June 2003 Volume 28, No.2 ISSN 0384 7335 The Griffin A PUBLICATION OF HERITAGE TRUST OF NOVA SCOTIA HERITAGE TRUST OF NOVA SCOTIA is a charitable organization. All donations are tax creditable. Halifax fire station architect, William B Fidler, was a fireman, carpenter and builder by Don Snider Fidler, William B., born 1845, died 1919; Builder, Designer, when his career changed course. He became an Architect, Fireman Operator, Engineer and, finally, Superintendent for the A man of various talents, William B. Fidler was a chemical engines of the City of Halifax Fire Department. carpenter in 1871. He formed a partnership with Josiah Fidler also performed the duties of the Department’s Jordan in 1877, and Jordan & Fidler, Builders, operated carpenter, and because of his understanding of the until Jordan’s death ten years later. Fidler continued contracting business as well as the technical alone as a builder and contractor until about 1895, requirements of the Fire Department, he was consulted Continued overleaf The Halifax Fire Station c. 1900. A Halifax Fire Department photo, courtesy of the Nova Scotia Archives. the design while attending to his Book Notes duties in the Department. The fee was eventually paid after Chief John Connolly assured staff that Halifax History William Fidler worked on the Reading Hands: The Halifax School design during his time off. The for the Blind, Shirley J. Trites. Just station opened in 1903. published. $20.00, paperback. In 1912 Fidler moved to Robie Available at the Canadian Street, his final residence, and National Institute for the Blind from 1913 until his death in 1919, (CNIB), 6136 Almon Street, he practised as an architect and Halifax, NS B3K 1T8; carpenter. 453-1480. Don Snider is a Collector of Fire Lunenburg’s 250th Anniversary ... Memorabilia and Artifacts, Regional European Origins and Colonial Firefighters Interpretation Centre.w Travails: The Settlement of Lunenburg. Edited by Eva and Paul Huber. Halifax. FORTHCOMING A major portion of the book is made up of digital colour photo- graphs of buildings and objects Among the Saints is a collection predating the mid-18th century. of very readable stories that delve Included is information about the beneath the events of everyday villages and towns in Germany, life experiences. Montbéliard and Switzerland Copies of the book were avail- whence “the foreign Protestants” able for purchase, with Donna came to Lunenburg between 1750 Smyth there to sign copies and and 1752. Fortunately, some build- meet the public. ings from the period still stand. For more information, contact: Accompanying text is in English, Andria Hill, Historic Site The Griffin German and French. Also Administrator, 902-678-6673 included are some of Terry or 902-678-6237 or A quarterly newsletter Punch’s columns from The Nova [email protected]. published by Scotian Messenger. HERITAGE TRU S T OF NOVA SCOTIA Still Available: ... and more about the Grand Affairs with Old Houses. Unless otherwise indicated, Family Reunion Personal stories about preserving the opinions expressed in The Register of the Foreign heritage houses in Nova Scotia. these pages are those of the Protestants of Nova Scotia by Edited by Pat Lotz. Published by contributors and do not Winthrop Bell. See March issue of Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia and necessarily reflect the The Griffin for details. FORTHCOM- Nimbus Publishing. At local book- views of ING. $80.00 (available on CD, stores. $19.95 (some copies also HERITAGE TRU ST OF NOVA SCOTIA. $30.00). Maps Associated with available paper bound).w Lunenburg County Family History, Submissions are welcomed. including early land grants and Deadline for the next issue: cemetery maps. FORTHCOMING. August 1, 2003 $15.00 (available on CD, $10.00). Fire Station: Continued from Page 1 Both published by Chris Young: Please send your submissions to [email protected] or phone, before on repairs to existing fire stations HE RITAGE TRUST O F June 26, 519-824-9869. For infor- and on plans for new ones. He NOVA SCO TIA, P.O. Box 36111, mation about the Reunion, July eventually designed the station on Spring Garden RPO, 10-14: www.seawhy.com/L250.html. West and James streets in 1896 Halifax, N.S. B3J 3S9 and, later, the station at the corner Tel: 902 423-4807 Book Launch of Robie and Morris (now E-mail material to Donna E. Smyth's new book, University) streets. The fee for the [email protected] Among the Saints, was launched in accepted design of the fire station www3.ns.sympatico.ca/heritage.trust the Annapolis Valley on on Morris Street was $1000, but Wednesday, June 11, 7:30 p.m. at City staff felt that Fidler did not ef the Kings County Museum, deserve the fee as he was a fire- 37 Cornwallis Street, Kentville. man and could have worked on Page 2 The Griffin - HERITAGE TRUST OF NOVA SCOTIA