Over Christmas, Heather and I were in New Glasgow and Pictou.
For “light reading” about place, I picked up Rankin MacSween’s book, “The Search for a New Way” at Cole’s in the Highland Mall.
It is the story of New Dawn Enterprises in Cape Breton.
With that in mind, we decided to visit the DeCoste Centre and Library in Pictou. At the Centre, there was a remarkable display of quilts by Deb Plestid. This led to a request at the Library desk. I was able to sign out Sheree Fitch “Sing in the Spring !“, with artwork by Deb Plestid.
Afterwards, I was able to sign out two other books, both by Roland Sherwood, “Pictou’s Past” and “Pictou Pioneers”. Because of the excellent library system in Nova Scotia, I can return the books to my local library in the Annapolis Valley.
After the DeCoste Centre, we stopped for a coffee at Mrs MacGregor’s Shortbreads on Water Street. For our grandchildren, we picked up two books illustrated by Teresa MacKenzie “Pictou Town” and “A Pictou Christmas“. Pictou Town is a souvenir edition.
“To honour the 250th Hector Anniversary, The Pictou Bee Press is proud to publish Teresa MacKenzie “Pictou Town”. Teresa MacKenzie is curator of the McCulloch House and Genealogy Centre in Pictou.“
“Rankin MacSween examines New Dawn’s decades-long search for a better, more humane, more truthful way to build local communities and regional economies through people-centred community development.‘’ MacSween provides the most thorough history ever written of Canada’s oldest community-development corporation.
The search continues today, in Cape Breton, Pictou County, as well as in the Annapolis Valley.
References
Rankin MacSween, 2023, The Search for a New Way: The Story of New Dawn Enterprises, Nimbus Publishing.
Sheree Fitch, 2022, Sing in the Spring, Nimbus Publishing.
Roland Sherwood, 1973, Pictou Pioneers, Lancelot Press.
Roland Sherwood, 1988, Pictou’s Past, Lancelot Press.
Teresa MacKenzie, 2023, Pictou Town, Pictou Bee Press, Pictou, NS.
Laurie Stanley-Blackwell, 2023, A Pictou Christmas, Pictou Bee Press, Pictou, NS. Illustrated by Teresa Mackenzie.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Edward for the previous blog post (Has Your Map Generated 38,000+ Views?). Glad that he is closer to home.
Ernest Blair Experiment 