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Sackville, New Brunswick: Campbell Carriage Factory Museum

By
Judy
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The Campbell Carriage Factory Museum is on Church Street in Sackville, New
Brunswick.
Liam at the Carriage House Museum


It’s the only carriage manufacturing museum left in Canada. And the crazy thing is, when this company closed its doors in 1951 it wasn’t reopened until the 1980s and, according to Liam, “Nothing had been touched. It was like everybody just walked off the job and left things as they were.”

Liam, 23, took me on tour and pointed out some of the unique wooden wheel making
equipment. He said in the 80s antique dealers came in and bought a lot of the items. “The thing is, they didn’t really even know the carriage business so they took what they knew – hammers and chisels and stuff. But what they left were the really valuable tools like this,” said Liam, holding up a large metal pliers that looked like it could pull a tooth.
“This was used to help straighten the spokes and pull them into place on a wooden wheel.”  I asked what it was called and Liam said he didn’t know the technical name but he called it the “spoke straightener.”

The carriage factory also built caskets.  Above is a collection of hardware used
to decorate the caskets.
There were two floors to the shop. Pieces of the carriage were hand-crafted on the first floor and assembled and painted on the second. “It’s odd they would move the finished product a level up because then they had to get it down,” said Liam. “But because they had to paint it and dust would fall to the level below they had the paint department on the second floor.”
The door of the paint shop was used as a pallet to test the viscosity of the paint since only white paint was available and all colors had to be mixed by hand.  “So this raised rough glop is over 100 years of paint being thrown onto the door to see if the paint was the right consistency,” said Liam.
In its heyday, the Carriage factory employed about 16 people. Liam said a single 4-horse engine ran the turbine for all the equipment. “It was so loud in this part of the building that the craftsmen had to talk to each other using a form of sign language.

The Campbell Carriage Factory Museum is now run as a museum and receives federal funding.

For a full history of the museum, click HERE.

Amherst, Nova Scotia

By
Judy
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Amherst, Nova Scotia has a lot of cool things like free Wi-Fi in the downtown area, painted murals on buildings and sculptures made out of trees that were cut down due to Dutch Elm disease.
This mural (below) is in tribute to soldiers that went to serve in WWII. In the foreground is a tree carved into a Nova Scotia Highlander.
This tree art of a woman is located on Virginia Street in front of the Baptist Church. (Photo below)
One of the most interesting murals is on the back side of a building on Virginia and Laplanche Streets (photo below). ‘The Great Amherst Mystery’ is about Esther Cox, who was a bit of a whack job in 1879. She would see things in her home like matches that would light themselves on the floor and she would hear voices. Doctors came in to check her out and they confirmed they heard the things too.
The best story came from a teen in Amherst. Ben said Esther Cox once turned into a blueberry. It was such a Willy Wonka salute to Violet Beauregarde … 




After three days on the bike I crossed into New Brunswick. It’s still considered Canada; they use the same denomination of money, but there is more French spoken here and motorists have a different style of license plate. 

Checking off my bucket list….

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Judy
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Knock Nova Scotia off my bucket list.  Third day on the road and crossed over just after noon.

Calling it a day in Sackville tonight; a bit spent from yesterday. I converted Celsius wrong.  It wasn’t mid 80s, it was 96 with high humidity.

Today is cooler; sunny, but windy due to crosswinds from Bay of Fundy.

Riding in Tribute to…

By
Judy
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…………Vic Albiero today.

Gen and Vic

Traveling Truro and Beyond; Clams and a Cold Brew

By
Judy
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Making my way north out of Truro to Amherst …. with the best of intentions. Sunny skies and temps in the upper 80s – but strong headwinds most of the way. 
Took the old Route 4 which was the primary road before the Trans Canada Highway. A bit more scenic, lot of up/down including a 50-minute slow climb of Folly Mountain. Rewarded on the back side with seven miles of down and top speed of 39.7 mph. 


