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Cape Breton Facts and Folklore
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Cape Breton is famous the world over for its senic trails, Celtic music and traditions, strong Mi’kmaq community, and unique dialects. Called Unamakikia by the Mi’kmaq, Ile Royale by the French, and Eilean Cheap Breatainn in Scottish Gaelic, the island of Cape Breton is a colourful blend of cultures and history. After the slow decline of the coal and steel industries following World War Two, Cape Breton became a major tourist locale, with such draws as Fortress Louisbourg, the largest eighteenth-century restored fortress in North America and a national historic site; the Cape Breton Highlands, with stunning views and winds that can reach up to 220 kilometres an hour; and the Cabot Trail scenic drive, which attracts thousands of people every autumn to take in the stunning views and foliage.
Cape Breton Facts and Folklore is full of fun and interesting facts about the people, places, and events that shaped this fascnating island. Includes photos of some of the island’s prominent places and personalities.
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Big Town A Novel of Africville
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$18.95Seventeen-year-old Early Okander lives with his father in a shack, a white family on the outskirts of the Halifax community of Africville. It is the early 1960s, and Early and his young friends, Toby and Chub, start to hear whispers that the city wants to move the residents of Africville out of their homes. As the three try to sort out what relocation might mean for the community, they also struggle to come to terms with their own problems: Early’s abuse at the hands of his father, Toby’s illness, Chub’s family breakdown.
Written from Early’s unique perspetive, Big Town is an unforgettable account of a community in crisis and the remarkable spirit that persists in the face of adversity.
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Louisbourg: From its Foundation to its Fall
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95The only complete history of Louisbourg.
“J.S. McLennan’s Louisbourg From Its Foundation To Its Fall is in several ways a remarkable book. To begin with, it is because of its continuing popularity. Though it was first published many decades ago, it remains the standard work on the 45 year history of the French settlement at Louisbourg. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of detailed studies have been done on Louisbourg since McLennan’s appeared, each one illuminating some theme or aspect of life there, but none has replaced it as the authoritative chronicle of the town’s history.” –A. J. B. Johnston, Historian and Author
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Elizabeth Bishop Nova Scotia’s “Home-made” Poet
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$15.95Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) is best known as an American author, but she spent formative years in Great Village, Nova Scotia, and in fact called herself “3/4ths Canadian.” In recent decades there has been a growing movement in Nova Scotia to reconnect appreciation of Bishop with the landscape of her childood. This pictorial biography highlights the early influence of Bishop’s maternal family and the cultural community of Great Village, and the poet’s lifelong ties to Nova Scotia.
Author Sandra Barry takes readers through the significant chapters in Bishop’s life, from her ancestry and early years in Great Village to her first publications, her extended stays in Florida and Brazil, and her final years teaching at Harvard University. The book concludes with an overview of some of the Bishop-inspired work made since her death, and the commemorative efforts undertaken in Nova Scotia and around the world.
With photos throughout, sidebar features on historic events, Bishop’s publications and travels, and background on her awards and other achievements, the book provides a fascinating introduction and important new angle on one of the best-loved poets of the twentieth century.
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Molly Kool First Female Captain of the Atlantic
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$15.95Born and raised in Alma, New Brunswick, Molly Kool started her life at sea helping her father sail the lumber scow the Jean K through some of the most challenging waters in the world, including the changing tides of the Bay of Fundy and the Reversing Falls in Saint John. When it came time for Molly to choose her own career, her first instinct was to get her captain’s licence, but doing so would involve more than just hard work—it would also mean changing some of Canada’s oldest laws. But thanks to her inspiring example and the tireless efforts of contemporaries in the 1930s and ’40s, the Shipping Act of Canada was changed and Molly became the first female sea captain in North America. With interviews, colour photos, and background on other women pioneers and shipping practices in the early twentieth century, Molly Kool: Captain of the Atlantic also includes an interview with the first woman to command a Canadian warship, Commander Josee Kurtz.
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Nova Scotia’s Curious Connections
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95Previously published as 59 Stories, this new edition brings back into print Bruce Nunn’s collection of quirky stories. With his entertaining style and penchant for library and word-of-mouth research alike, Nunn introduces readers to the province’s claim on some world-famous stuff, including Moby Dick, mutton-chop sideburns, and the very first Donald Duck comic. The collection includes chapters on the interesting origins of words like “Bluenose” and “Acadian” and strange homegrown inventions like the telephone-flashlight. Nunn’s passion for history and the unusual make Nova Scotia’s Curious Connections a must-read for anyone looking to add a little quirk to their knowledge of Nova Scotia’s past.
