“The first anniversary of the opening of the Windsor and Annapolis Railway was celebrated on Thursday last in Waterville,” reported the Daily British Colonist in its issue of August 23, 1870.

Upward of 400 employees and guests participated in the celebration in Waterville, the paper reported, the “demonstration” culminating in a supper at the Kentville Hotel where general manager Vernon Smith “entertained a number of gentlemen.”

“The Kentville Star contains an interesting description of the (railway) buildings and equipment,” the Colonist further reported, “which we shall publish in our next issue.”