Go to Cape Breton and Find.....Family?

Main Street Pictou Nova Scotia

 I visited Cape Breton Island knowing that my Gr Grandmother Mary MacDonald, who brought the family to the US through Boston, was from there. My Grandfather Gus Shorten was born in nearby Pictou. Via some research on Ancestry, I found earlier generations were all from this area. Something was up and I wanted to find out. Why did we know so little?

While visiting the Judique area (south of Port Hood), we stopped in the local museum which is largely the central location for local family history.  The docent immediately sat down with me to look over my compiled family tree.  She listened intently and then jumped up and gathered several books. Opening each to specific pages, she showed me annotations of the very people I had described. She looked at me and said, "you are very much a part of this community. Even more than I am!". 

After much conversation, the docent suggested that our family could have come over from Isle of Eigg Scotland on the ship Dunkeld in 1700's as Angus MacDonald (1710's - 1818). This Angus is considered a 'Pioneer' meaning an original Scot settler to the area. 

the story of Pioneer Angus MacDonald

One of his children, Donald MacDonald (you can't make this stuff up) married Mary Sara MacMaster.  She brings in the family who built 'the' stone house on the hill.

Mary Sara MacMaster's brother Red John of Creignish built this house.

Recently renovated home is back in the MacMaster family

The museum docent introduced me to Peggy from the MacMaster clan as my cousin from this connection.  Peggy Burke from Creignish is a talented weaver and comes from a family of music and dance.  Her shop is the old community store that her father ran for his uncle when the uncle broke his legs falling from the barn.

cousin Peggy from MacMaster clan - a weaver who made this MacDonald tartan

writeup of the stone house with original photo

Peggy's store, the old community store

Donald and Mary Sara had children, one of whom was Angus MacDonald (1818-1909) who married Jane Cameron from Judique. Her father, Daniel Cameron, came from Lochaber Scotland.

Angus and Jane were married in Mabou Catholic Church 1843. 

The Mabou Catholic Church today

clan tartans at the alter

clan tartans on each column, the altar, and entrance of the church

signs in Gaelic and English

One of Angus and Jane's children was named, wait for it....Angus MacDonald (1852-1903), born and buried in Judique.  He married Mary Ann MacDonald -probably her maiden name (1866-1938).  She was the community's midwife and is so recognized on her modern gravestone.  Her husband Angus named their community Centennial. Today, the road where the community and school are located is called Centennial Road between Judique and Creignish.

Angus McD's hand carved stone in Judique

The Centennial MacDonalds had 7 children, one of whom is Great Grandma Mary Jane MacDonald (1889 - 1985). She was born in nearby Long Point, next to Creignish, and died in Buffalo. Her siblings: John (1890-1955?) Flora (1893-1964) Alexander (1894-1961) Daniel (1897-1953) Catherine (1898-1942) Malcolm Alexander/Sandy (19??-1994).

Mary Jane MacDonald's birthtown

In a book at the museum, we read about what it was like going to school in Centennial.

Mary Jane MacDonald married Frederick Charles Shorten (1884-1938) who was born in Gibraltar when his British Army father was stationed there. The father, John Charles Shorten (1851-1924) was born in London of Irish parents and immigrated to Canada, likely through Halifax where he met his wife Alice Walsh (1850-1914) who was born in Salmon River Nova Scotia. Alice's father Patrick was from Newfoundland. 

one of the plants in New Glasgow

Mary Jane and Frederick Charles Shorten probably lived in Pictou or New Glasgow next door.  Frederick Charles was a steelworker and the plants are/were in New Glasgow which is minutes away.  Angus Shorten (grandpa) was born in Pictou - perhaps this is where the hospital was if they didnt actually live there. 
Frederick Charles died young of typhoid and is buried in a New  Glasgow cemetery.

Frederick Charles Shorten's gravestone in New Glasgow Irish cemetery near St. John Baptist church.

Mary had six children: John (Jack), Angus, Alice, Florence, Mary (Mamie), Lillian.  Mary found herself without a husband to support them, so she moved the family back up to the Centennial area where family could care for her kids while she went to Boston to work as a maid for a doctor and his family in Back Bay.  As she made enough money to send for a child, she did, until all joined her. They moved to Buffalo, likely due to job opportunities for the boys in the factories.

the backbay home where Mary MacDonald Shorten worked as a housekeeper

Stops Along the Way - Maine, New Hampshire to Boston

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you know you are in Maine when......

We had 2 days to get to Boston, so we took our time getting from Fundy to a small town in Maine called Wiscasset. The draw was Red's Eats which is know 'throughout' for having the best lobster rolls. Turk and I had to try it for ourselves.  Our opinion was that these were very good, but probably not beating out the food truck in PEI that we visited (who didnt yet have water due to the storm but managed to throw something together for us anyway). Red's lobster was perfectly cooked and generous.  And we realized we were tired of driving, so we found a great hotel that was 5 minutes away - Wiscasset Woods Lodge with 30 rooms on 7 acres.  The wooden rooms were comfortable but the amazing thing was the breakfast that came with the room. The dining room is located in the rustic wooden lodge with a big fireplace. Everyone who came in would talk with the other guests as if we were all friends of the owners.  Meanwhile, the kitchen was placing freshly baked and cooked items out for us.  Several guests mentioned they 'always' stay at this lodge and are on the mailing list to get the recipes.  The owner walked around catching up with the guests.  It was a really nice, and delicious experience.

