[ Post a Response | Welcome To East Coast Diggers Forum ]
Posted by Rich ( CT) PORT MOUTON — Somebody owns a piece of land here that was home to a short-lived 200-year-old British settlement, and a local heritage society wants to know who. The Mersey Heritage Society has been studying the site in Port Mouton, Queens County, since 2001. The spot where they found 93 artifacts during a dig that year is on unclaimed land. "Nobody knows who owns it," said society president Craig Chandler. The group has spoken with local residents, the Registry of Deeds, the departments of natural resources and tourism and culture, but the identity of the owner remains a mystery. Mr. Chandler is getting nervous because heavy machinery has been logging in nearby woods that also seem to be a no man’s land. "We do not want these archeological resources to be destroyed," he said. The 16-hectare site is unique in Nova Scotia for a couple of reasons. People lived there for only eight months until the spring of 1784, when the settlement burned down as most of its occupants were preparing to leave. And in a new angle, retired Canadian general Lewis MacKenzie is a descendant of one of the settlers, Israel Wharton. The former peacekeeping commander visited the site last month as part of a CBC series airing this fall that connects well-known Canadians with their roots. People who settled the area after conceding defeat in the American Revolution worked for a very different kind of commander. Lt.-Col. Banastre Tarleton led the British Legion, an 18th-century army unit composed of infantry and mounted troops, and was so ruthless he was nicknamed the Bloody Ban and the Butcher. Mel Gibson’s character in The Patriot was loosely based on Tarleton. Mr. Chandler said about 300 legion members and their families were granted land in the Port Mouton area, which they named Guysborough Township after Guy Carleton, the leader of British forces in the American Revolution. They arrived in October 1783 and were followed by between 500 and 2,000 others, including about 70 black loyalists, but mainly staff and their families from the British base in New York. Their homes were "nothing fancy," said Mr. Chandler, mostly log or rough houses and tents, though a few of the wealthier disassembled their homes and had them shipped here and reassembled. But the land was rocky and conditions harsh, so most of the settlers were preparing to leave in the spring of 1784 when a fire destroyed most of the settlement in May of that year. People who now live in the area told the heritage society about indentations in the ground and stone walls, so the society surveyed, measured and mapped the area with the help of three archeologists who joined 40 or so volunteers. "We found 12 spots that we suspected were dwellings," said Mr. Chandler. They are nothing more than depressions in the ground where cellars would have been. They also found loose fieldstone and a couple of collapsed mounds of stone that would have been chimneys. In October 2001 the group found a cellar and a collapsed chimney that seemed well-preserved so they dug a one-square-metre test pit in front of the foundation. "We found 93 artifacts, all tiny shards of ceramics, glass, rusted nails. Nothing glamorous, I’m afraid," said Mr. Chandler. But for an engineer with a keen interest in history, he found it fascinating. "When I stopped to think about what the people went through, that’s what strikes you. They had survived the war, lost their homes, most of their possessions and they’re plonked there, then what little they still have left is lost in the fire. It’s a pretty dismal picture." It’s also one that the society doesn’t want forgotten, so it is working with the Archeological Land Trust of Nova Scotia to protect the site. The provincial Culture and Heritage Department is responsible for protecting archeologically significant sites, but Mr. Chandler said it can’t do much until it knows who owns the land. It can only be protected once the owner is found, or if the trust or the province can acquire property rights or work out an easement and stewardship agreement with the owner. For now, it’s up to the Culture and Heritage Department to track down the owner. "Right now, no one is stepping forward and saying it is theirs and if no one owns it, I’m hoping the province will step in and somehow reclaim it," said Mr. Chandler. (bware@herald.ca) Back
on August 17, 2007, 9:55 am
69.120.7.148
Search on for owner of Port Mouton site
Heritage society out to protect artifacts from 1784 settlement
By BEVERLEY WARE South Shore Bureau | 5:33 AM
ADVERTISEMENT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back to top
Message Thread:
« Back to thread
