth preserving. I said as much to Gordon later, asking him to tell me the story again so I could write it down and run it in this column. Gordon offered to put the story on paper for me and here it is in his own words. He called it “The Band in the Belfry.”

“Back in the days just before WW11, I lived in Wolfville and attended the high school there. I played the snare drum in the brass and reed band which was directed by the Principal, Rex Porter.

“A week or so before Christmas, in the early evening, six or eight of the band members would climb up into the belfry of the Baptist Church at the corner of Highland Avenue and Main Street. Led by Mr. Porter, we would play carols which would carry over the town.

“It was really an experience hearing the beautiful old Christmas tunes float out over the busy Main Street as the snowflakes drifted down. We could look across the town, the dykelands and Minas Basin toward the far-off lights of Kingsport.

“It was cramped and cold with lots of cobwebs up in the windy steeple, but there was always hot cocoa and cookies to warm us up afterward, provided by Mr. Porter and his wife Ruth.

“We also played for hockey games in the old Acadia rink, now converted to the Atlantic Theater. We played between periods, fueled with hot dogs passed up from the canteen next to the band room.”

Gordon told me he was an original member of the high school band and was a member when the ritual of playing in the belfry first started. He played in the belfry at Christmas for several years and with the band when it was invited to various Yuletide events in the town.

Called away by the start of World War Two, Gordon couldn’t tell me how many years the band serenaded the town from the belfry. “It probably went on for as long as Mr. Porter had a high school band,” he said.

A meadow and a ford, the ford a crossing on Bass Creek, the surrounding land an expanse of meadow wrested from the wilderness by the early settlers.

In 1855 the residents of Bass Creek decided that the meadows and ford should be combined to change the name of their community to Medford. Besides, Bass Creek was a common and unimaginative place-name and in the early 19th century there were more than a dozen or so Bass Creeks, Bass Rivers and Salmon Rivers in the province. Something more dignified and fitting was called for.

This explanation for the origin of Medford’s name was given in a history of the community compiled by the Women’s Institute and published in this paper in 1951. The explanation is suspect, however. Watson Kirkconnell’s study of place-names in Kings County, published as a booklet in 1971, suggests that Medford isn’t of Nova Scotian coinage; it was a place-name familiar to the New England Planters, Kirkconnell said. There are eight Medfords in the U.S., Kirkconnell noted, and the name probably came from Massachusetts.

Kirkconnell most likely is correct, but I prefer the Women’s Institute explanation for Medford’s origin. One of the first areas where land grants were given to the Planters, Medford may have been settled as early as 1770 or 1780, and the origin of its name really doesn’t matter. What is more interesting is how Medford has changed over the years, changes that can be linked to the demise of sailing ships as vehicles of commerce and the decline of the Minas Basin fishery.

The early settlers of Medford carried surnames that will be familiar to anyone who has studied Annapolis Valley history after the expulsion of the Acadians. There were Eatons, Harringtons, Huntlys, Bigelows, Cox’s, Parkers and Weavers among the first Planter and Loyalist settlers in Medford. The Institute history tells us that Jason Huntly, Ebenezer Eaton and a “Mr. Harrington” were the first to receive land grants in Medford. Their grants appeared to comprise most of what today is greater Medford.

Like many of the early settlements along the Minas Basin, Medford’s principal occupation was fishing along with some shipbuilding. The building of ships may have become a major industry early in the community’s existence. “Shipbuilding was carried on quite extensively and a number of ships large and small were built here in 1800 and later,” the Institute history says.

As was typical of the Planters and Loyalists wherever they settled in Nova Scotia, education and religion were priorities in early Medford. Land was granted to post-Acadian settlers as early as 1760 and by approximately 1775 Medford had its first school.

Because of its proximity to the sea, (and obviously because it was the era of sail) marine navigation was taught in the first school and a number graduates became sea captains. The Institute history mentions that early Medford captains were David Loomer and Abraham Coffin. Other sea captains turned out by the Medford school were James Lombard, Frank Barkhouse, Edgar Bigelow, James Burns, Lyman Parker and Clement Barkhouse; most were descendants of Medford’s early settlers.