Always a line at Red's. Turk is excited to be NOT at the end of the line

our lobster roll, with double butter

Wiscasset Lodge's unique S&P shaker holders!

happy blue crab

yoga moose!

We stopped in Portland and nearby Kittery and Portsmouth for very important reasons: Holy Donuts (to bring some back to Jamie and Gus), to explore the old town/port area because we had heard it was interesting. We were not disappointed, especially once we figured out how to avoid the cruise ship passengers.

tours available - notice lobster on door of firetruck

Portsmouth NH original YMCA

The best gelato we've eaten since Rome - Gorgeous Gelato. WOW

Amazing potato donuts - Holy Donuts

Beautiful fancy chocolates - Byrne and Carlson (Kittery)
When Pigs Fly - Boston, Kittery - amazing bakery with all kinds of breads. Best pretzel bread I have found outside of Germany. Turk brought a loaf of pesto, rosemary bread back. Pretzel bread didnt last long enough to return.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's home

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Kittery chocolate shop!

Fun at Fundy, the Bay in New Brunswick

The moose speak French here

Our visit to New Brunswick was largely focused on exploring the Bay of Fundy area. We had seen it from the Nova Scotia side, but didnt spend time near the water - so this was our chance at Fundy National Park.

Confederation Bridge from New Brunswick side at beach

We drove through Moncton to get to the Bay. Stopping at a grocery store I noticed the rest of the shopping center and its stores.....

Cannabis nestled between grocery and tires.

We stayed near the Hopewell Rocks, so hiked down there our first evening, getting out just before sunset.

Hopewell Rocks at medium height tide. You can walk around at low tide.

many warnings and tide info

Looking up from ocean floor

Cape Enrage is west of Hopewell Rocks and we climbed down to the beach/ocean floor during low tide in the morning. Lots of DANGER signage.

hard rocks to walk on-see shoe?

Long way UP

Lighthouse keeps getting moved due to erosion - looking out over Bay of Fundy

From lighthouse, looking at former lighthouse keeper's home - now a restaurant

Fundy National Park is full of hikes, views, campgrounds, rustic places to stay. The day we were there, they had an annual trail race - the largest in the Atlantic region. So we would be hiking, and then hear a plea to move over as an exhausted runner would get by us on the trail.

Dickson Falls flows into Bay

View from Pt Wolf of Bay

The trails were nice and especially on the coast, the views were spectacular. We appreciated the sunny day after all the rain we had hiked in.  Canadian National Parks place red chairs in particularly scenic spots so you can sit and enjoy them,  like the old Kodak Picture Spots.
We did see quite a few trees knocked over from the hurricane but our trail was cleared when a tree fell across it, or was hanging dangerously over it.

The covered bridge was built over a river that had been used by loggers to transport logs to the cove to be loaded onto ships. This location had a sawmill that polluted the water, killed the fish, and impacted the wildlife in this area.  Today, there is still a pile of logs from those days. Work is being done to help populate the water with local fish.

View from start of Coppermine trail - tide is low

lots of small waterfalls to cross

hurricane hit here too

View of covered bridge and wood pile

one of 2 covered bridges in park

more hurricane impact

another group of trees hit by storm

found brewery in a church!

Hiking made us hungry and thirsty. We found THE brewery in Alma, the town beside Fundy National Park. It is in a church and is THE gathering spot for hikers and mountain bikers, and everyone else after a day of being active. Luckily we got a flight before they ran out of beer - but its unbelievable that, with a guaranteed market, they would not make enough beer.  Blame it on the hurricane from 2 weeks before!

After beer came lobster. We checked out the two lobster markets and picked the one with more options. Lobster roll and seafood chowder (not creamy).  We sat outside and enjoyed lobster and some beers the Turk had canned at the brewery (the last of the beer).

we waited, but didnt catch any walking across the road!

priced by the pound

Turk plays with the wildlife

lobster art - see his fishing hat?

more lobster art

even more delicious than it looks!  Alma's Lobster Shop

lobster shop helper - in uniform

the mom - cleaning scallops

higher tide

low tide. Boats have support between sand and the bottom to keep them horizontal in low tide

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the tide is in

6 hours later, tide out

Turk found crabs 

Turk and wildlife - again

The Turk was fascinated with the sea life that remained when the tide was low. He spent a bit of time annoying a crab who pinched away until he got worn out.

The only moose the Turk saw was the one outside the souvenir store.  That apparently was good enough.

waiting for the tide to return

sunset lighting up the bluffs over Bay of Fundy

Working our way back to Boston, we headed out and visited St. John NB for lunch. These were the last few hours in Canada and we needed to try two more things: poutine and Tim Hortons!

We found the old town of St. Johns to be THE place to go. On a Sunday, there was outdoor seating at a number of highly regarded pubs/restaurants.  The Turk and I were the oldest people to visit it seemed which indicated to me that we were in a good spot.  

Our standard poutine was not on the brunch menu, but the chef made it for us. French fries, cheese curds, gravy.  That is poutine.  Filling and probably best eaten after a night out....to absorb the alcohol!  

Then we stopped at a Tim Horton's off the highway to spend the rest of our Canadian money (loonies) and experience Timmy's. I found a whole bakery counter of fresh made donuts and muffins. With my $3.21 and the help of the counter staff, I purchased a few different things that we would not normally eat to guide us out of Canada.

poutine! and side salad for health

Perfect location! 

Timmys!

Trees were starting to turn color by last week of September