To the east lay Memramcook,an Acadian community in a pretty valley.then there was Dorchester,a town with a huge prison on a hill.Sackville was the next town,home of a small university.The Tantramar marshes,flat and barren lay beyond on the road to Nova Scotia.At the border there was a traffic circle with a sunken garden in the middle.Often a piper was there playing the bagpipes.Amherst was the first town in Nova Scotia.a small but busy town.The next major town was Springhill,a coal town.But first you passed through Fenwick,where there was a sugar woods,and Little Forks,and Springhill Junction where I once saw a wolf.Ann Murray called Springhill home,as did my father.Oxford,on the river Phillip was next.A sleepy little town.Then you passed through Rockley and Roslyn and Port Phillip,where I once caught a very strange fish,on the way to Pugwash.Pugwash was a seaport with a salt mine and some very large mansions.They have a gathering of the clans on july 1st,and also a philosophers conference.Fox Harbour was beyond Pugwash.A cottage community where my family had a summer cottage.You could use any of three different roads to get there,but whichever road you took you had to turn at the Co-Op store which was not much bigger than a large shed.Beyond Fox Harbour,Wallace was the closest town,a fishing village with a few stores and a dump.Tatamagouche was the next town,bigger than Wallace.Drysdale Falls was located east from Tatamagouche in a community called The Falls.An impressive waterfall to be sure.Balmoral had a restored flour mill with a big water wheel.From there you passed through Earltown and North River on the way into Truro,a big town in the center of Nova Scotia.Back to the west you came to Glenholm,then,if you took the Fundy coast road you would pass through Bass River,a village with a wooden chair factory.Economy Mountain was really a big hill with a picnic area at the top.From there you could look down on Five Islands in the bay.My grandfather is said to be from Five Islands,from Blue Sac Road.Beyond Five Islands,a scenic area,you come to Moose River and the Lynn Road which leads back to Springhill.There was a school house on Lynn Road that my grandfather was said to have blown up with dynamite.If you pass Lynn Road,you come into Parrsboro,a seaport and boat making town with a huge statue of Glooscap,a native deity.Parrsboro once hosted a session of Canada's parliment because the Parliment buildings in Ottawa had been damaged by fire.From Parrsboro,it's maybe 30 miles back to Springhill,then on again to Amherst,Sackville and Moncton.
To go west you first had to go north to Megnetic Hill.From there you passed by the village of Berry Mills where the train tracks passed over the road.Farther on was a cross roads that offered two different routes to Fredricton.One road would take you through Canaan,then through the bush on the south bank of the Canaan River to Coles Island.It was an isolated road where you could sometimes see moose.The other road took you through River Glade where they raced stock cars,then Peticodiac and into Sussex,a quaint dairy town with a lot of covered bridges and jersey cows.Then it was up over Kierstead Mountain,through Bethel and into Coles Island,that had two bridges and a lot of water.The the road wound through Youngs Cove at the bottom of Grand Lake.Swimming was good at Youngs Cove.The road then led through Cambridge Narrows and on to Jemseg with its very high bridge.From there it was river bottom all the way to Fredricton,through Gagetown with it's military base,and Burton,Sheffield,Maugerville where there is a very large potato,and into Fredricton.The Princess Margaret Bridge bypassed Fredricton but you could see the whole town from the bridge.There was a huge church there called Christ Church Cathedral.Beyond Fredricton was a huge dam,built in the 1960's.The dam holds back a huge reservoir.Beyond that is Prince William and Kings landing,a restored historical site.Pokiok is beyond that.There was once a waterfall here until the dam flooded it out.The Starlite Motel is there too,where my parents began their honeymoon.Nackawick,on the far side of the river is next.My mother used to tell a story about Nackawick and the Devil every time we passed through here.Nackawick had a large mill too.Up the road a way is Crow Hill and the turnoff to Canterbury.My grandparents lived there,past downtown on Orchard Street.It used to have a mill and a few stores downtown but there is not much of it left any more.My parents and grandparents rest in it's cemetery.Dead Creek and Skiff Lake lie beyond.Skiff Lake is a gem of a lake,and Dead Creek is nearly forgotten country.Beyond that,through the bush is the American border.
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