Backyard History

Valiant Amazon: Elizabeth Beard Fights The Americans

Elizabeth Beard fought in the American Revolution ... against the Americans.
 
One New Brunswick woman became something of a worldwide sensation for her remarkable feats fighting in the American Revolution. She was fighting not for the Americans though, but against them.
 
Her heroics were completely overlooked and forgotten during that chaotic time, but late her life, the public learned about what she had done decades earlier, and stories of her youthful acts became widely known all over both Europe and North America.
 
backyardhistory.ca

Rockwood Park: Coney Island of the Maritimes

Saint John's genteel Rockwood Park was once turned into a modern electric circus.
For several years Saint John’s iconic Rockwood Park –the largest urban park in Canada at the time– was turned into a summer fair grounds based on Coney Island. In the early 1900s it featured rides that had never been seen before like a ferris wheel and merry go around, nightly fireworks, bars and restaurants, and acrobatic performances so daring the daredevil chickened out, but a local waiter stepped in to perform them instead.
backyardhistory.ca

The Battle of Fort Nashwaak

Like the Alamo, but in Fredericton.
 
Fredericton’s first European settlement was a French fort, which was attacked and besieged by a fleet from New England.
The story of the battle is kind of like the American myth of the Alamo. A small and beleaguered band of defenders is facing down a vastly larger and better equipped army of invaders. Except in this case they are coming up from what is now the United States.
The invaders have a reputation for massacres, and losing the battle would likely mean death.
However, just before the battle begins, the defenders' spirits are bolstered by a group of famous heroes of their time, who have come to aid the motley crew of defenders in their time of need…
 
backyardhistory.ca

The Year of the Mice

In 1815 Nova Scotia was overrun by mice.
 
Dr. George Patterson later interviewed people who lived through what was called Year of the Mice.
The horrors of that year left a mark on those who had experienced it so deep that he found that elderly people that had personally experienced the mouse invasion still used it as a measurement of time. ‘Sixty-two Years After The Mice,’ Dr. Patterson wrote that these had been no ordinary mice:
“They were very destructive and actually fierce. If pursued, when hard pressed, they would stand at bay, rising upon their hind legs, setting their teeth and squealing fiercely. A farmer on whom I could rely told me that having, after planting, spread out some barley to dry in the sun before the door, in a little while he saw it covered with them. He let the cat out among them, but they actually turned upon her and fought her.”
backyardhistory.ca

The Italian Air Armada Comes To Town

A fleet of Fascist Italian airplanes stop in a little seaside resort town in the Maritimes … with a dark political agenda.
 
On July 13th 1933 a reporter for the Moncton Daily Times was rushing towards the newly built wharfs of the tiny seaside village of Shediac. He is trying to make it in time to catch a glimpse of an incredible sight: 24 massive airplanes flying in a giant V formation that were arriving all the way from Italy...
 
To see plenty of photos of the Italian Air Armada's arrival in Shediac check out:
https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/when-the-fascist-italian-air-armada-came-to-new-brunswick
 

The Dark Harbour Hermits

*Top Episode of 2023!
In the 1920s two hermit brothers on Grand Manan became internationally famous as the mysterious “Dark Harbour Hermits.”
Hundreds of tourists from the United States and even faraway Europe came to visit them in their homemade shacks on the beaches of the strange and isolated place known as Dark Harbour, where the hermits would entertain the tourists with their art, their poems, and their songs.
backyardhistory.ca
 

Nova Hollandia: When Canada Was A Dutch Colony

The Maritimes were briefly the Dutch colony of Nova Hollandia..
 
