Bear River History
Pre-history
Native Mi’kmaq people inhabited this scenic glacial valley many thousands of years before the arrival of the Europeans and continue to do so today. The tidal river that they called “L’sitkuk Elsetuk”, provided easy travel to the coast where they harvested various fish and clams. Inland they hunted abundant wild game, including caribou.
During a severe winter storm (around 1605-9) one of Champlain’s supply ships in command of Simon Imbert took refuge here and thereafter the river bore his name. Following the French Expulsion of 1755 the English settled the land and then call the river Bear – a corruption of Imbert.
The 18th and 19th and early 20th centuries
Among the first European settlers (1783) were German mercenaries known as Waldecians and Hessians. Other settlers that followed included the names Chute, Rice, Miller, Clarke, Troop, and Harris. The land lots purchased by many of those families are still in evidence in the community. Due to the shortage of suitable level land, the downtown area was largely built on piers and stilts or on artificially created land supported by retaining walls.
The high river tides (7m) combined with an abundance of easily accessible mature oak and various softwood trees made shipbuilding and lumbering two important and profitable industries. Markets were readily found in the West Indies, England, and North America.
In its hey day (1890’s) Bear River had six shipyards and six lumber mills even though its population was only 1200. With the affluence so generated, many shops, supply stores, and service centres were established. Many large, elaborate homes were constructed along the steep hillsides on both sides of the river. Later, visitors would refer to the area as “The Switzerland of Nova Scotia”: a name by which it is often described to this day.
Various wood articles were produced at Bear River in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. These include hogshead staves for the local and export market, barrels for the sugar refineries at Moncton and Halifax, and barrels for the apples and other fruits locally produced. Block making and wool carding as well as specialized sawing made to order were other occupations of these industrious people.
The Clark Bros., among their many enterprises, catered to hunting and fishing parties but their biggest single endeavor was their sawmill and woodworking plant at Lake Jolly, about 14km South East of Bear River. Here they produced spruce and pine lumber as well as shingles and box material. The mill was later converted to handle hardwood and produced dowels, clothes pins, window sashes, door frames and toy furniture.
By the turn of the century steam engines and steel hulls signaled an end to the age of sailing ships and the people turned to logging as their primary source of income. The influential Clarke family even promoted a pulp mill for the area (1919-1920).
Present day Bear River
Since then much has been done to cater to the tourist trade which is now the main industry of the region. One of its primary undertakings has been a waterfront development project including a peace park complete with picnic tables overlooking the river and a tourist information centre.
Another unique endeavor has been the construction and operation of a solar aquatic sewage facility. Village sewage is treated using aquatic plants, bacteria, in a greenhouse enclosure.
An increased awareness of the environment and ecology has resulted in a large increase in the number of striped bass and salmon returning to the river each year.
For more Bear River history, visit the Bear River Historical Society website.
Source/credit information:
SAWPOWER: Making Lumber in the Sawmills of Nova Scotia by Barbara R. Robertson. A co-publication of Nimbus Publishing Ltd. and the Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1986. Crown copyright, Province of Nova Scotia, the Department of Education & Nova Scotia.
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Bear River Board of Trade Directors, 2011
President: Kelly Foxton
Vice President: Larry Knox
Treasurer: Rick Jacques
Recording Secretary: Flora Doehler
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Rob Buckland-Nicks
Jane Kingston
Noreen Miller
Don Rice
Peter Tomlin
Jonathan Welch
Duff Wilson
Lovely to read all this information. Our family is thinking of moving to Bear River in 2 months but not sure about schools or commute time to Halifax. Any ideas?
Hi Elizabeth,
It takes about 3 hours to drive to Halifax.
There are schools for K-12 in Digby (15 min) and in Annapolis Royal (25 min) and school buses to get there.
The closest Universities are St. Anne’s in Church Point (45 min) and Acadia in Wolfville (75 min). There is a community college in Middleton (40 min).
Have a good drive here Elizabeth!
Flora
I am doing some research, trying to find good examples of abandoned rural schools that have been turned to community use. My organization (www.theciel.com) assists rural communities with local economic self-reliance. We are based in Nelson, B.C.
I have discovered Oakdene Centre, but I have not been able to find anything on the net about the history of it. If someone could direct me to something on the net or give me the name and phone number of someone I could call, I would appreciate it. You can reach me at bmetcalfe@theciel.com.
Thanks.
Hi Bill,
I have forwarded your message to the current chair of the Oakdene, Linda Mae Findlay and Board member Robbie Bays with a cc to you.
