When Oscar Wilde Was Heckled In Fredericton
On October 5th, 1882, Oscar Wilde arrived in Fredericton to kick off his tour of The Maritimes. To call the city’s reaction to him…
July 21, 2026
1800s Fredericton
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The Sunken Treasure Ship In The Bay of Fundy
There is more than lobster to be found in the waters beyond Dipper Harbour, where this curious 1960 tourism promo was shot. A century…
June 30, 2026
1800s Bay of Fundy War
Who Killed the Maritimes’ Greatest Flying Ace?
These articles on the website are (mostly) the articles from the Backyard History newspaper column, which have a strict 1,000 words/week limit. In the…
May 12, 2026
1900s War
Duffy’s Hotel: The Wildest Hotel in New Brunswick
“If you're longing for fun and enjoyment Or inclined to go out on a spree, Come along with me over to Boiestown On the…
April 21, 2026
1800s Fredericton
The Night The Crocodiles Attacked
A Fredericton Commando’s Second World War Victory Had The Japanese On The Run. Then Came The Crocodiles. Frederictonian Bruce Wright’s (left) idle daydreaming during…
March 17, 2026
1900s Fredericton Strange Tales War
Kethro The Barber’s Curious Singing Career
One of the oldest photos of Fredericton’s Christ Church Cathedral, taken in 1857. Ten years after this photo was taken, the letters of British…
February 16, 2026
1800s Fredericton Strange Tales
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
The Hero of Priestman Street
Fredericton’s Bryan Priestman survived two world wars — only to lose his life on Remembrance Day, trying to save an eight-year-old boy. (Provincial Archives…
November 7, 2025
1900s Fredericton Greatest Hits War
My Classmate Who Never Came Home
Colin Wilmot's photo in our high school yearbook. Back in high school, I sat next to a warm, funny, kind-hearted soul named Colin Wilmot.…
November 4, 2025
1900s Fredericton War
The Great Fredericton Fire
This tapestry depicting the Great Fire of Fredericton today hangs in Fredericton's City Hall, in the council chambers. (Or, at least it did when…
September 23, 2025
1800s Fredericton
The Hatchet Buried In The Stream
As he neared the end of his long and eventful life, legendary Wolastoqiyik Sachem (chief) Gabriel Acquin sat down with UNB professor Dr. Edward…
September 8, 2025
1800s War
The Prison Camp Poem of Alfred Elsliger
Alfred Elsliger (Canadian Virtual War Memorial) Alfred W. Elsliger enlisted with his friends, including my Great Uncle Wilfred Smith, in his little hometown of…
August 30, 2025
1900s North Shore War
The Mysterious East: The Magazine That Shook Up The Maritimes
The cover of the first ever edition of The Mysterious East — a rebellious 1960s counterculture magazine published out of a Fredericton apartment. With…
June 24, 2025
1900s Forgotten Ruins Fredericton
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
The Search For Lost Boy Albert Smythe
A collection of headlines from newspapers about the serch for missing child Albert Smythe in 1922. Today, a missing child is a huge deal.…
June 3, 2025
1900s Fredericton
Malobiannah and The Destroyer: The Heroine of Grand Falls
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,…
April 29, 2025
1600s and Before Greatest Hits War Women
The Night Fredericton’s Bridge Floated Away
Fredericton experienced a harrowing day of severe flooding that seemed to come out of nowhere with shocking speed in 1936, only to recede just…
April 22, 2025
1900s Fredericton
How a New Brunswick Inventor Revolutionized the Seas
A drawing of the Reindeer, New Brunswick inventor Benjamin Tibbits famous pride and joy. The important part was what was inside: the compound steam…
March 18, 2025
1800s Fredericton
The Found Love in a Time of Hate
Amidst the chaos of the Second World War, love blossomed between a young man and a young woman who met at a dance contest.…
February 11, 2025
1900s Fredericton War Women
The Canadian Sailor Who Witnessed Lincoln’s Assassination
A young sailor from Fredericton was on shore leave in Washington DC on April 14th, 1865. He spontaneously decided to see a play at…
February 4, 2025
1800s Fredericton Strange Tales War
Two Teachers’ Summer Vacation on the Brink of War
As Europe teetered on the brink of war in the Summer of 1939, two Moncton schoolteachers went on a carefree two-month-long vacation across that…
January 28, 2025
1900s Moncton War Women
Hector The Mischievous Bulldog
A sketch Juliana Horatia Ewing included in the letters she wrote while in Fredericton to her family in England of a canine character she…
December 3, 2024
1800s Fredericton Strange Tales
Prince Charles and Johnny Cash Met in a Maritimes Locker Room
The story behind this iconic photo of Prince Charles and Johnny Cash in a Fredericton locker room. (Provincial Archives of New Brunswick P733-4) Fredericton…
November 26, 2024
1900s Fredericton Greatest Hits Strange Tales
Janet Webster’s Secret War
This is an abbreviated part of the centrepiece story of my new book, Rebellious Women In The Maritimes. Order your copy of the book…
November 13, 2024
1900s Moncton War Women