You won’t find Medford indexed in Eaton’s History of Kings County and I was unable to find evidence that a wharf existed there. But according to the Institute history, the now sleepy community of summer homes briefly held a place of prominence along the Minas Basin. Eventually overshadowed by Kingsport and Canning in shipbuilding, Medford was forgotten by would-be developers with the arrival of the railroad.

However, Medford was one of the first communities to have telephone lines erected – which say the Women’s Institute was still owned by the residents in 1951.

On December 8, 1911, the schooner Hibernia sailed out of Hantsport bound for Barbados with a cargo of lumber. A few days after it sailed the Hibernia ran into rough weather. A series of storms left the Hibernia helpless and foundering; drifting for 29 days in severe winter weather, the crew of the Hibernia was near death when rescue finally came. That rescue was called “miraculous” by the newspapers of the time.

The story of the Hibernia has been told before in various annals and it is one of many marine disasters that have involved Nova Scotia’s sailing ships. There is a Kings County connection to the Hibernia shipwreck, however, a connection that will be of interest to local marine history buffs.

The master of the Hibernia when it left on its fateful voyage to Barbados was Capt. Charles McDade. McDade was born in Hall’s Harbour in 1864. The mate on the vessel, and also a Sea Captain, Charles Barkhouse, was born in Medford; the cook on the Hibernia was Medford native George Edmund Parsons.

This past October, Capt. McDade’s grandson, Garnet McDade of Hantsport, was guest speaker at the Wolfville Historical Society. His topic was the last voyage of the Hibernia. Using Mr. McDade’s research material and the files of marine buff Leon Barron, Kentville, here’s a brief look at what happened to the Hibernia.

The Hibernia was one of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of sailing ships built in this region when Nova Scotia mariners were acknowledged masters of the sea. The three-masted schooner was built in Maitland by Osmond O’Brien & Company and launched in 1902. For almost a decade the Hibernia plied the oceans for the O’Brien family. Then came the final voyage out of Hantsport late in 1911. An account of the voyage by Capt. Charles Barkhouse was printed in the Anglican Church “Parish magazine.” (Apparently the Parish of Hantsport where it is noted that Mr. Barkhouse was “a faithful parishioner… and superintendent of our Sunday School.” Excerpts from the Barkhouse account follow.

“While the (Hibernia) was in the Bay of Fundy she encountered strong head winds with blinding snow and, after a week’s strenuous time, they were able to make Beaver Harbour (New Brunswick) where they were held wind bound for eight days.”

Setting sail the day after Christmas when the winds seemed favourable, the Hibernia again ran into stormy weather. A heavy gale “accompanied by a high, dangerous sea” battered the Hibernia and on December 27th a huge wave swept away part of the stern.

“To save the vessel from foundering,” the Parish magazine account continues, “the crew manned the two hand pumps…. There seemed every hope that the damage to the vessel could be repaired… but the same afternoon another big wave broke on board tearing away (more) of the stern, together with the wheel and the afterdeck. At the same time the three mast went by the board and the deck was level with the water.”

Only the Hibernia’s cargo of lumber kept her afloat. On January 8th another huge wave struck the ship; the wave “split the deck in two parts, carried away the afterhouse and swept overboard all the ship’s stores.”

After being battered by one storm after another, the Hibernia drifted helplessly. On January 16th a rescue attempt by a steamer failed due to the high seas and the Hibernia was left to its fate. Food and water gone, the crew gave up. Capt. McDade wrote a final letter to his wife, put it in a bottle and threw it overboard. Rescue came on January 17th, however, when the British steamer Denis sighted the Hibernia and was able to remove the crew. One month after McDade returned home his “final letter” was delivered to his wife. The bottle with his note had washed ashore in England.

