Festive Times at Nova Scotian Museums

Many of Nova Scotia's museums participate in the festive season. Programs range from special exhibits, workshops, children's events and fundraising sales. Some museums simply use it as a time to say "Thank you" to the community members who offer their support in very many ways over the course of the year.

Staff and volunteers fling themselves into the spirit of the season and some inspiring results follow.

The current trend to "Buy local" has served Christmas craft sales at museums well and reports say attendance and sales have been very good.

Children's programing focuses on the lighter side of the season. Queen's County Museum in Liverpool has a tradition of its own to create a festive array of lights and decorations that delight young visitors. Staff have been adding to the collection of hand cut snowflakes that are a special part of the display over several years.

O'Dell House Museum, Annapolis Royal is dressed in period greenery by a corps of volunteers for a series of festive events. Several museums in the province use the period rooms & buildings as backdrops for seasonal programing.

Mahone Bay Settler's Museum takes this approach and also participates in the town's Father Christmas Festival. All part of community participation and partnering.

Best wishes to all for a safe & happy festive season!

A Day in Iona, Cape Breton

I was recently invited to join members of The Iona Connection at their 25th Anniversary Celebration held at the Highland Village Museum (http://museum.gov.ns.ca/hv/), Iona, Cape Breton. The Connection is a group of heritage related organisations who work together to jointly market their sites and programs throughout Cape Breton Island. The meeting was very well attended with a business portion to start the proceedings - including the recently completed report, "A Sustainable Path to Heritage in Cape Breton", followed by lunch and reminiscences by Jim St Clair.










Jim is a Heritage Elder, not only for Cape Breton but Nova Scotia as a whole and remains a passionate voice, both physically and spiritually, for museums and their kin. He was honoured for his contributions at the 25th Celebrations.

There was also a presentation on the new Interpretive Plan for Museums in Nova Scotia. Visit the Province of Nova Scotia, Tourism, Culture & Heritage website for a downloadable full version of the plan. I'm sure there will be lots more to follow on the plan and its potential as a tool for all museums in the province.

Road Side Trip

We had yet another beautiful Fall day for our travels and celebrations. Cape Breton is breath taking at this time of year and the mini trip across on the ferry at Little Narrows was picture perfect. The Highland Village Museum is well worth a visit and a true step back in time to experience the life of early Scottish settlers on the Island. Programming at the museum joins in the "spirit" of the season and at this time the hall was duly festooned with cobwebs and lurking Gaelic ghouls in preparation for

"All Hallows Eve".

Baskets in the Barn

I joined members of the Nova Scotia Basketry Guild on their annual excursion to demonstrate basket weaving using materials and technique sympathetic to the Ross Farm Museum interpretation period. It was a damp and dismal day, but spirits were cheery in the barn with the wood stove going and delicious treats on hand. We wove freshly harvested withrod into traditional harvest baskets. You can see one completed that day to the right of Monique at the barn entrance.

Ross Farm Museum http://rossfarm.museum.gov.ns.ca is tucked away in the centre of the province but well worth the trip. It is blessed with an incredibily skilled and dedicated staff. Outfitted in period costumes, they go about the daily tasks of farm life complete with animals, crops & household chores. Visitors have the opportunity to interact with all the inhabitants and get a nitty gritty idea of what life was really like in rural Nova Scotia in the 1800's

Road side trip

Ross Farm hosts a Farmer's Market during the "Growing Season". We were fortunate to be there for its last day for this year. Stalwart stall holders cheered marketers braving the wet weather and, for their part, shoppers had a fabulous time buying homemade sausages,mustard, veggies, bread, soap and more.... Part or the "growing" group Farmers markets in the province.

Eastern Shore Excursion

I recently took a trip part way down the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia. My trip started close to home when I stopped by to visit the Shearwater Aviation Museum (http://www.shearwateraviationmuseum.ns.ca/). An old friend, Curator, Christine Hines was on hand to greet me and we had a great look around. I have not been to Shearwater for a few years now and was impressed with all the changes - flight simulators and all. One of Christine's favourite projects was the installation of rolling storage for their framed materials - not glamorous but vitally necessary. On the glamorous side, volunteers are restoring a Fairey Firefly FR-I to flight status for next year's Centennial celebrations for the Canadian Navy and the return of the airshow to Shearwater.

Onwards & upwards.....

