
The Murder of Timothy McCarthy
For decades, Acadian singers would open a long, mournful ballad with those words in the song called “Le Meurtre de Timothy McCarthy,” which means…

For decades, Acadian singers would open a long, mournful ballad with those words in the song called “Le Meurtre de Timothy McCarthy,” which means…

A monument marking the 50th anniversary of the provincial park system being unveiled at Glenwood in 1985. At this event, Arnold Mann, who built…

There is more than lobster to be found in the waters beyond Dipper Harbour, where this curious 1960 tourism promo was shot. A century…

‘Farewell to Nova Scotia’ is a Maritimes anthem that has been performed by everyone from Stan Rogers to Stompin' Tom Connors; from Anne Murray…

Nova Scotians attend the makeshift funeral for victims of the SS Atlantic catastrophe. Among the dead buried in this mass grave was a sailor…

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…

Find a longer version of this story – and many others – in the fourth Backyard History book ‘Mysterious Stories From Atlantic Canada’s Past,’…

For countless ships headed to Halifax’s harbour, the first glimpse of the Sambro Island Lighthouse (pictured) marked the relief of a journey’s end. But…

When 22-year-old Louisa Journeaux stepped into a rowboat one quiet Sunday evening, she couldn’t have imagined that the whole world would hear about it.…

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…

Hear a much longer (and much better) version of this story on the Backyard History Podcast, starring Stephanie Tait voicing Beryl Markham and producer…

In the winter of 1889, Saint John threw itself a party and accidentally exposed some deeply uncomfortable truths about race, respectability and who was…

A crew of woodsmen pause for a photo deep in the forest, axes in hand and snow at their feet. What they did out…

One hundred years ago, Maritimers rang in the New Year with optimism, oddball traditions, and a world on the brink of change (Provincial Archives…

Many of our beloved holiday traditions are surprisingly young. For example the old Loyalists would have been baffled at what a tree was doing…

Here we see Clara Dennis during her solo Nova Scotia roadtrip that formed the backbone of her internatsional bestselling book "Down In Nova Scotia."…

Joseph Lacasse had been told his whole life what he couldn't do. Born with one leg nearly a foot shorter than the other, he'd…

On these foggy Saint John streets in 1894, an eight-year-old girl was found crying, all alone. She had been abandoned by her adoptive parents.…

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…

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.…

I spent so long searching old Australian newspapers from the 1850s for what I understood was going to be a photo of New Brunswicker…

New Brunswick Legends Tapestries – Great Fire of the Miramichi, 1996, Designed by Micheal McEwing, Woven by Ivan H Crowell. (Provincial Archives of New…

As he neared the end of his long and eventful life, legendary Wolastoqiyik Sachem (chief) Gabriel Acquin sat down with UNB professor Dr. Edward…

Alfred Elsliger (Canadian Virtual War Memorial) Alfred W. Elsliger enlisted with his friends, including my Great Uncle Wilfred Smith, in his little hometown of…