Perhaps because it’s a third or fourth generation reproduction, the old map is confusing and difficult to read even with a powerful magnifying glass. For example, it’s difficult to determine whether the surveyor who produced the map of Horton Township 180 years ago described a road near Sheffield Mills as running “over the dyke passing the Baptist Meeting House and then over the mountain,” or as a road that passes the meeting house and has no connection with the dykes.

Whatever the mapmaker’s intent, we can see that in 1818 many of the roads in this area had no names and were often associated with prominent establishments (i.e. a meeting house or church). In some cases, references are to geographic features. For example, the area on the hill immediately north of Kentville is called the Black Forrest, a reference perhaps to the prominent stands of pines along Cornwallis Street (the “Pine Woods”) that Eaton mentioned in his Kings County history.

But before I tell you about more quaint references, a bit about the map. Actually, it’s maps. In 1818, one John Harris was commissioned to survey and produce plans of the Townships of Cornwallis, Horton and Aylesford. This he proceeded to do in November and December of 1818 and through January, 1819. Copies of the maps were obtained in Halifax by Richard Skinner, who has spent many hours pouring over them and translating much of the almost indecipherable handwriting.

I tried reading some of the writing on the maps with a magnifying glass and soon gave up. Thanks to Mr. Skinner’s efforts, however, I can pass along some of the quaint and curious descriptions of the area running roughly from Aylesford east to the Hants County border. You will find the designations amusing but keep in mind that in 1818 some areas had no official names and roads were often described by who lived along them.

“Up the Gaspereau (River) to the settlement at New Canaan” is one example of the designation for a road leading south from Wolfville. Other roads are designated simply as leading “to the Church’ or “to the town.” While Kentville is not named (one section of the map is missing) the location of the courthouse in the town is marked. The road leading from the courthouse is simply marked “from the courthouse;” another is designated as the “road to Cornwallis Town Plot,” while another is marked as “road from the post road.” A “good publick (sic) road over the mountain” is another amusing inscription, while another road has the designation “through a good settlement.”

In 1818 the Cornwallis River had still retained its Acadian name, at least on official documents. Both the Horton Township map and the Cornwallis, Aylesford Township map name the river as the “Cornwallis Dix Habitant.” The Acadians referred to the Cornwallis as the Grand Habitant and the river at Canning as being the lesser Habitant.

Richard Skinner mentioned that I would be amazed by the number of taverns shown on the old maps. Both taverns and churches are given prominence, which is a commentary of some sort on those times. I found half a dozen taverns on the maps, the majority of them outside Wolfville towards the Hants County border (probably because this was a heavily travelled area on the way to Windsor and Halifax).

Just south of Wolfville near the Post Road at Halfway River is a tavern, the name illegible. East of this, on the “road from Windsor by way of Mt. Dennison to Horton” are three more taverns; two are identified as Geo. Brown’s Tavern and Witter’s Tavern, while the third appears to be named Hare’s Tavern. Wolfville has Fowler’s Tavern, which is shown near a meeting-house, and in Kentville Peck’s Tavern was apparently noteworthy enough to be indicated on the map.

Every year when Christmas rolls around it’s a chore trying to find gifts that are not only useful but different. There are only so many ways you can wrap up socks, ties, perfume and shaving cologne.

You’ve probably given relatives and friends books for Christmas and suggesting them as gifts isn’t an original idea. But what about history books – local history books? Almost everyone like to read about the early days of the Annapolis Valley and I have some suggestions. The Kings County Historical Society has an excellent selection of history books by local authors; these books are available at the courthouse museum, Cornwallis Street, Kentville, and a partial list follows.

Two excellent books on the Wellington Dyke which are sure to be welcomed by the history buff: The Wellington Dyke, a history of the Canard River dyke system by Brent Fox. Soft cover, $8.00.

The Wellington Dyke by Marjory Whitelaw. A Nimbus publication, the most recent book on the dyke, covers the Acadians, Planters and the building of the Wellington system. 54 pages, $6.95.