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Miracles and Mysteries The Halifax Explosion December 6, 1917
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$14.95Mary Anna Monnon’s father was one of the lucky survivors of the Halifax Explosion, the great World War One disaster that devastated Halifax and killed over two thousand people. His personal story, along with the stories of other survivors, are woven into this captivating account of the events leading up to and following the explosion of the munitions ship Mont Blanc in Halifax Harbour. Monnon begins the story in the days just prior to the explosion, providing news items, ads, and public notices that give readers fresh insight into life in the city at that time. Monnon’s interviewees provide candid recollections of where they were and their initial responses to the disaster. What emerge are unusually personal stories of confusion, injury, loss, and the eventual resurgence of hope-raw remembrances that bring back into sharp focus those first days on the ground.
Miracles and Mysteries is a reminder of the tragedy of war, and how ordinary people respond to overwhelming and inexplicable events.
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Only in New Brunswick
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95IN HIS LATEST VOLUME of offbeat New Brunswick history and lore, popular Saint John storyteller David Goss delivers over forty-five new stories gleaned from his years as a columnist and tour guide. Goss introduces readers to local personalities like Perth Andover, artist Violet Gillett, chainsaw carver Albert Deveau, and the key-collector of Neguac. Other New Brunswickers have shared their memories of some of the province’s oddities, including Deer Island’s town clock, a quest to save the largest tree in the province, and the story of the Bricklin SV-1, manufactured for a brief time in Minto and Saint John. In these pages you’ll also find some of the ghost stories and legends that Goss has recounted to visitors in the parks where he’s worked as a a guide. The ghost ship Squando, the Hampton werewolf scare, and the Norton noise have made the rounds of many campfires and are captured here in print.
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Prince Edward Island Tastes
$22.95A new edition of the first title in Nimbus’s popular “Tastes” series, Prince Edward Island Tastes has been updated with fresh recipes celebrating the combination of homestyle dishes, fresh seafood, world cuisine, and desserts that made the first edition such a success.
Edited and with an introduction by Charlottetown-based writer Andrew Sprague, and with photos by Wayne Barrett and Anne MacKay, the book includes sections from twenty-eight eateries spread across the province. It’s a portrait of an exciting culinary scene and a source of creativity for your own kitchen. Each recipe has been adapted with cooking instructions for the home chef, accompanied by vivid photos that will make you want to try each one. With a handy map and up-to-date restaurant listings, PEI Tastes is the perfect memento of your visit to the Island and its flavours.
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Underground Nova Scotia
Editor: Jonathan FowlerPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$27.95Underground Nova Scotia provides an accessible introduction to the archaeologist work being done across Nova Scotia. Edited by St. Mary’s University anthropologists Paul Erickson and Jonathan Fowler, these fifteen essays cover early Acadian, Mi’kmaq, Black Loyalist, and Norse sites, as well as more recent settlements and industries. The collection includes details of new work at some of the province’s established historic sites, including Grand Pre, Fort Edward, and Fortress Louisbourg, as well as less familiar studies and technologies: tracing and ancient portage route through Southwest Nova Scotia, and the use of airborne lasers to chart eighteenth-century land disputes on the Isthmus of Chignecto.
From the lost Black Loyalist settlement of Birchtown to skeletons recently found at the Fortress of Louisbourg, these essays will fascinate history lovers.
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Plants for Atlantic Gardens Handsome and Hard-working Shrubs, Trees, and Perennials
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95With all the special challenges associated with gardening in Atlantic Canada, in-depth information and genuine inspiration are even more important. Plants for Atlantic Gardens is your go-to resource for growing perennials, shrubs, and trees on the East Coast. Well-known gardening columnist Jodi DeLong profiles over 100 of the best species for planting in Atlantic Canadian gardens. Each plant description includes essential gardening information, such as growing requirements, hardiness, height, and bloom period. In an accessible, friendly writing style, Jodi also tells prospective gardeners about the plant’s natural history in the region and shares her own experiences-both good and bad!
The book includes a hardiness map, Jodi’s list of preferred further reading, and short sidebars on useful topics like soil type, native plants, and pollinators. Over 200 colour photos provide readers a great opportunity to truly assess each plant’s suitability for their own gardens.
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Historic Sussex
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$20.95First a settlement for the Maliseet and Mi’kmaq peoples and later a safe haven for American Loyalist immigrants in the eighteenth century, Sussex was not incorporated as a town until after the establishment of a railway station in 1895. In Historic Sussex, author Elaine Ingalls Hogg has collected over 150 historical images from Sussex’s beginnings up to the Second World War, including photos of the town’s famed agricultural producers, its businesses, and its military encampment, Camp Sussex. Named as Canada’s “typical small town” by the CBC in 1956, Sussex has a rich history that comes alive in this new entry in the popular Images of Our Past series.
