Between Kingston and Margaretsville, on the North Mountain, is a cave. Because of the smooth round appearance of the entrance, some believe it was carved by man, perhaps even the nefarious pirate Captain Kidd looking for another place to bury his pillaged treasures. Squeezing inside the entrance, one would find a gallery with a very abrupt descent. This tunnel was so deep that some say if you dropped a stone in, you wouldn’t hear it hit the ground. Others have said that they tried this and they did hear something - a splash. Does this mean that a pool of water lies at the bottom of the hole?

By the Community Centre in Port George, lived William Mosher and his son Frank. They owned a delivery business, bringing cargo from the Wharf down into shops in the valley, and then would bring produce grown in the valley back to the Wharf to be shipped off to St. John. When William died, Frank inherited the land and with his own son Leslie, they started a new business - bootlegging.

Up and down the shore of the Bay of Fundy, you can find sea caves carved out from the highest tides in the world. Legends have it that these caves were popular spots for pirates to hide their loot, or rum runners to hide contraband, with Gulliver’s Cove by Digby Neck and Black Hole Falls at Baxter’s Harbour being popular locations.

When Helen Creighton travelled Nova Scotia in the first half of the 20th century recording legends for her book “Bluenose Ghosts”, she spoke to Horace Johnston, a farmer and fisherman at Port Wade.

By the Bay of Fundy, between Hampton and Port Lorne is a little community called Saint Croix Cove. In 1913, at the top of the Saint Croix Cove waterfall, James Roland Healy (called Roll for short) cleared some land and built a saw mill where the Shore road is now.

On highway 1 in Wilmot sits a red building with a bright yellow sign saying Beans Cool Old Junk Shop. Not only is this house filled to the brim with beautiful antique items, the building itself comes with some fascinating history.

Just 20 minutes away from Annapolis Royal, on highway 8 heading towards Kejimkujik park, is a stately lodge with white clapboard and green trim called the Milford House. The original building was a log cabin built by Abraham and Mary Thomas in 1860, who had moved there from Queen’s County with their son Adelbert (Del).

This post explores the history of the Milford House as it became an internationally known wilderness getaway destination.

This horrific story has been told and re-told many times over the years. Will R. Bird shares his version of the tale in his book Off-Trails in Nova Scotia (1956). I have included Bird’s take on the story here, accompanied with some recent photos I’ve taken on a winter’s day in Margaretsville and some commentary based on further research I have undertaken.