Unearthed horseshoes a lucky find?
Work crew unearths horseshoes, other items by Kentville’s Cornwallis River bridge
It wasn’t all that long ago that horse and wagons were more common than vehicles in downtown Kentville - and a reminder of that turned up recently.
A work crew from Howard Little Excavating digging up the sidewalk by the Cornwallis River bridge in December uncovered several horseshoes and other artifacts.
Town of Kentville engineering and public works director Fred Whynot said at least two dozen horseshoes were found that were apparently discarded in a pile years ago. The discovery was made when crews were digging a trench for water and sewer infrastructure in preparation for the bridge replacement project.
Some of the horseshoes are badly corroded but others are in better condition. Whynot said what appears to be an old wagon wheel hub, a couple of hooks and an “interesting-looking rake” were also found.
“It isn’t your typical rake and there wasn’t any obvious place where another attachment would be on it, so I’m not sure exactly what it was for, but that’s something they’ll figure out,” he said.
The items were taken to the Kings County Museum, Whynot said, where the items will be reviewed after it reopens in the spring. The Kings Historical Society and the Kentville Historical Society will likely each keep some of the horseshoes.
Whynot said the assumption is that the horseshoes and other items most likely originated from a blacksmith shop that used to be located near the site. However, it remains a mystery when and why the items were cast aside.
Unique discovery
Whynot said this is the only discovery of its type made during his time as Kentville’s director of engineering and public works. With progress being made in town, such as the construction of a new bridge, he said the find serves as a reminder of the community’s past.
Although a time capsule from the late 1980s was discovered when the former library and police station were demolished to make way for a new bridge, no artifacts relating to the old blacksmith shop were found. Whynot said his hat goes off to the contractor for saving the items.
Howard Little Excavating foreman Donnie Macisaac said the workers were excavating to move water and sewer mains and to put in new pipes when the discovery was made on Dec. 12.
Several horseshoes came up in the bucket. Macisaac guesses that they uncovered some sort of dumping site related to the former blacksmith shop. He said his crews don’t normally find horseshoes but it isn’t uncommon to find old bottles or other items discarded in the past while excavating.
Macisaac said that someone who was aware of what to look for sifted through all the dirt, it was likely other things would be found. After all, metals rust and deteriorate, but “horseshoes are pretty obvious.”