How Lake Charlotte Area Heritage Society created Memory Lane Heritage Village by Gordon Hammond Memory Lane Heritage Village one day they might become the buildings were to be added to the is located on the Eastern Shore of basis of a museum. This dream existing buildings to create what Nova Scotia in the community of was passed on to Ned’s eldest might be loosely called an Lake Charlotte, just under an son, Ford, who in turn took to “extended homestead”. This hour’s drive from Halifax along saving what others were throwing development was to be equally the #7 “Marine Drive” highway. away. Then, late in 1994, opportu- loosely focused on a time period The entire village was created nity came knocking in the form of between about 1930 and 1960. from scratch between February a Nova Scotia Department of Potential funding agencies asked 2000 and December 2002. Most of Tourism team who were travelling a series of hard questions. What its buildings were rescued from the province soliciting ideas for exactly was it we were planning? planned demolitions or “community based projects which how did we propose to pay for unplanned deterioration and will increase visitor access to the our share of the capital costs? who moved onto the village site. area’s cultural and natural her- would cover operating losses? The village recreates a typical itage.” Within months a working and why did we think anyone coastal-area Nova Scotia village of group was established, and in would pay to visit anyway? The the 1940s. Its four acres include a May 1995 the Lake Charlotte Area net result of all this detailed village store, one-room school Heritage Society was formed. Its analysis was a proposed develop- (complete with a working, side- objective was “to research, acquire, ment focusing on the commemo- by-side, boys’ and girls’ out- conserve, interpret, exhibit and ration of all aspects of village life house), church, garden, home- publicize for the purposes of during a more specific period, stead, barn, icehouse, garage, study, understanding and enjoy- basically the decade of the 1940s cookhouse, boat shop, fisherman’s ment, the material evidence of the — an era of transition and one store, goldmining complex, work- human and natural history of the well within living memory. shop and community hall. Great Lake Charlotte area on a self-sus- Discussions with potential fund- attention has been paid to the taining basis”. ing agencies continued. The buildings’ location with respect The Heritage Society quickly Heritage Society learned that the to one another and to their moved to prepare a development owners of the Hosking Store restoration and furnishing, so that plan that would see the leasing of (c.1895) in Oyster Pond, concerned nothing post-dates July 1, 1950. six acres of land, including the about their legal liability for the Memory Lane Heritage Village Webber family home and its out- vacant and deteriorating building, plays a vital role in the preserva- buildings, from the Webber family were planning to demolish it. tion and presentation of an era in to the Society. A small number of Continued on Page 4 Nova Scotia’s history that has essentially vanished, but lingers on in common memory. The story of Memory Lane Heritage Village has its roots in Ned Webber’s dream. Ned, owner of the village store in Lake Charlotte, was anxious to preserve something of the life he knew in the 1930s and 40s that was changing all around him. With the advent of electricity, bringing with it lighting, refrigeration and pres- surized water for inside plumb- ing, with the arrival of paved roads and affordable automobiles, radio programs and record players, he saw village life starting to change forever. He started saving arti- facts representative of the rapidly vanishing lifestyle with which he had grown up in the hope that Hosking Store, c.1895, was relocated from Oyster Pond to Memory Lane Village. March 2003 Page 3 Memory: Continued from Page 3 family, who were prepared to hired for the HRDC program. lease the six-acre property with Work began early in February The Hosking Store symbolized the their family home on it indefinitely, 2000. very thing the Heritage Society were not prepared to donate it Suitable buildings were identi- were trying to preserve. Moving outright and run the risk of losing fied in the surrounding communi- quickly, they reached an agree- it entirely. Their support for the ties. The guiding principles used ment with the owners to donate project was unwavering, however, in acquiring buildings was that the building to them if the Society and they agreed to donate four they be from the immediate accepted the responsibility for acres close by with good highway surrounding area; that they be removing it and restoring the site visibility and an appealing reasonably typical of the area and afterwards.