Historical GIS

Wednesday morning I walked along Highway #201 (Carleton Road) from our house to Lawrencetown Lane. I noticed the change in civic addresses at the Paradise/Lawrencetown boundary. In Paradise, they are four digits e.g. our house is #6326; in Lawrencetown they are three digits e.g. Lunn’s Mill Beer Company is #515.

On my growler of Brickyard Red, I find the following history of Lunn’s Mill.

”In 1760, this beautiful part of the Annapolis valley was known as Lunn’s Mill, named after the major industry in the area, a bustling saw mill owned by John Lunn. Around this time the Charming Molly (another beer) set sail from New England carrying the first New England Planters. These intrepid people helped expand the community with farms and shops and in 1822 it was renamed Lawrencetown.”

Within this context, I received an email from David Raymond, retired Cartography instructor at COGS. He now operates MapAtlantic from his home in Smith’s Cove.

”I have been working on a project for Dr. Paul Armstrong (Maritime Institute for Civil Society) since early 2020 that involves bringing the nineteenth century AF Church maps into a GIS database. The next phase involves matching the 1871 census records to those in the database.”

David put me in touch with Paul Armstrong. They want me to speak at a small gathering in Truro later in August. This will lead to my undertaking some background research on Historical GIS in the next couple of months.

Meanwhile, this week, in the Chronicle Herald, there was a further update on the MapAnnapolis project.

These connections serve to illustrate the relationship between COGS, Cartography and our appreciation of the the geography of the Annapolis Valley. It is a tribute to the work of Walter Morrison, John Wightman and John Belbin and their successors. It also illustrates the value of the map collection at the college.

Can you imagine a historical GIS system where you could operate a slider through time, and see the changes in the land use and land ownership?

Postscript

Last night, Heather and I watched the TVO documentary ‘From Earth to Sky’ produced by Ron Chapman. Watch it, and imagine thé Mi’kmaq perspective on this changing landscape.

Acknowledgements

David Raymond and Paul Armstrong for reaching out to me. I look forward to the research. David Colville for forwarding the end of year address by Don Bureaux, President at NSCC. Edward and Heather for their ongoing support.

References

Lunn’s Mill Beer. Check the label for a short history lesson.

Chronicle Herald. June 23,2021. C6. Digital Mapping chronicles Annapolis Co’s history.
Paul Pickrem.

David Raymond, MapAtlantic, Smith’s Cove.

Paul Armstrong Ph.D Historical Sociology, President, Maritime Institute for Civil Society, Chair, KITH Observatory Inc., Treasurer, Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia.

Don Bureaux, June 23, 2021, President’s Update. Year End Message.