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New Brunswick’s Covered Bridges
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$16.95Sprinkled across the province’s waterways, New Brunswick’s many covered bridges have long been a subject of history and pride. In New Brunswick’s Covered Bridges, Brian Atkinson takes us on a photographic tour of these wooden masterpieces, from the Hartland Bridge, the longest covered bridge in the world, to smaller bridges such as the Maxwell Crossing Bridge.
Atkinson’s delightful photos capture different sizes, shapes, and styles of these magnificent structures, while short write-ups provide history and highway directions. With these bridges slowly succumbing to decay, natural disasters, and even arson, New Brunswick’s Covered Bridges is an invaluable photographic collection of a bygone era.
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South Shore Tastes
Photographer: Scott MunnPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95South Shore Tastes, the fourth installment in the popular Tastes pictorial cookbook series, celebrates the local harvest and culinary culture of Nova Scotia’s picturesque South Shore. In this attractive, easy-to-use cookbook, food critic and writer Liz Feltham collects recipes from twenty-four restaurants spanning the region, from the Sou’wester in Peggy’s Cove to Lane’s Privateer Inn in Liverpool to Chez Bruno’s Bistro in Yarmouth. Showcasing a diverse array of dishes that feature local ingredients and tastes, such as Ruisseau oysters with fresh tomato marinade, maple curry ravioli with roasted chicken, and blueberry grunt, South Shore Tastes is an ideal way to bring the flavours, sights, and traditions of the South Shore home with you.
Includes striking photos of both the dishes and the surrounding region by photographer Scott Munn, as well as a map and restaurant guide to help readers find their favourite eatery.
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History of Port Royal/Annapolis Royal, 1605-1800
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$27.95Today, it’s a quiet community of approximately 600 people, but the town of Annapolis Royal was once the centre of early European settlement. It was the capital first of Acadia, then of Nova Sscotia, and an imperial battleground in the struggle for control of North America.
Backed by the Historical Association of Annapolis Roya, Brenda Dunn, former historian at the Fort Anne National Historic Site, has documented the long, dynamic, and unparalelled history of this fascinating place called Annapolis Royal.
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Nova Scotia’s Lost Highways The Early Roads that Shaped the Province
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95At the turn of the nineteenth century, road travel in Nova Scotia was still in its infancy. Many Nova Scotians still preferred water routes, and those “roads” that did exist were often little more than blazed trails not fit for wheeled vehicles. But it wasn’t long before roads were established around the province to allow for a steady increase in traffic and sophistication of vehicles.
Author Joan Dawson has used nineteenth-century maps and surveys to not only trace the paths of these old roads, but to explore the residents and businesses that sprang up along them. She follows the roads out of Halifax to Windsor and Truro (the “Great Roads”) as well as the oldest post roads along the Annapolis Valley, the South Shore, northern and eastern Nova Scotia, and even Cape Breton. These earliest highways, now mostly forgotten or buried in wilderness, reminds us of the hard-working crews and surveyors who defied geographical difficulties to make travelling easier for Nova Scotia’s residents.
Featuring 40 maps and illustrations, Nova Scotia’s Lost Highways is a fascinating history of early travel in the province.
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Historic Baddeck
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95Historic Baddeck takes us on the town’s journey of early discovery and later growth, from the first few houses set among Atlantic aboriginal wigwams to what Baddeck is today–a magnificent summer escape and thriving lakeside village. Author Joceyln Bethune has paired some of the town’s most captivating historical images and presented them with compact and interesting vignettes of the region’s past.
Part of the Images of Our Past series.
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The Great Maritime Detective
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95He was a sailor a miner, a bounty hunter, a prospector, a ghost hunter, and a railway guard, just to name a few. Whether sinner or saint, Peter Owen Carroll, a.k.a. Peachie Carroll, is best remembered as the infamous Maritime police detective of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Although his methods were sometimes unscrupulous, and he was often considered a mercenary, Peachie Carroll was a formidable investigator. Peachie was fired, re-hired, and quit many times, but as a police officer Peachie solved some of the Maritimes’ best-known crimes, such as the murder of Moncton police officer Joseph E. Stedman. He arrested moonshine-makers and embezzlers, petty thieves, rum-runners, bank robbers, and murderers. In 1896, Peachie gained fame again, solving the New Brunswick murders of Eliza Dutcher and her son.