This mural (above) was alongside a barn at Wentworth Valley Ski Hill. It showed people getting off a train with their wide wooden skis with strap bindings. 

There was a little food truck, Emily’s Tatties Take Out. It looked like a 1950’s comet camper sitting along Route 4. Pauline Cooke ran the shop that featured ‘the best clams ever eaten.’
“We get them fresh every day. We don’t over cook them and we have a secret breading,” Pauline said while sweating inside the unvented camper.

I stopped for some shade. Pauline offered me fried clams. I would have paid for shade and she said she would have, too. 

A Painting of Dominion Day 1913 (above) on the side of the Days Gone By Antiques and Collectibles shop at 27 Water St in Oxford. 
Dominion Day was the name of the holiday commemorating the formation of Canada as a Dominion on 1 July 1867. The holiday was renamed to Canada Day by Act of Parliament on 27 October 1982.

Sampled some of Nova Scotia’s home brew while relaxing after a hot 58-mile day. 

Pastor Brad and Family
Pulled into the small community of Oxford and it only took one ‘ask’ and Pastor Brad let me stay in the youth building at the Church of the Nazarene on Main Street in Oxford. 

“There are some stale chips on the counter and warm soda if you like,” he said. So sweet. 

The youth building had several couches, a clean bathroom and…… thank God for air conditioning. 


I met the pastor’s wife and kids. The family was leaving to go camping, as July 1 is their Canada Day holiday.

Pastor Brad asked about my jersey and the tour; as he was headed out the door he said, “I’ll say a prayer for your dad.”

So kind. He left, and then popped back, “Do you want the wi-fi password?”

Have I mentioned how nice folks are in Nova Scotia?!

Small town sights of Oxford

By
Judy
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Tooled around Oxford this morning and took in some small town sights.
Oxford city council saving taxpayers by using utility poles to hold their street signs.

A little mom-and-pop grocery in a home…. the way it used to be.


Oxford, home to Canada’s largest processor of wild blueberries.
This struck me as odd; so used to the American flag flying the highest….

Happy Canada Day!

By
Judy
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Happy Canada Day!

It’s like our 4th of July, only it’s today, and it means a lot of businesses are closed so I will be on and off the road early.

(Canada Day is a federal holiday that celebrates the anniversary of the July 1, 1867 enactment of the British North America Act.)

Making my way to Amherst.

One of the Tribe

By
Judy
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Met someone from my tribe today; John was from Wales.  “I have two weeks to bugger around,” he said.

John

Both of us commiserated about the hills and the heat.  “At least you have a tailwind,” I said.  “I don’t have a tailwind,” John quickly countered.  Then he said like a pirate, “Arrrrgh! The blood crosswind must have her hooks in both of us!”

John had a unique bicycling fashion style which was not at all similar to my fluorescent, wick-away spandex.  He gravitated toward the more casual plaid shirt with easy access ventilation up front.  While his attire did not appear to breath too well, I tried not to look too closely.

With the sun beating down on both of us and softening a patch of tar at my feet, John said he was having a good time, and he was off.

Masstown Market

By
Judy
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MASSTOWN, NOVA SCOTIA – A landmark and stopping point for many to refuel. Located about 18 miles north of Truro.

The grocery is similar to Sendik’s and the fresh fish market is housed in a
neighboring lighthouse.
Outside the lighthouse is a little display about high tides. The tiny tug boat will go up and down a three-story high cable depending on the tide and location by the Bay of Fundy – a 170 mi long v- shaped pocket of seawater branching off of the Atlantic Ocean.
A hat tip to store manager Dan who donated 10 post cards to the tour so I can share my adventures with supporters back home!



View from atop the lighthouse at Masstown Market.

Morning Interview on WBKV AM With Bob Bonenfant, West Bend, Wisconsin

By
Judy
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Judy was on the WBKV AM morning program with host Bob Bonenfant.

Listen to podcast HERE!

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