The Forgotten Christmas Traditions of Old New Brunswick
Many of our beloved holiday traditions are surprisingly young. For example the old Loyalists would have been baffled at what a tree was doing…
December 9, 2025
1700s Christmas Long Read
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The Wreck of the Martha
Loyalists had to endure unimaginable hardships to make it to the safety of New Brunswick, and not all made it. One ship of refugees…
June 10, 2025
1700s Bay of Fundy Saint John War Long Read
The First Murder in New Brunswick
New Brunswick’s first-ever murder took place in 1784, only two months after the province was created. The murder weapon was an ordinary table fork.…
May 13, 2025
1700s Bay of Fundy Saint John Strange Tales Women Long Read
ANNOUNCEMENT: Book 3 ‘Rebellious Women In The Maritimes’ Is Out!
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…
November 13, 2024
1600s and Before 1700s 1800s 1900s Women Long Read
The Man Who Was Hanged On The Gallows He Built
A remarkable tale of dastardly murder, daring escape, and disastrously bad luck in the earliest days of New Brunswick is so (in)famous that it…
October 15, 2024
1700s Bay of Fundy Strange Tales Long Read
American Invaders Stole PEI’s Great Seal
Map of Prince Edward Island in 1775. Titled: "A plan of the island of St. John with the divisions of the counties parishes &…
October 1, 2023
1700s PEI War Long Read
Benjamin Franklin’s “Worthless” Nova Scotian Land
Benjamin Franklin is a major figure in the American cultural mythology of the birth of the United States, and his face is found today…
June 4, 2023
1700s Nova Scotia War Long Read
The Hottest Dance Club In Early New Brunswick
This rare photo is from 1872, before The Great Fire but a century after MacPherson’s Coffee House stood here. MacPherson’s had been the hottest…
May 19, 2023
1700s Saint John Long Read
“Valiant Amazon:” Elizabeth Beard’s Fight Against Americans
While this famous woodcut depicts an American woman named Molly Pitcher who fought in the American Revolution, there was also another, completely forgotten woman…
March 3, 2023
1700s Fredericton War Women Long Read
Using This Loophole, Women Voted Centuries Before “Allowed “
WSPU leaders Annie Kenney (left) and Christabel Pankhurst, 1908 (public domain) Canadian women officially got the right to vote in 1919, but there is…
January 26, 2023
1700s 1800s Fredericton Women Long Read
The Atlantic Neptune
Twenty years and ₤100,000 was spent in the 1700s making a monumental book of beautiful maps and pictures of the coasts of North America…
August 19, 2022
1700s Bay of Fundy Forgotten Ruins Nova Scotia Long Read
Some Unusual Place Names in New Brunswick
Place names changing over time has been a constant. Their meanings, and how they change, can be interesting though. Provincial Archives of New Brunswick…
July 8, 2022
1600s and Before 1700s 1800s Bay of Fundy North Shore Saint John Strange Tales Long Read
Rose Hall: Benedict Arnold’s Fredericton Home
Drawing by Marion Cumming. This drawing is of Rose Hall 2.0, the rebuilt second version of home, after fires destroyed the first one. (Provincial…
July 1, 2022
1700s 1800s Forgotten Ruins Fredericton Long Read
The Mysterious Isle Haute
Photgraph taken by Mark Pulsifier during his wildlife research on Isle Haute in the 1980s. In the middle of the Bay of Fundy, between…
March 12, 2022
1600s and Before 1700s Bay of Fundy Forgotten Ruins Nova Scotia Strange Tales Long Read Popular
The Mystery Of Mount House
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…
January 14, 2022
1600s and Before 1700s 1800s Forgotten Ruins Strange Tales War Long Read Popular
The First Ever Flight In Canada
The first ever manned flight in Canada took place in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1840. The improbable pilot, a 54 year old French…
January 2, 2022
1700s 1800s Saint John Strange Tales Long Read
The Governor’s New Years Levee Tradition
New Brunswick has an old tradition called the Governor’s New Year’s Levee dating back to when the province’s creation in 1784. It took different…
December 31, 2021
1700s 1800s Fredericton Saint John Long Read
How Vaccines Eliminated The Most Deadly Disease Ever
A poster offering smallpox vaccines during a 1848 outbreak in Saint John, New Brunswick. Note Dr. Pollack, possibly the first person to administer a…
August 25, 2021
1700s 1800s 1900s Long Read
All’s Fair In Love And Classified Ads
On our social media we sometimes see jilted lovers calling each other out, or couples fighting publicly for the world to see. Is this…
May 18, 2021
1700s 1800s Strange Tales Women Long Read
Drinking In The Maritimes
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…
February 24, 2021
1600s and Before 1700s 1800s 1900s Moncton Nova Scotia PEI Rum Runners Women Long Read Popular
From Pauper to Proper: A Brief History Of Lobster
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…
February 15, 2021
1600s and Before 1700s 1800s Long Read Popular