In The Great Maritime Detective, author Monica Graham profiles this long-standing hero of Pictou County and one of the region’s ultimate characters. -
Nova Scotia Quiz Revised Ed.
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$7.95This fully revised and updated edition of the popular provincial quiz book is a must-have for teachers and libraries and trivia buffs.
Who founded the city of Halifax? Which island off Nova Scotia is home to wild horses? Who is the Nova Scotian giantess that toured with P. T. Barnum? You can find the answers to these questions and more inside.
Each quiz offers a variety of topics and difficulty levels, so it’s perfect for teachers, students, parents, researchers, tourists, or anyone looking for a bit of information and entertainment.
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Prince Edward Island Quiz Revised Edition
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$7.95This fully revised and updated edition of the popular provincial quiz book is a must-have for teachers and libraries and trivia buffs.
Which premier led PEI into Confederation? Which PEI town was probably named from the French word for mouse? Whether you think you know it all or want to learn more, this collectioin of trivia from Canada’s smallest province will get you thinking. With 500 questions from easy to difficult, there is something here for readers of all ages and knowledge levels.
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Historic Glace Bay
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95**Updated in 2014**
The history of Glace Bay is intimately linked with the development of its coal mines. In this historic series book, Carole MacDonald examines coal as the fuel used to build and maintain Glace Bay and its inhabitants. Poor working conditions, irregular employment, and companies set on increasing their profits at the expense of the miners are all documented. Historic Glace Bay also covers the lives of notable residents, housing, hospitals, churches, schools, transportation, sports, and the community’s contribution to the arts.
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Historic Bridgewater
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95The history of Bridgewater is firmly connected to the beautiful LaHave River because of its importance in terms of geography, commerce, and recreation.Homes and buildings; the railway and the highway; the Davison Lumber Mill; the business life of Bridgewater; and people, events, and daily life are all examined through careful research and selected images to give a complete view of the history of Bridgewater.
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Jerome
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95For many Nova Scotians the name Jerome is synonymous with Maritime mystery, much like Oak Island, the Marie Celeste, or the Shag Harbour UFO crash. Jerome was the name given to the nearly dead, legless stranger who washed up on a Digby Neck beach in 1863. During the next fifty years, Jerome spoke only a few words and never revealed his identity.
Author Fraser Mooney Jr. embarked on a ten-year investigation to find the remarkable truth about Jerome. Using newspaper articles, historic documents, and interviews, Mooney explores and dispels the myths that have long been associated with Jerome and provides amazing detail about his life on Digby Neck. He takes us through Jerome’s life-from his appearance on the beach, through the time he spent living with a number of families in the region, to his death. Most importantly, Mooney discovers the truth behind the identity of the anonymous, mutilated man who took his secret to the grave. Including photos of Jerome, the beach where he was discovered, and those who knew him, Jerome is an incredibly well researched, intriguing book that will appeal to readers who enjoy Maritime mysteries and historical non-fiction. -
Shattered City 3rd Edition
$24.95This book, the most comprehensive ever written on the Explosion, details the terrific devastation, the aftermath and the restoration. It encompasses dozens of previously unpublished stories, photographs, and documents, along with some thought-provoking coverage of the inquiry into the disaster. A best-selling book from its first printing in 1989, this new edition has an updated cover and is sure to be a must-have for readers.
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Fossil Cliffs of Joggins
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95Joggins has been a popular location for fossil buffs and novices alike for two reasons. It is always possible to find interesting fossils there and it always offers something new. As the Fundy tides continually erode the cliffs new fossils emerge each season. Joggins is also of great interest to the scientific community. Dr. Laing Ferguson has introduced thousands of people to the world-famous fossil cliffs at Joggins. He wrote this book in 1988 to help visitors understand the significance of the fossils they may see in the Cliffs and now it’s back in print with a new cover for another generation of budding geologists and visitors.
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Images of the Island
Photographer: Anne MacKay, Wayne BarrettPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95Formerly known as Prince Edward Island Connections, Images of the Island is a repackage of the popular book of images by renowned island photographers Wayne Barrett and Anne MacKay. Whether you are a first-time visitor or a long-time resident, Images of the Island is a memento filled with colourful and charming images of an island that conjures up memories and inspires dreams.
