Exploring Pictou County

Guest Writer:  Darcy Rhyno, freelance travel writer who lives in Little Harbour, NS.

Entering the “Coal and Grit” gallery at the Museum of Industry is like ducking into a mine shaft. The lighting is suitably dim. The artefacts and exhibits tell a compelling, sometimes grim story. The sounds of mining by hand play in the background. Paul Laland, retired history teacher, grandson of a Nova Scotia coal miner, and guide at the Museum located in Stellarton, greets us with ominous words.

“Coal mining began 200 years ago with 30 commercial mines. I could start naming all the coal mines that blew up, but it’s a lot easier to count the number that didn’t. One. Two. Now I’m done.” He lets that sink in for a moment before continuing. “It’s really quite amazing how volatile our coal is.” A gifted storyteller, Leland has us spellbound with tales of hardscrabble lives and heroic rescues.

On the lighter side at the museum, kids can learn how to play “quoits” outside or go inside to build with Lego. The whole family can watch demonstrations and get their hands dirty in the print shop, the machine shop, and the fully operational mini sawmill. And, oh, the look on the faces of kids and railway fanatics when they come face to face with the museum’s twin stars, a pair of steam locomotives. The Samson, the oldest in Canada and one of the oldest in the world, as well as the Albion, possibly Canada’s second oldest, reside here. The Museum will prove a thrilling and memorable experience for anyone fascinated by big machines and big history.

Melmerby Beach Provincial Park

Equally inviting as a place to spend a leisurely afternoon any time of the year is Melmerby Beach Provincial Park. In the warmer months, the beach is busy with those looking for a place to relax for a few hours and take a swim in the supervised warm waters of the Northumberland Strait. At other times of the year, it’s a gorgeous two kilometre (1.25 mile) stretch of sand that visitors often have to themselves.

Goodbye to MOI

Back at the Museum of Industry, guide Paul LaLond insists on one more story. “I don’t let anybody leave until I tell it,” he says. His tale brings a tear to a few eyes for he is a master at conjuring the emotion of times past when coal was king and families sacrificed so much. In 1950, an explosion 2000 feet below ground trapped seven of 79 miners. A crew of rescuers called draggermen found five of those seven men alive.

“One man has been leading the others out,” LaLond says, “placing his arm on the hot rail. One fell between two coal cars. ‘Leave me boys,’ he said. ‘I’m done for.’ But they wouldn’t. They dragged him out of there.”

With just two men left to rescue, the draggermen prepare to descend into the mine again. “A little girl, four years of age, breaks free from her mother’s arm,” LaLond continues. “She forces her way through the crowd to one of the draggermen. Tugs on his sleeve. He looks down. ‘Please bring my daddy home.’ Down they descend, thinking of that little girl. There’s smoke. There’s fire. It’s almost impossible to see. They finally reach the space, expecting to find the two men dead. They’re partially buried, but somehow alive. They uncover them, put them on stretchers, and carry them out of that carnage. They reach the surface an hour and a half later just as the shaft blows up again.”

My group thanks Lalond, then leaves in silent reverence for the grit and bravery of those early Nova Scotians.

About our Guest Writer Darcy Rhyno is a Nova Scotia based magazine columnist, features writer and travel writer and photographer. His work has appeared in dozens of outlets such as Canadian Geographic Travel, Saltscapes and Coastal Discovery. He writes about interesting personalities, experiential travel, national parks and wilderness, ecological issues, culture and the arts among other things.