We’re always taught in school that ever since European colonists arrived in what is now Canada, that it was always a colony of either England or France. However, it’s a little-known fact that for a brief time the Maritimes were conquered by the Dutch, and were a short lived colony with a remarkably bizarre history, named Nova Hollandia.
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/f/when-the-maritimes-were-dutch

Wreck and Rescue of the Velma

An unlikely trio is celebrated by a US President for their heroic rescue of sailors stranded for days on a rock in a storm.
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/f/wreck-and-rescue-of-the-velma

Secret Diary From The Asylum

“They will not allow me to go home,” begins the haunting diary that Mary Huestis Pengilly wrote while locked up in the Saint John Lunatic Asylum, Canada’s first ever mental health institution.
She wrote vividly in a secret diary about her experiences as a patient in the Asylum in the 1880s, which she later published into a book. After her release, she became a high profile and outspoken advocate for reforming how mental health was treated in both Canada and the United States.
https://backyardhistory.ca/popular/f/secret-diary-in-the-lunatic-asylum

Sabotage In The Maritimes: The Vanceboro International Bridge Bombing

The Maritimes were home to the only German bombing in North America in World War One. Fortunately the Agent wasn't very good, and was more than willing to tell everything to an intrepid reporter...
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/german-agents-bombed-a-new-brunswick-bridge

The Mysterious Disappearance of the Creamer Children

Nothing was quite what it seemed...
 
In the Summer of 1906 The Maritimes were captivated by a strange mystery when two young children disappeared in broad daylight from right in front of their house.
One reporter, who signed her articles simply as The Special Correspondent, went to the tiny village of Cape Tormentine to investigate the disappearances.
The more she learned about the case, the stranger it became, as she met a very unusual group of people, each of whom seemed to be hiding something...
https://backyardhistory.ca/f/the-mysterious-disappearance-of-the-creamer-children

Fighting For Humanity’s Rights

A baseball star becomes one of the few Black Canadians to fight in the First World War.
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/f/fighting-for-the-right-to-fight

The Lost Colony

A simple question leads to a lost colony in Cape Breton..
 
What does “Fundy” mean? Where does the unusual name for the large bay between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia boasting the highest tides in the world come from? The short answer is that it’s Portuguese, but figuring out what “Fundy” means involves a lost colony, confused explorers, and a perplexing mix up..
 
There is some surviving evidence of a 1521 Portuguese lost colony in The Maritimes. If true, this would be the first European settlement in the whole continent, even earlier than the much more famous American lost colony of Roanoke. 
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/popular/f/what-does-fundy-mean
https://backyardhistory.ca/popular/f/the-lost-colony

The Spectre of Rexton

Is it a ghost haunting the woods or something else?
 
A car load of four young people -two guys and two girls- were driving home from a dance on a dark and stormy Halloween night in 1930. They were on a dark road going through the woods between the small towns of Richibucto and Rexton on New Brunswick’s East Coast, when they had a bizarre close encounter with a ghost…
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/f/the-spectre-of-rexton-bootleggers-dressed-as-ghosts

Pandemic 1918

One province defeats a pandemic and in the process influences all of North America, leading to improvements in healthcare all over Canada and the United States as they copy the latest developments in ... New Brunswick.
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/pandemic-1918-how-one-doctor-saved-new-brunswick

Driving On The Wrong Side Of The Road

Canada decides which side to drive on.
 
For much of its history half of Canada drove on the opposite side of the road from the other half. Ontario and Quebec drove on the right, while British Columbia and The Maritimes drove on the left. When New Brunswick changed sides of the road the year became wryly known as “The Year of Free Beef.”
https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/switching-from-driving-on-the-left-to-driving-on-the-right

Teenage Girl Saves Shipwrecked Sailors

"Oh my god we're saved by a girl," the sailor gasped before passing out.
 
In 1882 a teenager was celebrated for risking her life heroically rescuing shipwrecked sailors in a cold Autumn storm.
https://backyardhistory.ca/popular/f/oh-my-god-were-saved-by-a-girl-teenager-saves-sailors-at-sea

The Pirate of Charlie Lake

After a life of piracy, a man retreats to the woods to escape justice and hide his treasure.
About an hour southwest of Fredericton is Charlie Lake, named after a mysterious hermit who lived there long ago, alone with his little dog. It was said the hermit was a pirate, hiding from the law, who had buried a great treasure by the lake which still bears his name..
https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/the-pirate-of-charlie-lake

Exploring Canada’s Abandoned Spaceport

The host enters an abandoned spaceport in the Arctic.
 