Canard Street. Compiled by the late Elizabeth Rand, this is a record of the more than 50 century homes and building on Canard Street (from Porter’s Point to Upper Dyke) Kings County. Soft cover, $20.00.

For the amateur genealogist, the Historical Society offers the Township Books of Aylesford. Cornwallis and Horton in one volume (soft cover, $25.00) and The Old Wolfville Cemetery. Soft cover, $2.50.

Camp Aldershot by Brent Fox. A history of the Camp since 1904 in soft cover, $4.00.

The Homes of Woodville by Hazel Foote. Traces the history of many older homes around Woodville, Arnold Road, Brooklyn Street, Bligh Road, Parrish Road and Burgess Mountain Road. Includes many photographs. $20.00.

Sketch of Chipman Corner by James Fry. A look at Chipman Corner from 1670 to 1985. Soft cover, $2.50.

Old Railway Stations of the Maritimes by Peter M. Latta. Six Annapolis Valley Stations are profiled, including photographs. $6.95.

A History of the Baptist Church. Soft cover history of the Kentville United Baptist Church from 1874 to 1974.

Family Ties by Gordon M. Haliburton. While this book deals with the ancestral and familial connections of Thomas Chandler Haliburton, it can also be read as a history book. Soft cover, $20.00.

The Nova Scotia Eatons. While also a book dealing with a single family – one of the most prominent in this region, by the way – it is also a history text of sorts and tells us much about our early days. Soft cover, $5.00.

Kings County Vignettes. Compiled by Helen Hansford, Cathy Margeson and Elizabeth Rand, nine volumes of this excellent series have been published to date. Averaging 50 pages, each soft cover volume contains short historical sketches on Kings County by various local authors. A bargain at $5.00 each, the total series would make an excellent gift for history buffs.

In last week’s column I mentioned that Elijah Borden, the first station agent in Kingsport on the Cornwallis Valley Railway, also operated a hotel. Leon Barron, who supplied the information about Mr. Borden, couldn’t recall the name of the hotel or where it was located in Kingsport.

After this column was published I discovered a list of Annapolis Valley hotels, inns and lodges in a 19th-century tourist publication produced by the Yarmouth Steamship Co. To my surprise, Kingsport in 1896 boasted two hotels. One was the Kingsport House and E. C. Borden was shown as the proprietor; this no doubt was Elijah Borden, the station agent. Kingsport’s second hotel was the Central House, the proprietor Edw. (Edward, Edwin?) Viner.

I shouldn’t have been surprised that Kingsport supported two hotels. In its heyday, the early days of the railroad in the Annapolis Valley, Kingsport was bustling. Once completed, the Cornwallis Valley Railway connected with the Government wharf at Kingsport, where steamers regularly landed freight from Saint John.

In her history of the Dominion Atlantic Railway, Marguerite Woodworth said that the freight moving through Kingsport was “considerable;” so considerable that a few years after the Cornwallis Valley Railway began operation, it was bought out by its competition, The Windsor and Annapolis Railway.

Apparently, Kingsport was a busy place even before the railroad arrived. Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton noted in his Kings County history that Kingsport was for a long time the County’s main “point of departure for the Parrsborough packets.” This may explain why Kingsport was a favourite summer resort before the railroad reached it and could support a couple of hotels.

In 1896 Canning also offered a first class hotel. The Waverley House, with A. B. Baxter as its proprietor, boasted that it could be reached by rail from Yarmouth, and tickets were obtainable in Boston “direct to Canning.” The Waverley House may have been owned (or partly owned) by the Yarmouth Steamship Co. since it is one of only four hotels prominently advertised in the tourist publication.

Windsor, another important railroad centre in 1896, has two hotels listed in the tourist publication, the Hotel Dufferin, C. A. Jordan, proprietor, and the Victoria Hotel, operated by one T. Doran.

