Old-Time Travel in Nova Scotia

Laura Smith was a freelance writer living in Manotick, Ontario.

Edith Mosher has written several books about the history of Nova Scotia, usually dealing with historical quirks omitted by others writing about the past. In this small book, Mosher sets out to chronicle some of the ways people got around in Nova Scotia in the late 1800s and early 1900s. There are chapters on roadways, stage coach lines, railways, ferries, and sea transportation, plus a section of photographs. Mosher details the routes taken across Nova Scotia, the costs, the weather, and the historical context. She also provides a human touch by telling of the lives of those who provided early transportation in Nova Scotia.

The largest and best section of the book deals with water transportation, inland and sea bound. The courage of the crews and the ironies of weather and fate provide an interesting backdrop to the early history of sea travel in this Atlantic province.

This slim book will be of interest to inhabitants of the area and to anyone interested in some of the early forms of transportation, and the people who made them work, in Canada’s ocean province.