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Out of Nova Scotia Gardens Delicious, Nutritious, Vegetable Recipes
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$16.95Bestselling author and newspaper columnist Marie Nightingale has compiled this delightful book on choosing, storing, and cooking delicious local produce. From the lowly cabbage to the more glamorous asparagus and Brussels sprouts, freshly grown vegetables from Nova Scotia are unsurpassed in taste and texture. Offering over 160 delicious recipes, from Leek & Tomato Quiche to Stuffed Onions to Rhubarb & Ginger Jam, Out of Nova Scotia Gardens is organized by vegetable and includes a recipe for everything you can grow in your backyard. It also includes a Chef’s Corner, featuring recipes from famous Nova Scotia chefs.
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St. Andrews By-the-Sea
Photographer: Rob RoyPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95Roy captures the character and beauty of St. Andrews, a town alive with history and natural beauty.
Tucked away on a peninsula inside the tranquil waters of Passamaquoddy Bay stands the scenic town of St. Andrews. The natural beauty and picturesque
architecture of the town are unsurpassed in New Brunswick and make it one of Canada’s most popular vacation destinations. Rob Roy’s photographs are both practical and artistic, blending together the everyday scenes of the town with the striking landscapes and historical character of St. Andrews. -
Wild Plants of Eastern Canada
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$27.95Wild Plants of Eastern Canada is a comprehensive guide to the region’s plants, including their culinary, medicinal, folk, and ecological uses. The book also explores the cultural history of wild plant use among Aboriginal-Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, and Passamaquoddy-and non-Aboriginal-Black, Acadian, and Celtic-peoples. Bridging the academic and the popular, the book includes easy-to-read profiles of sixty plant species, each identified with an actual size leaf-print specimen as well as a realistic reproduction for identification. Nearly sixty recipes are included for use in contemporary cuisine. The book does not include cultivated plants, seaweeds, or trees. Includes safety tips for identifying and avoiding poisonous plants.
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Cape Breton Tastes
$22.95Mouth-watering recipes from twenty eight of Cape Breton’s best restaurants.
Cape Breton Tastes presents but a sample of the food available on the island of Cape Breton. If the recipes from local restaurants don’t whet your appetite, then the vivid colour photographs of these dishes surely will. Featuring restaurants from all over the island map-from Ingonish to Arichat-this book is your guide whether you are looking for a bowl of chowder and a homemade biscuit or a hearty meal of lamb, pork,
or roasted goose. Of course, don’t leave without tasting the wondrous bounty of the island’s seas and rivers, or one of the fine desserts worth lingering over. Whatever dish you choose, you won’t be disappointed.
This book features twenty-eight different restaurants from around the island, and includes recipes for starters, soups, meat, seafood, pasta, and desserts. -
Lost Canoe
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95A contemporary account of tracking a historical explorer across Labrador.
In the mode of Leonidas Hubbard and William Cabot, Hesketh Prichard set out with a group of adventurers in the early 1900s, determined to cross Labrador. Disregarding local advice, his expedition headed up a box canyon and climbed five-hundred-metre cliffs all with a canoe in tow- a gruesome portage. The canoe was later abandoned.
The Lost Canoe is the account of the contemporary search for Prichard’s lost canoe. Over three summers Larry Coady coaxed friends and strangers into searching for Prichard’s
canoe, retracing Prichard’s route, verifying landforms and campsites, and mapping the entire trail. Only hard-nosed hikers immune to blackflies and mosquitoes were enticed to participate. Prichard’s original 1910 photographs and accounts of his journey, published in Through Trackless Labrador, are paired with Coady’s own photographs and writings. The narrative that results reveals a struggle against the elements to cross the ancient landscape of northern Labrador, a subarctic mix of boreal forest and open tundra. The book will appeal to a broad audience, from historians and geographers to adventurers and hikers. -
Captains, Mansions and Millionaires
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$20.95Today is difficult to grasp the magnitude of the prosperity that Maitland enjoyed as a shipbuilding and trading centre during the late 1800s. Fortunes were made in the timber trade, in mining gypsum, and selling Maitland ships. In one summer, nineteen ships were built for a revenue of nearly one million dollars. A thousand men worked in the shipyards of this town on the shores of Cobequid Bay, requiring hotels, boarding houses, taverns, clothing stores, hardware stores and a bank.
Maitland sea captains like W.D Lawrence sailed the globe in huge schooners. A railway was built; there was a telegraph, professional photographer, and eventually a six-car ferry. There were tennis courts, and glorious mansions furnished with the finest articles money can buy.
And then it ended. The golden age of wooden ships and iron men was over, and the economic engine that generated such wealth faltered. The halcyon days of Maitland disappeared but its heritage not forgotten. Much of the town, including its great homes, still stands as it did in the glory days. Maitland has been declared a heritage conservation site, to be preserved for future generations.
