The Maritimes’ Greatest Bank Robbery
The victim of The Maritimes most expensive bank robbery was the Prince Edward Island bank in 1881. It was, however, not as straight forward…
May 26, 2026
1800s PEI Saint John Long Read
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The First Undersea Cable in North America Went from N.B. to PEI
The completion of the transatlantic cable from Ireland in 1866 was a massive international event (pictured). But 14 years earlier, the first ever undersea…
April 6, 2026
1800s PEI Long Read
The Woodman’s Ghost
A crew of woodsmen pause for a photo deep in the forest, axes in hand and snow at their feet. What they did out…
February 3, 2026
1800s North Shore PEI Long Read
New Years A Century Ago
One hundred years ago, Maritimers rang in the New Year with optimism, oddball traditions, and a world on the brink of change (Provincial Archives…
December 30, 2025
1900s Christmas Fredericton Saint John Long Read
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
The News Boys New Years Annual Address
My first ever job was a paperboy. I used to deliver the newspapers that Backyard History is published in. (That’s not relevant to the…
December 27, 2024
1800s Christmas Strange Tales Long Read
Christmas A Century Ago
Some exceptionally stylish women (note the scandelous new short haircuts) in 1924 posing painting toys. One century ago, many of the things we take…
December 18, 2024
1900s Christmas Long Read
Claus-trophobia and Santa’s Other Maritimes Misadventures
It turns out that Santa has had a remarkable number of strange misadventures in the Maritimes over the years. Here are four of them.…
December 10, 2024
1900s Christmas Saint John Strange Tales Long Read
The Ghost of Binstead Manor
A sketch of Binstead House, just outside of Charlottetown, PEI. In 1856, wealthy Englishwoman Georgina Pennée moved into the house and found an unexpected…
October 23, 2024
1800s PEI Strange Tales Women Long Read
Liberty On The Rocks (Part Three) Captured in Charlottetown
Hear longer and more in-depth versions of the three stories in the 'Liberty On The Rocks' Trilogy trilogy come to life on the Backyard…
April 10, 2024
1900s Nova Scotia PEI Rum Runners Long Read
Nancy New Year of the North Shore
Nancy New Year is a centuries old tradition which still survives today along New Brunswick's North Shore of a fairy, imagined here by the…
December 28, 2023
1800s Christmas North Shore Long Read Popular
Santa’s First Appearance In The Maritimes
A photo of Charles Sampson that appeared alongside a profile on him in the New Brunswick Reporter in 1874. Notably for the time, this…
December 20, 2023
1800s Christmas Fredericton Long Read
A Halifax Christmas Murder Mystery
On Christmas night in 1824, a drunk and lonely elderly man stumbled through Halifax’s dark, cold and icy streets. Edward Shea had come into…
December 13, 2023
1800s Christmas Nova Scotia 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
Terry Fox In Atlantic Canada
Statue of Terry Fox in St. John's, Newfoundland, where his Marathon of Hope first began. While Terry Fox’s ‘Marathon of Hope’ had begun with…
September 16, 2023
1900s Moncton Newfoundland Nova Scotia PEI Long Read
When PEI Banned Cars
An ad for McLaughlin Automobiles, an Ontario company that was once a dominant car maker in Nort America. Within days of McLaughlin opening a…
March 10, 2023
1900s PEI Strange Tales Long Read
‘T’was The Night Before Christmas’ Maritimes Connection
A 1903 drawing of Santa Claus by Rose O'Neill. Much of how we see Santa is from Clement Clarke Moore's poem 'Twas The Night…
December 24, 2022
1800s Christmas Fredericton Long Read
The Hottest Forgotten Game Of Christmas Past
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…
December 16, 2022
1600s and Before 1800s Christmas Fredericton Strange Tales Long Read
On Unceded Land: We Are All Treaty People
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…
September 30, 2022
1600s and Before Bay of Fundy Forgotten Ruins Nova Scotia PEI Saint John Long Read
Christmas 1868 In New Brunswickers’ Own Words
Five years after the events in this article, Juliana Horatia Ewing would publish a Christmas short story called ‘Old Father Christmas’ which was set…
December 24, 2021
1800s Christmas Fredericton Saint John Long Read
Santa And The Flaming Christmas Tree Incident
This is a very rare photo of an indoor Christmas tree in 1905 taken in Bloomfield Station, New Brunswick. The child is a two…
December 19, 2021
1800s Christmas Fredericton Saint John Strange Tales Long Read
Before Santa Claus There Was The Queen Of The Fairies
“T’was the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by…
December 12, 2021
1800s Christmas Fredericton Long Read
The First Christmas In North America
This photo is from 1904 in downtown Saint John, New Brunswick a massive week long celebration of the 300 year anniversary of Samuel de…
December 3, 2021
1600s and Before Bay of Fundy Christmas Nova Scotia Long Read Popular
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