Chimney Corner sale has beachgoers worried
Inverness County property includes more than 300 acres of land, 4,000 feet of beach
Tracey Snow has fond childhood memories of the white house with the blue roof overlooking Chimney Corner beach in Inverness County.
The granddaughter of Dean and Clara Evans, former owners of the property, is too young to remember the Evans Coal Mining operation that pulled coal from under the ocean floor to the beach. But Snow can remember countless hours playing in the sand, laundry on the line and her grandmother cooking her favourite meals.
The married mother of two can also remember how much her grandparents loved having people hang out at the beach.
“My papa would walk the beach and know everyone… he wanted it to be open access to the public,” Snow told the Cape Breton Post on Aug. 28.
“It was a big part of my grandparents’ lives. I think it was like extended family to them.”
Snow now lives in Ottawa and was there with her husband and two children, ages seven and eight. They made the trip because the property was up for sale and Snow was worried after it sold that the beach would no longer have public access.
It was the first time her children had been to Chimney Corner beach and Snow hadn’t been home in nine years. That is because she finds travelling difficult due to mental health issues that developed after brain surgery to remove a tumour in 2005, but the thought of never seeing the beach again gave her the strength to get through the drive.
“This is where I grew up. This is my memories,” she said.
“The thought of someone buying it and making it a private beach, it makes me sad, the thought I might never be able to come back. So, I had to come.”
The listing on viewpoint.ca indicated it sold on Aug. 31 but the sale hasn’t closed yet. The property, which includes more than 300 acres of land, 4,000 feet of beach and 37 acres of ocean property rights, was listed at $4 million.
While the Nova Scotia Beaches Act keeps beaches, oceans and lakes from being owned privately, Dean Evans was able to obtain mining rights for Evans Coal Mines to operate at Chimney Corner beach. These mining rights gave the family ownership of the beach and ocean acres and has stayed with the family even after the coal mining operation moved inland.
Dean Evans died in 1997 and Clara Evans died in 2017, leaving the property unattended since most of the family had moved away from Cape Breton. Snow said she understands why her uncle made the decision to sell the property but still worries the new owners will prohibit any public use of the beach.
She isn’t the only one. Talk of the upcoming sale was on the lips of everyone at the beach on Aug. 28, each person worried this would be their last time enjoying one of Cape Breton’s hidden gems.
“It’s a beautiful spot and it should stay open to the public,” said Patrick Donovan of New Waterford, who has been coming to Chimney Corner with his family for about 10 years.
“It’s a sin when someone buys up land and blocks access. That’s been known to happen.”
Michelle Melbourne from North Sydney said she has been going to the beach for 50 years, pretty much her whole life, and worries about what will happen after the sale.
“It would be awful if it was not public anymore because it’s not usually overcrowded here.”
Graham Smith from Halifax was vacationing in Margaree with his wife, grandchildren, daughter and son-in law-and. He said he has been coming to Chimney Corner for decades. He thinks the beach and ocean property rights should be donated back to an environmental charity like the Nova Scotia Nature Trust.
“I don’t understand why someone would want it exclusively for themselves. Its beauty is a part of the community, a living, breathing part of the community,” he said, pointing to his grandkids watching lobsters in the water.
“I see places like this as community, that’s just what it is.”