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…
During Prohibition when booze was banned, reluctant liquor control officer Clifford Rose found himself in the middle of a dispute between a corrupt politician…
This curious early attempt at Photoshop on Miscou Island from the 1930s played up the legend of the GouGou Monster. Centuries earlier, French explorer…
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…
LISTEN to the full version of this story on the Backyard History Podcast! Read Part One: Liberty On The Rocks: Shootout At Bouctouche Listen…
Hugh Corkum was the wireless operator of The Liberty, the fastest rum running ship operating in the Maritimes during Prohibition when booze was banned.…
Fur trapping was big business in NB, as this 1925 photo of young Ronald W. Smith admiring the trapped foxes shows. The profitability of…
In the 1890s Frederictonians pooled money together to help fund a new health institute. It was based on an extraordinarily bizarre new health remedy:…
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…
A carload of four young people — two guys and two girls — were driving home from a dance on a dark and stormy…
Joe Walnut, then just a small fish, began to set in motion the plan that made him the leader of The Maritimes and New…