New Brunswick Traveler

Did you know that men from New Brunswick fought in the American Civil War? I certainly didn’t! That is until I saw that the New Brunswick Historical Society is raising money to purchase a sword that a medical officer from St. Andrews had used when he served with the Union army. I did an interview with the president of the historical society to get the rest of the story.

(Mark) I'm here today with Greg Marquis, who's the president of New Brunswick Historical Society. And one of the things I'm really interested in, Greg is the fact that something between 35, 000 and 50, 000 individuals from what is now known as Canada fought in the American civil war, mostly on the side of the union. So why is the story of Dr. John Stevenson’s sword important?

(Greg) Well, I think it's important for the very issue you've raised that so many men were involved in this supposedly foreign war, but it wasn't really that foreign to many people living in the British colonies. Now, Stevenson. was a bit more of an exception because he crossed the border after the war started, to enlist; whereas many of the Canadian men who joined union regiments for the most part were already living down in the States, working and that type of thing. And he represents the medical history, which is also interesting. We certainly know that there's hundreds of men from New Brunswick who served, but obviously a smaller number of doctors. I think the other interesting thing about Stevenson is that he was a surgeon for one of the all black infantry regiments, except for the officers and the Connecticut 29th Regiment. About 1, 000 or 1, 200 men mainly from Connecticut and New England who were African American volunteered to preserve the union. He served with that unit and they served in Virginia and later they went to Texas and that's where he became ill and died.

(Greg) So why is a sword important? I don't think we have any personal dress swords because this is not a combat sword on display in Atlantic Canada. This was the ceremonial or dress sword that even medical officers had to have as part of their kit. So this would be a first and I think it would be a very. Important symbol of that participation because we don't have a lot of uniforms and artifacts and weapons and things like that - the physical aspect of the service of these men. And so I think it would be important to have this. To help remember that time of history and also to help remember Dr. Stevenson, who was from St. Andrews, New Brunswick, and after he passed away, he was buried there.

(Mark) So trying to get the sword, what's the process and how can people assist with that?

(Greg) Well, from what I understand, the collector in Ontario is sort of holding it for us. Which is nice because I think he believes that it should stay in Canada and we agree. The total cost of purchasing and displaying the sword will be about $7,000. Donations can be made directly to the museum, or Canada Helps for individuals to receive a tax deduction receipt.

Donation through CanadaHelps

New Brunswick Historical Society Website

January 28 talk at the library

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Picture that I am using is from the New Brunswick Historical Society

Mark J Brewer, Host

This episode deals with the history of leprosy in New Brunswick and the government’s policy of forcing the “lepers” as young as eight to segregate on Sheldrake Island without adequate accommodation or support. Basically, deals with the types of decisions that communities and governments make when pressured by fear, ignorance, or hidden agendas. The episode also highlights the efforts of the Acadian community to not allow the names of the 15 individuals that died on the island to be forgotten.

Video and Lesson plans - https://loststories.ca/sheldrake/

https://www.canadashistory.ca/explore/arts-culture-society/the-lepers-of-tracadie

https://leprosyhistory.org/geographical_region/site/canada

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprosy_Act_1906

Talking with Jenna Fitch from Kings Landing. They are having an event there called Maple, the First Taste of Spring. Jenna will share about this event and some background of Kings Landing.

Jenna: Our Maple Event has been going on for about 40 years. Visitors can come and get a glimpse into what life in the sugarbush was like in the 1900s.

The history of maple dates back many years. introduced by indigenous people in the area and then, shown to settlers as this amazing product that you can use. Very sweet, very nourishing and very energizing. We have a couple of houses open where we talk about life in the winter in the 19th century. And then we have demonstration of how they would boil that sap down to then make maple syrup and then eventually the maple candy, which is usually everybody's favorite.

It is just a fun day for the family to get out, learn a little history and just mostly have some fun. Take a horse and wagon ride as well. And then we do have our pancake breakfast in support of the Luxor Shriners.

Mark: So, talk a little more then about King's Landing itself. I know that, when the dam was put in, there were a lot of homes that were going to be essentially destroyed when the water filled. And many of those homes, or some of them at least, were moved.

Jenna: Yes, it was the late 1960s. And as you mentioned, the dam construction project was sort of underway or the plans were in place and a committee came together there is a lot of history in this area that eventually would be underwater.

So, they wanted to save different buildings or houses that had some type of historical significance. About 70 of these historic buildings are on our site. Some early after we opened, some in the late 1960s, and others in the 1970s. Kings Landing is now alive as a 19th century village where people can come and visit the different homes and the characters inside. We also have the shops, including the Blacksmith, the Carpenter and the General Store, which is my favorite.

We have been operating for 50 years now. July 20th was our official opening date in 1974. We will be having a celebration in the summer as well, on July 20th, to mark that.