Windsor was a much larger centre than Wolfville in 1896, yet the latter had four hotels listed in the tourist booklet. Wolfville had the Royal Hotel, Rose Cottage Hotel, American Hotel and Kent Lodge. Why the difference in the number of lodgings in Windsor and Wolfville? The American-controlled Yarmouth Steamship Co. may have simply not listed hotels in which it had no investment.

Hantsport had two hotels in 1896 – the American Hotel and Hantsport Hotel. Horton Landing, for a time a prime area in Kings County, also had a hotel in 1896; this was the Dunedine Hotel, operated by Thomas Harris.

From Windsor running westward up the Valley, there were hotels of some sort in every major village and town. It almost seems that if a place had a name, there was a hotel, inn or lodge. Windsor, Hantsport, Horton Landing, Wolfville, Kentville, Berwick, Aylesford and Kingston had hotels. Even Port Williams was important enough to have hotels near the turn of the century even though the railroad missed it on the south and skipped around it on the north. In 1896 Port Williams had the Village House and the Port Williams Hotel, with George Brown and M. A. Orr respectively as proprietors.

The telephone calls, comments, letters and the occasional fax tell me that readers enjoy this column, especially the pieces on local history.

Now that I’ve puffed myself up a bit – with thanks, by the way, to everyone who expressed appreciation of this column – it’s time to catch up on the mail and see what readers have been saying.

On the Cornwallis Valley Railway piece, John Harvie, Hantsport, writes that he was very interested in the article on the old line. Mr. Harvie said his grandfather, Edmund, was an engineer on the line. Edmund lived in Kingsport during his tenure as an engineer with the C.V.R., later moving to Kentville when he began employment with the DAR, also as an engineer.

Mr. Harvie mentioned his mother’s cousin, Neville Prescott, who was the station agent in Centreville for many years. “I think it might be nice to mention some of the names of the people who had to do with this old railway,” Mr. Harvie concluded.

(Taking Mr. Harvie’s hint, I contacted Leon Barron who gave me the names of a number of local people who worked on the C.V.R. The first C.V.R. conductor was Gus Dickie, Kingsport. Elijah Borden was the first station agent in Kingsport. Leon said that Mr. Borden also operated a hotel in Kingsport but he couldn’t recall its name or location. Other C.V.R. station agents were Grant Townsend and Charley Kenny.)

The Ford Crossing on the C.V. R. line: I mentioned that no one could tell me why the crossing was so named, but a telephone call from Dr. Horace Foley cleared up this mini-mystery. The crossing was named for the Nathan Ford house which sat next to the railroad track. Many readers will remember Dr. Foley, Canning, who practised in Kings County for decades and is now retired.

A fax was received from John Cochrane with several items on the C.V. R. line. Mr. Cochrane writes that the spur to Weston was known as the North Mountain Railway. A map of the entire line – “the map being 20 feet or more” – is (or used to be) in the Registry of Deeds at Kentville, Mr. Cochrane says.

Mr. Cochrane adds a note that will be of interest to railroad buffs. In the Registry of Deeds, for example, is a “detailed map showing the disposition of every inch of the C.V.R. to adjacent landowners… and the names of each of the purchasers.”

The land for the C.V.R.’s right of way was obtained through the provincial Railway Act. Mr. Cochrane attached some of the applicable legislation that was used to expropriate land for the C.V.R., which is of interest because it reveals the political and legal shuffling that took place to allow the railroads to proceed.

Snig, the old Nova Scotia woodsworkers term, is a legitimate word, as was established in an October column; however, there was some doubt about the legitimacy of sneg, which appeared to be a mispronunciation of snig and is also used in the lumber woods.

But thanks to Gordon Callender, Picton, Ontario, we learn that sneg is also an actual word and is not of Nova Scotia coinage. Mr. Callender writes that he found snig and sneg in the 1928 Webster’s Dictionary. According to that dictionary, sneg is both a noun and a verb, is of obscure Scottish origin and means to cut; based on this, it’s likely sneg (and snig) were brought to Nova Scotia by Scottish settlers. Snig is also given as being of Scottish origin in the old dictionary.