There is a little bit of Oakdene contact info under the ‘organizations’ tab on this website.
Thanks for contacting us,
Flora
Hello, This is a great site. I am trying to track down information about my relatives Quigley from Bear River. I was actually on here trying to figure out where the Quigley House was located. I have a picture of it and a description of the location 50 meters south of Harris Brook Bridge.
Great site. I am researching my family and found they lived in Bear River in the 1920′s and was wondering where I may find records of their births and deaths. I was planning on visting Bear River this summer and was hoping to do some more reseach.
Thank you,
Diane
Hi Diane, I have forwarded your query to our local historical society. Checking online, I see there is a site called Nova Scotia Genealogy Records Online. http://www.genealogysearch.org/canada/novascotia.html Perhaps you can find more information there. Because Bear River straddles 2 counties, Annapolis and Digby, the records may be in either place.
hello, i am researching my family tree and I have found that my great-grandfather and great grandmother were from bear river. his name was benjamin rice and his wife was jessie walking? rice, married 1895 and immigrated to cambridge mass in 1889. i wonder if there is a way i can contact the historical society for any information on these relatives. thank you, sally
Hi Sally, I have forwarded your email to the Chair of the Historical Society and also to a local resident who is also a Rice. Rice and Harris are both commen names here. There seems to have been a lot of movement from here to the New England states and back again. I hope we can find some answers for you! Thanks for asking! Flora
Hello ,I too have ancestry from this lovely part of the Maritimes!!!Or line came north to Cape Breton around 1800.
Good Folks:
I just recently arrived back at the Bear River website site to finally download several years of “The Tributary” only to find the website changed (its excellent!!) but only the recent issue available. (OK, I should have downloaded them before but in our older years we procrastinate a bit more!!!).
In any event, can I convince you/someone to put them back up?? – I’m sure the file is still sitting intact on someone’s computer. They are a real plus for those of us now ‘from away’ who try to keep some connection to the river and the valley and those two tides a day!
Thanks,
Ray
Ray, read your story on Growing up in Bear River. Printed it off for my sister, Doris, and our Uncle Harold Porter, to read. Enjoyed it very much. I enjoyed following your excurtions in around the village. I worked at The Northern Miner as a receptionist in 1988.
Hi Joan,
– Flora
I have forwarded your message to Ray. Thanks for sharing Ray’s wonderful memoir. We would love to publish more for this site or for the Bear River Historical site. Please pass the word!
Hi Ray!
The Tributary is archived at the Bear River Historical Society website which can be found at: http://bearriverhistory.ca
Ray, I came across your excellent webpage about the history of Bear River and wondered if we could link to it here on our site?
Thanks so much for writing!
Flora
That’s great Flora thanks. I had to get the article via a library but I found the front page of it online link below, it will give you a bit more detail but does not show the photo, which is really interesting
http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/5/5/200
Mel
Hi Mel,
There are lots of old apple trees around Bear River; some of them quite ancient; some of them abandoned. We have a few trees on our land that I’d love to get identified. I know we have Gravenstein, which is a Nova Scotian variety. Delicious like a mac, but a good keeper over the winter and good for baking.
I’m going to alert the Clark descendant here in Bear RIver. Perhaps he knows the answer. I’d love to know more about the reference that you found.
Thanks for asking!
Flora
Mr Clark didn’t have the apple tree that was with somebody else, I wonder if that orchard still exists ?
Mel
Hi Ginny Thanks
I don’t think this ever made it into a commercial nursery. It is more likely to be in a private collection, locally. The gents name was Me Clarke, who from reading these pages seem to be a local family.
Mel
Hi Mel,
As a transplanted Brit, I am very interested in heritage fruit trees from the UK and also our adopted region’s apples, but have never come across such a variety.
The main area for apple growing in Nova Scotia is further east along the Annapolis Valley.
You could try contacting the following:
Helen Arenburg at the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers Assn. (harenburg@nsapples.com)
Or you could try speaking to Jim Inglis, an organic apple grower from Bridgetown, NS – (902) 6652427.
I have a selection of heritage apples on order for this autumn from Siloam Orchards in Ontario, so that we can start our own Heritage Orchard right here.
For more information from them you can e-mail mail@siloamorchards.com.
Best of luck,
Ginny Hurlock, Bear River
Hello all
I’m an Heritage apple historian and grower in the UK. I recently came across an article that mention a very unusual apple in relation to your village. This apple was Goldren Russet on one end and Boston stripe on the other. The split was horizontal. I’m interested to know of this local apple still exsists or if anyone knows any more about it ?
Thanks
Mel