Intercolonial Railway
My paternal grandfather was a station master at various stations in Nova Scotia. The railway provided him and his family a residence on the upper floor of the stations. It was in this station that his first two sons, Ed and Greg, were born. I believe his next posting was in Oxford Junction, N.S. where Uncle Frank was born. Then a few years later my father and Aunt Joan were born in the Pictou station (see Masthead on Home Page). Aunt Con, his first child, was not born in a railway station. She was born in the Bedford, N.S. house. Tatamagouche is on the Northumberland Strait and this station has been converted into “The Station Inn and Railway Dining Car”.
Driving from Pictou along the Northumberland Strait, you pass through Tony River and River John. They are two memorable landmarks on my awesome adventure.
Tony River is where we spent summer vacations in exposed studs’ cottages with curtains for doors. I believe we vacationed here in the early fifties, before my youngest sister, Marian was born. My mother was always terrified of thunderstorms. We all got into her bed for protection. and I can’t remember if Marian hid under the covers with us. So, I am guessing these summers were before Chester. Hughie, Beryl Mac Donald and children always rented the cottage next to ours. Aunt Con, Uncle Jack, Jane and Debroah Baird always rented a cottage down by the shoreline amongst pine trees.
River John was where Uncle Greg and Aunt Judy bought and renovated an old farmhouse. It became the gathering location for major family events in the late sixties and seventies. My mother’s maternal grandmother grew up on a farm nearby
.