1

Memories of Minudie - audio interviews with past residents and students of Minudie, Barronsfield and Lower Cove, Nova Scotia.

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This map shows Minudie, the marshland, and the surrounding communities.
2000
Minudie, Nova Scotia

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This map of part of Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, shows Minudie and the surrounding communities including; Barronsfield,Lower Cove, River Hebert and Maccan.

4

Audio interview with Ruth Symes, grandaughter of Gilbert Seaman, who still lives in Minudie.
November, 2003
Minudie, Nova Scotia

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When did they start having the post office in your home in Minudie?

Well, it was in Gilbert Seaman's time and he ran the post office for a while.
He was a clerk for the store down there (Seaman store beside the wharf) for a while, and he had interests in the grindstone thing down there in Lower Cove. He had something to do with that, and he farmed besides that.
Well they took up the rails in 1917, but I don't know when it stopped. (The Minudie Railway)
I think he was justice of the peace as well. (Gilbert)
Well there was James... and there was William, he didn't marry and there was Rufus.

What year was Gilbert Born?
He was 75 in 1895 when he died, so in 1820.

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Audio interview with Ruth Symes.
November, 2003
Minudie, Nova Scotia

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That was, they say it was Dr. Mitchell's house when they lived in Minudie he lived there. Bill Glenn lived there for a while, and after Bill Glen, it went to Joe DesBarres, and that's how the DesBarres's got it.
How old would that house be, do you know?
I don't know old it would be. They moved to Amherst.
So he married which daughter?
Sarah.
She was younger than Gilbert, was she?
Yes, I think she died in 1915. I think she was the youngest one.

8

An audio interview with Lillian Arsenault about walking to school.
December, 2003
Minudie, Nova Scotia

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What do you remember about walking to school?

Well one thing you had to walk to school which was about 3 miles or more and you didn't have nice clothes like today. You'd have a pair of black or grey knitted stockings which you pulled over your shoes to your knees or above and long pants or bloomers that came down to that and just a pair of black rubbers over your shoes.
We lived in Wolfville for four years, and my father worked for a farmer over there, and still had to walk the same distance to school. The last year I was there, these rubber over shoes came in, with a clip on them, and we thought we were in heaven!

How did you manage walking to school in the winter months with the snow? Did you still go to school?
Oh yes! We had a lane to go and then on to the main way and there was usually teams (of horses) and things on the roads. There wasn't that many snow ploughs in those days. I remember when the first snow plough came down to the Minudie Cemetery. It was when a man died in Joggins and that was the first time the snow plough came down to Minudie.

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Interview with Lillian Arsenault talking about the school picnic.
November, 2003
Minudie, Nova Scotia

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What school events did they have throughout the year?
In July, we had the school picnic and the two schools joined together and have it to what they called the Mill Creek beach, and the Christmas concerts. Now this wasn't every year, but if it was fit at all, if the weather was fit at all the two schools joined for the concert.

Which school had the concert, Minudie or Barronsfield?
Yes, Minudie School, with the museum now and see it has a platform. There was a curtain on it and you had a little cubby hole to change your clothes, and the last year I went there, I was dressed as an angel in a song they were singing.

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Audio interview with Lillian Arsenault describing games and activities.
November, 2003
Minudie, Nova Scotia

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What do you remember about the social life in Minudie when you were growing up?
The only reason we went to the dances was to look after the little kids. We were too young to dance ourselves.
Well we used to play ball. We didn't have a bat we got a stick, a stick of wood and a bunch of us would get together and play ball. And down in Minudie, there was a fellow there, the one's who had the geese that I was telling you about the other day. He built a great big swing across the road from his house, oh it was so beautiful! It was five posts or so high and right across the path, and it was strong so nobody would get hurt, and boy, that was the gathering place, that is when we got a little older. And when I was in grade 10 at Barronsfield school, I had to leave school to look after my grandfather, cos my mother was working.

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Audio interview with Lillian Arsenault, talking about the Minudie Hall and dances.
November, 2003
Minudie, Nova Scotia