User:RiverHebert/sandbox

The town of Chignecto is in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia; Cumberland County abuts the border of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Chignecto is the name used for the isthmus joining New Brunswick, as well a body of water and a game sanctuary, among other things. Near the towns of Maccan, Athol, Fenwick and Nappan, Chignecto is nestled in a clearing, surrounded on nearly all sides by the forest. There are less than 30 families now [2010] where once as a thriving mining town, Chignecto boasted Thomas Edison's first venture in North America of "pit head power." Now, in the beginning of 2012, the church, school, managers' offices and workers' houses, stores, company houses, pit heads, and the power plant and dam are long gone. Chignecto is slowly being taken back by nature. Some facts, back in the 1890's: the plant supervisor was paid at the rate of $1.40 a day; the secretary of the company was paid $600 a year. Chignecto made history in the early 1900's when Thomas Edison envisioned that power could be more cheaply transported over "the wire" than by coal cars carried by rail. With a one-time population of approximatley 800 people, Chignecto was an excellent market for the farmers from Nappan, Maccan and Fenwick. Other towns nearby are Springhill, Athol, River Hebert, Advocate, and Minudie. From the late 19th century into the 1950's, the stores in Maccan sent their clerks into Chignecto once a week to take grocery orders and later deliver them. If one had a phone, the grocery order could be phoned in. Sleds pulled by horses were used in the winter as the dirt road was not paved. Chignecto, until recently, had a barren triangle in the middle of the town. It was called the "flatiron." It is now overgrown with mature trees. While barren and devoid of foilage from the beginning of the town's existence until the mid 20th Century, the flatiron would have a natural pond of water from winter rains and snow. The pond would freeze over and the children skated on it. Now it is unrecognizable and overgrown with mature trees. It was full of pit mines and subject to minor cave-ins.

Micmac Indians lived in the dense woods nearby. A couple ran the quaint post office. Belle and Ike were much loved eccentrics. They were kind and helpful and the salt of the earth. They had many cats and the cats were generally named after prize fighters of the day. JJersey Joe Walcott was one kitty. The cats ruled the large rambling house. There was a huge kitchen in the house with a pump for water. It was a relaxed friendly place. In its heyday, Chignecto not only had company stores, but at least one poolhall. There was no church per se but services were held a few Sundays a month by a traveling circuit minister. The services were held upstairs of the wooden and unpainted two story school house. You had to climb a long wood staircase upstairs to church. Social affairs were also held upstairs; for example, funeral services and socials. The one-room schoolhouse, downstairs, was bleak. There was a pot-bellied stove for heat in the winter. There were two outhouses, one for the girls and one for the boys. Catalogues were used for bathroom tissue. As of the late 1950's, only one house in Chignecto had indoor plumbing.

One intriguing farm was reached by a long lane down through the woods. Originally owned by Abner Eagles, Sam Fisher lived there too, as well as Roy Smith and his mother, Mrs. James Smith. Old age took over and the Smiths sold the place to Lennie Wood. Mabel and Lennie Wood lived in this enchanted setting for many years. Now it is overgrown and the buildings are gone.

As someone once said, "if you want to see beauty, take a drive through the Amherst-Springhill Highway in October and you will see what Mother Nature does to a maple tree that time of year."

Some of the residents' surnames remembered with love and laughter (some of these families still reside in Chignecto): Ripley, Lowther, Delahunt, Berry, Campbell, Coates, Clark, Wood, Blenkhorn, McDonald, Vance, McKinnon, Briggs, Jenks, Stanley, MacAloney, Rector, Landry, Langille, McLellan, Wass, Seaman, Mattatal, Droesbeck, Warren, Chappell, Schwinghammer, Melanson, McFadden, McMaster, Nash, Babineau, Bulmer, Steward, Linkletter, Mingo, Bowlsby, Brown, Rhindress, Purdy, Collins, Dale, Skinner, Dessaint, Fauld, Mayne, Worthylake, and Hyden, to name a few.

Chignecto is wonderfully described and reminisced about in a charming 1977 book, "The Chignecto: St. George and Fenwick Mines" by Myrtle Chappell. The person editing this Wikipedia article had the privilege of living in this little village in the 1950's. It is her Aunt Annie's house that graces the cover of Myrtle's book (in a visit to Chignecto in September of 2010, it was noted that Aunt Annie's house was still inhabited and being enjoyed). This house, once known as the "Charlie McDonald house," is possibly the oldest building in Chignecto. Also,see "Place Names and Places" (a publication of the Archives of Nova Scotia), where Chignecto is described as a settlement located about eight miles south of Amherst. The name was derived from the Micmac Indians' word "Signuniki" meaning a "foot cloth." This name appears in the English records in the year 1691 as "Siganectoe." Legend has it that a Micmac boy was passing through the territory and his feet were sore and hurting, and he stopped to bandage them at this particular place, and it was known afterwards by the name "Sigunikt, which was later Anglicized to "Chignecto." "Place Names and Places" also stated the population of Chignecto in 1956 was 96 (that number would have included the author of this Wikipedia article.  She was 11 years old at the time and lived with her grandparents, Alex and Vera Campbell).

See also "The Springhill Colliery Disaster," written by Robert A. Morrow, telling of the tragic explosion in the mine in Springhill on February 21, 1891, when one hundred and twenty-five men and boys lost their lives. This book also details other mines in Cumberland County and they wrote that the Chignecto and St. George mines were discovered in the summer of 1863 by William Patrick."   mdianedube@msn.com 04:02, 31 December 2011 (UTC)