Leaving Shearwater, I wended my way up the shore towards Head of Jeddore where I was staying the night with friends. Next morning, I headed out to Memory Lane Village at Lake Charlotte(http://www.heritagevillage.ca/home/) It was a bustling spot as this was the day for the annual fall clean-up with lots of volunteers on hand to help out. Director, Thea Wilson-Hammond took time out from a busy day to show me around. Especially inspirational were the new fire supression system in the archives and new storage building. Site interpretation improvements include a new bell for the church with the help of CBC Radio's Information Morning and new roof tiles for the shed. The shed roof material is not made anymore and so in true Eastern Shore "can-do" tradition they made a template and hand cut the tiles.

My next stop was the Fisherman's Life Museum http://fishermanslife.museum.gov.ns.ca, as great a spot as ever there was. This was my first visit when it was open and I was treated to a wonderful tour of the house by Interpreters Linda Fahie and Janet Arnold. Like the vast majority of people who work in heritage, they are deeply passionate about their work and love to share the

stories of their site and community (also their tea & cookies made on the wood burning range). Lots of visitors were about taking advantage of the sunny fall day to roam the house and grounds and play with the two small cats on a mission to find a new home for the Fall (I nearly took them home....)

Road side trip.....

The Eastern Shore is one of several lesser travelled parts of the province. Great views, great people and lots of great things to see and do with a little exploration and investigation. I joined the volunteers at the cookhouse at Memory Lane for lunch. Its one of my favourite spots to eat on the shore, good inexpensive food just as it would have been served in the 1930's - how local and authentic can you get?

Travels in Cumberland County

Recently, President Pauline Thomson and I were invited to join the Cumberland County Heritage Network at their fall meeting hosted by the Age of Sail Heritage Museum (http://www.ageofsailmuseum.ca/) in Port Greville.

It was a first visit for me to this site and it proved to be another little gem tucked away in rural Nova Scotia.

This was also the first opportunity for me to go out on the road, visit sites and meet with museum workers. CCHN has an active group of participants who had lots of questions and concerns to air. All good "grist for the mill" and surely a large part of the purpose of going out and speaking with the people who resolutely and loyally run the museums of Nova Scotia.

Its encouraging to see partnerships forming more and more in the museums' community. There is certain strength in numbers and we achieve great things when working shoulder to shoulder.

On my return trip to Halifax, I visited Dave Dewar and staff at the Wallace & Area Museum (http://www.wallaceandareamuseum.com/) . They are celebrating 25 years of community heritage work in the area with an exhibition of special finds in the collection. The site is an amalgam of original farmhouse, new facility, beautifully kept gardens and grounds that must serve as a tremendous asset to the community. I remember attending the opening ceremonies for the site some years ago and the strong impression the evident pride and connection the community felt for their new museum made upon me.

After leaving Wallace, I travelled to The Creamery Square (http://www.creamerysquare.ca/reamerysquare.ca/) in Tatamagouche - Nova Scotia's newest museum facility and home for the collections and activities of five heritage groups in the area. It stands as a testimony to creative and responsible reuse of a heritage property as well as the benefits of combining interests towards a common goal. I was treated to a thorough tour of the facility and met several of the community leaders who have worked towards the successful opening on June 20 of this year and continue their dedicated efforts into the future. Congratulations.

Here's Floyd & Dale in the ship building gallery of Creamery Square.

Road side trip

This is just bound to happen as I go along so I think I'll just accept the fact and start right now - degressing from the main theme that is....

Both my travel days on this recent trip were perfect early fall days and definitely the sort of days when you positively relish living in this part of the world. My drive along old route 209 towards Port Greville was grand with the spicey scents of sea salt, woodsmoke and fall foliage filling the car while I passed roadside banners beautifully illustrated with local plants and themes. The seafood chowder lunch at Age of Sail Heritage Museum cafe was tasty and conversation was peppered with that favourite of Maritimers - tales of rum running. Wonderful stuff.

The adventure begins.....

Today the ANSM hosted a meet & greet coffee party to welcome and introduce me as the new Managing Director of the Association of Nova Scotia Museums.
Seems like a good time to begin the Blog I plan to keep and fill with tales of my travels around the province's museums, the people I meet and the stories they tell me. Perhaps the odd observation on things closer to home base as well....

I know from my years of working in the heritage field that there is a passionate corps of people across Nova Scotia whole heartedly engaged in the business of museums. I've enjoyed working with many of them in the past and look forward to renewing friendships and collaborations and beginning many new ones

My travels start tomorrow joining the Cumberland County Heritage Network for their fall meeting at Age of Sail Heritage Museum in Port Greville

The adventure begins.....