An intricate maze of metal corridors connect the massive buildings far up in Canada's Arctic. It was once the centre of one of the world's leading space research facility. Later it became the center of an international race between Canada and the United States to build the world's first commercial spaceport. The winner would dominate the launch of the race of satellites in the then-upcoming 21st century.
In this very special episode of the Backyard History Podcast, host Andrew MacLean is stranded by airplane engine problems in Churchill Manitoba, encountering polar bears, beluga whales, the northern lights, and discovering the remains of the massive abandoned spaceport.
 
When he notices an open hatch on the roof, he climbs down a ladder and enters into the murky darkness below...
backyardhistory.ca

Road to Justice: How Mabel French Changed Two Provinces

One woman's battle against lawmakers led to wins women's rights.
 
One largely forgotten New Brunswick woman led --and won-- not one but two important battles for women's rights in two separate provinces -one on each side of the country; first in New Brunswick and later in British Columbia.
https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/new-brunswick-woman-wins-fights-for-rights-in-nb-and-bc

Canada’s Nuclear Bomb Drill Fiasco

A 1961 nuclear attack drill goes awry. 
 
Air raid sirens rang out from coast to coast, and an eerie voice announced that Canada was under attack: 14 nuclear missiles were inbound. The sombre voice then went on to tell startled citizens that this was the beginning of a country-wide drill, and that for the next 24 hours Canada would be behaving as if it had just been the subject of a massive nuclear strike. 
The day was November 13th 1961, and for many Canadians this came as a surprise: while there had been some talk of the exercise beforehand, talk was quite different from air raid sirens going off for 3 minutes straight, followed by a voice announcing nuclear missiles were incoming.
https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/dont-forget-to-tell-the-public-about-the-mock-nuclear-attack

The Mystery of the Lake Utopia Medallion

A large stone with a face carved into it has people puzzled about who made it.
 
In 1863 a recent Scottish immigrant was wandering through the stark and desolate area above Lake Utopia looking for rocks to build a fireplace when he made an astonishing discovery. When he wiped a thick layer of moss off a large flat stone, he discovered that carved upon it was an intricately detailed human face. Speculation that it was an ancient Egyptian artifact quickly spread..
https://backyardhistory.ca/f/the-mysterious-lake-utopia-medallion
 

Amelia Earhart’s Maritimes Visit

Amelia Earhart visits Newfoundland and The Maritimes on the way to make history.
 
Amelia Earhart kept her plans to become the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic a secret. But when she arrived in Saint John to refuel and spend the night, the secret was out and Saint Johners were in a wild frenzy to see the famous pilot about to make history…
https://backyardhistory.ca/f/when-amelia-earhart-came-to-the

The Mysterious Isle Haute

Said to be home to spirits, pirates’ buried treasure, and a trapped ghost ship..
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/the-mysterious-isle-haute

When A German Escaped Prisoner Came To Town

They had no idea the stranger who had come to Bathurst was an escaped Nazi Prisoner of War waiting for a U-Boat to get him..

I’m Alone: Famous Rum Running Schooner

The story of one of the most famous rum running schooners that was sunk during an epic pursuit in the 1920s

A Brief History of the Lobster

Lobster. From pauper to proper. A history.
 
