Saturday afternoon, I enjoyed my regular beer with John Wightman. John had found a copy of Annapolis County Resources (1990) and thought it might be of interest. Later I checked out the document (74 pages). It contained a good description of the county, based on Statistics Canada census information. At that time Bridgetown was a separate entity.
Reviewing the document with 33 years of hindsight, I was struck by a number of items:
- The lack of maps showing the distribution of land use, and land use change.
- The lack of references to the role of private industry.
This caused me to check out Dick Groot’s book ‘Closure’. It provided a brief history of BRITEX in Centrelea.
‘In 1970 approximately 240 people were employed’. The company closed in 2004 despite the efforts of Sandy Archibald and his staff.
If the County commissioned a report on resources in 2023, what changes might we see? Would the focus be less on the physical infrastructure and government census data? Would we see a more detailed description of the landscape and its changing use? What about the ‘creative rural economy’? Are there new businesses in the County?
Would we see the new technologies at COGS being used to give an online picture of the available resources? It would include new start-ups, the contribution from the arts and the sciences. Would we see more emphasis on the history, and the sense of community?
Times have changed. Have we?
The best resource in the County is ‘The Bridgetown Reader ‘. Thank you, Lewis!
Meanwhile, go online and check out the Shorefast Foundation on Fogo Island.
Postscript
From the bookshelf, we have Local Logic: How to get there from Here, published by AIRO in February 2017, with survey results and recommendations on the economic future of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, and its surrounding communities. This is a timely read. We need an update to 2023.
Acknowledgements
John Wightman provided a copy of the Annapolis County Resources. Dick Groot illustrated the changes in the Old Economy. Jane Nicholson’s significant commitment at Annapolis Investments in Rural Opportunity (AIRO). Edward added the graphics.
References
February 1990, Annapolis County Resources, 74 pp.
Dick Groot, 2018, Closure: A Photographer’s Eye on an Old Economy, Cedar Centre, Windsor, NS.
The Bridgetown Reader, www.bridgetownreader.news
Ernest Blair Experiment 