Deeper Backyard History stories selected from the migrated long-read collection.
A 300-year-old travel diary reveals what life really looked like in our region's first capital. Map of Port Royal, now called Annapolis Royal, dating…
Long before the French or English arrived in Canada, vast numbers of Basques fished the waters. They weren't colonists though, but more like seasonal…
Grand Falls name in Wəlastəkwey is Chik-un-ik’-a-bik, which means “The Destroyer.” The name refers back to the story of a young woman named Malobiannah,…
I’m thrilled to announce the launch of my new book, Backyard History: Rebellious Women in the Maritimes! This one’s for all of you who…
This curious early attempt at Photoshop on Miscou Island from the 1930s played up the legend of the GouGou Monster. Centuries earlier, French explorer…
In 1899, a reader of the New Brunswick Magazine wrote in inquiring why Nova Scotians and New Brunswickers were nicknamed “Bluenosers.” Evidently insulted, the…
In 1905 New Brunswick's most celebrated naturalist and historian William F Ganong went to the North Shore to personally investigate and get to the bottom…
Fort Nashwaak, located where Fredericton in 1692 (from W. O. Raymond's book 'The River Saint John.') 1. Well 2. Barracks 3. Commandant's Quarters 4.…
We’re always taught in school that ever since European colonists arrived in what is now Canada, that it was always a colony of either…
The lighthouses of Machias Seal Island, which remains today the only disputed land between Canada and the United States. The tower on the left…
The cover of 'Snap-Dragons' by Juliana Horatia Ewing, a childrens' Christmas story fictionalizing the extremely popular –some might say hottest– Christmas game of the…
Detail of a 1755 map of Nova Scotia. Courtesy of the Boston Public Library On May 12th, 1604, 37-year-old French explorer Samuel de Champlain…
The Lake Utopia Medallion, now found in the New Brunswick Museum N597 In 1863, a recent Scottish immigrant was wandering through the stark and…
Place names changing over time has been a constant. Their meanings, and how they change, can be interesting though. Provincial Archives of New Brunswick…
This 1893 photograph is of a reconstructed caravel, one of the two ships that carried settlers overseas to the lost colony which, if the…
A postcard depicting the Bay of Fundy, looking at Wolfe Point. Provincial Archives of New Brunswick P46\912 What does “Fundy” mean? Where does the…
Photgraph taken by Mark Pulsifier during his wildlife research on Isle Haute in the 1980s. In the middle of the Bay of Fundy, between…
Mount House as photographed around 1935. (Provincial Archives of New Brunswick RS310-B9-10) One of New Brunswick’s greatest mysteries is a massive, ancient mansion on…
This photo is from 1904 in downtown Saint John, New Brunswick a massive week long celebration of the 300 year anniversary of Samuel de…
Shanawdithit. The photo is from Library and Archives Canada. It is thought to be her, though it’s not entirely sure. The painter was either…
L’anse aux meadows, Newfoundland Half a millennium before Christopher Columbus set eyes on North America, Vikings built several settlements across Atlantic Canada, only one…
This particular map was published by Abraham Ortelius in a book of maps he called Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Ortelius was from the Netherlands, and…
Artist William Hogarth made a career out of critiquing drinking in his paintings and etchings in the 1700s. (William Hogarth, Beer Street, 1750–51) It…
A slightly terrifying ad for the Shediac Lobster Festival from 1962, by Jack McMellon. The North American lobster is now a staple of high-end…