1

The tiny village of West Pubnico is located on the southern tip of Nova Scotia, Canada.
2003

2

The Acadian village of West Pubnico is located on the southern tip of Nova Scotia.

3

Wooden lobster plug
2003
West Pubnico
TEXT ATTACHMENT


4

The lobster plug is a narrow wedge of pine wood, about one and a quarter inches long, pointed at one end and squared on the other. It was stuck in the joint to prevent the claw from opening.

5

Hanging out at 'La shoppe à Flouffe'.
1947
West Pubnico

6

Wooden box that held peg making articles. A common sight in many households years ago.
2003
Musée acadien et Archives,West Pubnico

7

The lobster plugs were whittled by hand with a small home-made knife. Thumb protectors or 'doigtans' were made from leather, jeans or old glove fingers. These articles were commonly kept in little wooden boxes.

8

Hauling wood on the frozen Pubnico Lake.
1923
West Pubnico
AUDIO ATTACHMENT


9

A paper bag containing 1000 plugs.
2003
Musée acadien et Archives,West Pubnico

10

The plugs were packaged in paper bags, one thousand per bag. In the early years, the plugs sold for approximately .25 cents per bundle and by the end of production it was around $1.25 per 1000 pegs.

11

Caroline d'Entremont
1945
West Pubnico
AUDIO ATTACHMENT


12

Quite often, the money made from selling the plugs was used to buy a luxury item that people may have otherwise not been able to afford. Caroline d'Entremont worked hard at making lobster plugs in order to buy herself a pair of skates.

13

The machine that made the lobster plugs.
1972
West Pubnico
TEXT ATTACHMENT


14

Benoit Pothier designed and made a machine that could mass-produce the wooden lobster pegs. Two machines could produce up to 400,000 plugs per day.