Kings Landing – The First Taste of Spring

Travelogue: In the Footsteps of Joni Mitchell

NB Poli Podcast

CanadaLand

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I noticed that there's a lot in tourism literature today about a term called glamping, G L A M P I N G, which seems to be something about geodesic domes. My interest in doing this podcast is simply to find out more about that. Concept itself, how you got interested in it and just what you're doing out there in the forest. Well, glamping is like a nice medium between camping and luxury hotels. We found that many families will have one member of family that likes to either camp or rough it and enjoy the outdoors. As well, another member of the family would prefer to go to a luxury hotel and have. Things like flushing toilets glamping and the geodesic domes can provide both of those. So, our plan is to make vacations easy. We are trying to make an easy family friendly vacation that's in nature and provides luxury. We chose domes because they are popular. It also provides us with an easy shell, with a lot of interior space to be creative. We have a heat pump that also has air conditioning for summer, and we have a wood burning stove in there which keeps things nice and comfortable in colder weather. As well as those items. We have other luxuries in there. We have a hot shower. We have a sink in the washroom and a fully plumbed house style toilet. We have a kitchen which is fully stocked with pans, pots, cups, plates, knives, forks, glasses. There's a fridge freezer. And a cooktop., We're also going to be providing a grill, so people can cook outside. Being there in the woods boosts immune system. It's calming, it reduces stress stimulates creative thinking, lowers heart rate, lowers cholesterol, and has proven to reduce depression, but we took it a little step further as well. We've introduced grounding mats into our beds. Since about the 1950s, when shoes started to be made with rubber soles, we've lost that ground connection. So we did some research on that and found that there are many benefits to grounding or some people call it earthing. For example, some of these benefits are it reduces pain and inflammation. It can improve sleep, increase energy accelerate recovery and healing. And normalizes biological rhythms. To find out more about Forest Lane Domes and Experiences, go to their website, or call at (519) 216-9803.

This episode is a conversation with David Goss, a well-known author and storyteller from Saint John. He gives some information about some of the developing traditions of Christmas in New Brunswick. Following are some of the things that David said:

I think a lot of Christmas celebrations in New Brunswick are homogenized. They are pretty much the same for everybody in every area of the province. Although when I did my first book on Christmas, the Acadian Christmas was quite different. Their Christmas was more based on the baby Jesus and the Nativity story than the Anglophone Christmas was. They told me they didn't celebrate Christmas, but what they meant is they didn't celebrate Christmas the way the Anglophone population did, which was mostly based on Santa Claus, after about 1880.

But before that, the first Christmas that I was able to get records of was Lady Hunter in Fredericton in 1804 to 1808. She was here with her husband, Sir Martin Hunter, and they came from England. He was the Governor General of the province, representing England. And they were with the military in Fredericton, and she wrote letters back to England, several letters over the years, 1804 four to 1808. And in those, she just described the Christmas that they were enjoying in New Brunswick. By that time, English Christmases were quite well established, but among the New Brunswickers, there was probably very people were just getting by, living very frugal existences.

But Sir Martin Hunter had the wherewithal to have lavish parties and balls, and have the military involved in them. So, they skated on the river, and they had sleigh rides, and they had the barracks all decorated with greenery, which nobody else was doing at the time.

And Queen Mab.was the gift giver. Santa Claus hadn't come on the scene yet. Although Clement Moore had written the famous “Twas the Night Before Christmas”, it wasn’t until 1821 or 1822 that it was written. So, they were before the era of Santa Claus, but there was still a gift giver and it was Queen Mab. And there were still stockings hung. So that was a tradition even before Clement Moore's time. So that was the first time I ran across any great collection of information about Christmas in New Brunswick, and there's not much more until about the 1850s.

In 1848, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's image appears with a Christmas tree in the Illustrated London News, and that's the first appearance of a Christmas tree idea in the United Kingdom. In the 1850s, 1860s, and 70s, maybe 10 percent of New Brunswickers had trees. By 1900, 90% had trees in their house. So that tradition grew slowly over a period of 50 years. As far as public trees go, the first public tree in Saint John was not until 1923, and it was in King Square.

Then the Irving’s began that tradition in 1980 of lighting a large Christmas tree during the time that Canada was celebrating its bicentennial. So, during the bicentennial years, which was 1983-85, the tree grew to be a massive 66-foot tree with over 5, 000 lights. It was known as the most beautiful tree in Canada at that time. And then, the tree blew down one year. Broke in two. And they, they now reduced it down to about a 30-foot tree. But it's still a magnificent sight, for sure.

David is offering his newest book Cottage and Campfire Chillers as a Christmas special. A signed copy directly from the author for $12.00, or two for $20.00. Mailed anywhere in Canada for $15.00. Contact [email protected] or call (506) 672-8601. Mark J Brewer, Host