The North American lobster is now a staple of high-end restaurants, and a cultural icon in the Maritimes and New England, but this was not always the case.
At one time lobster was considered a paupers’ food, something people were embarrassed to be seen eating because it showed that they were poor. It was fed to prisoners and slaves, used as fertilizers in fields, and feed for pigs.
At one point servants would stipulate in their contracts that they could not be fed lobster, just to avoid having to eat the hated shellfish. 
https://backyardhistory.ca/f/from-pauper-to-proper-the-story-of-lobster-in-the-maritimes

A Brief History of the Beach

Here’s a question for a hot Summer day: did early Maritimers go to the beach?
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/the-history-of-going-to-the-beach

Walking Across Canada On a Bet

The first people to ever walk all the way across Canada were Cape Bretoners who did it because someone bet them they couldn't.
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/the-first-people-to-walk-across-canada-did-it-because-of-a-bet

The Great Campbellton Fire

In only two hours massive fire completely destroys bustling Campbellton.
 
At 2pm on July 11th 1910 Campbellton was a prosperous town of 6000 people on New Brunswick’s North Shore. Two hours later it would be completely destroyed in a massive inferno.
But it doesn't break the spirit of the people and they rebuild within a year.
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/popular/f/in-only-two-hours-campbellton-burned-to-the-ground

The Dungarvon Whooper

The true story behind the chilling ghost story.
 
Around Maritime campfires we tell the tale of the Dungarvon Whooper – a macabre ghost story of a cook who was murdered for a bag of money, and who haunted the forests making screaming noises that sounded like whoops.
The story was based on actual mysterious incidents around Miramichi in the mid-1800s. In 1896 one Fredericton reporter may have discovered the true story behind those haunting screams. And his true story is even stranger than the ghost story…
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/popular/f/the-dungarvon-who

The Year With No Summer

A grey mist hung over the land which the rain never cleared. Snow fell in June and July. Frost came in August. Crops didn’t grow. The spectre of starvation hung over the Maritimes.
One year Summer never arrived in the Maritimes, earning that miserable year the nicknames; The Poverty Year; Eighteen Hundred and Froze To Death, and The Year Without A Summer.
https://backyardhistory.ca/f/the-year-without-a-summer
 

Drinking in the Maritimes

If you think Maritimers drink a lot today, wait till you hear how much earlier generations of Maritimers drank!

Getting Away With Murder

A tragic true story of forbidden love, bloody murder, and miscarried justice in Fredericton.
 
Elizabeth Driscoll was considered the most beautiful young woman in Fredericton. “A very sweet, ladylike girl” wrote famous British author Juliana Horatia Ewing who happened to be in town during the murder, trial, and subsequent riots. "But," Juliana wrote, "Elizabeth’s family has always been a bad lot.”
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/popular/f/getting-away-with-murder

The Rise of Mob Boss Joe Walnut

After a small town mob boss starts making big moves in the black market, a straight-laced British detective goes undercover to try to figure out what is going on.

Moscow to Miscou - The Crashed Soviet Bomber

Much to a small village's surprise, a Soviet bomber crash lands in a bog. The world turns its attention to the 1939 race to get to first reach the pilots.

The Legend of the Legless Mystery Man

Unraveling a legendary Maritimes mystery.
 
A few days before Christmas in 1859 a mysterious stranger was found freezing, but still alive, alone deep in the woods. Disabled from his injuries, he would be murdered to save the town money. Or did he escape death and start a new life?
Coincidentally, around the same time he goes missing in New Brunswick, a mysterious legless man washes up on the beach of Sandy Cove, Nova Scotia. 
https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/the-legless-mystery-man

Was the First Car Invented in Canada?

Newspaper reports tell the story of a crazy invention seen driving around the streets of Saint John NB. Was it the first car to be invented?

The Great Fredericton Circus Riot

A circus rolls in to small town Fredericton, but tensions between the performers and the locals soon boil over. A dead snake is thrown on the stage, and a riot erupts..

Abducted by a U-Boat

During the First World War, the crew of a Canadian naval vessel was abducted by a German U-boat, but were surprised to find what they were met with on board.
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/f/ship-crew-gets-captured-by-u-boat-in-bay-of-fundy-served-lunch