Looking back at Yarmouth County history
From 1969
An official opening had been held for the Yarmouth Golf and Country Club, with Fred Emin, Yarmouth’s mayor, cutting the ceremonial ribbon formally unveiling the $125,000 facility. “As soon as the ribbon was cut, lights came on in the curling rink and a number of curling stones were thrown down the ice by members,” the Vanguard reported. Participants in the ceremony included Brian Rodney, president at the time of the Yarmouth Golf and Country Club, and Fred Nickerson, club secretary, whom the mayor singled out for his dedicated service to both the golf and curling organizations. Tours of the new facility were offered as part of the official opening.
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Apparently, Yarmouth indeed would be the Nova Scotia port of call for a new ferry service between the province and New England. This is what a delegation from the south shore was told during a trip to Boston. It basically confirmed what G.I. Smith, Nova Scotia’s premier, had said in October 1968 in an address to the Yarmouth Board of Trade. Members of the south shore delegation to Boston had hoped to have Shelburne chosen as the Nova Scotia destination for the new ferry. Meanwhile, the American port for the service had yet to be announced. Said to be in the running were Gloucester, Massachusetts; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and Portland, Maine.
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Two men had escaped injury after the compact car they were in went out of control on an icy road and landed in the water in Arcadia. According to the RCMP, the driver – a Shelburne County resident – managed to get out of the vehicle as it went off the road. His passenger, another male, forced the door open on the driver’s side and clambered out just before the front end of the car settled in the water, police said. ***
HMCS Restigouche, a Canadian destroyer, made an unscheduled visit to the Yarmouth area. The stop was made due to an illness in the family of one of the ship’s engineers. There reportedly was a mix-up as the vessel was approaching Yarmouth, as it went to the west of the Cape Forchu lighthouse and headed towards Yarmouth Bar. It dropped anchor about three-quarters of a mile from shore and a local lobster fisherman picked up the engineer and ferried him into town.
From 1979
Tenders were expected to be called by mid-February for a planned $2-million harbour development project in Lower Wedgeport. Coline Campbell, the area’s MP at the time, said the project was to be carried out over a two-year period, with the first phase consisting of breakwaters and the second consisting of construction of a timber wharf and some dredging.
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The announcement of federal government funding for the harbour work in Wedgeport came after the province had rejected a proposal to develop a fisheries industrial park on Big Tusket Island. Roland Thornhill, Nova Scotia’s development minister at the time, said the province was seeking another location for the proposed park. The site initially considered for the initiative had been rejected because it would have made the project too costly.
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Also in the news in early 1979, it looked as if the Town of Yarmouth would continue to hold its Natal Day celebrations on June 9. That was the word from a spokesman for a committee that had considered the idea of changing the celebration date to Aug. 6 (the date of the town’s incorporation in 1890). The committee favoured sticking with June 9, which was the date in 1761 when the Yarmouth area’s first English-speaking settlers had landed.
From 1989
Business owners in the DaytonHebron area expected to lose business due to the laying of a sewer line in that area, but most felt the long-term benefits of having properties serviced by a municipal sewer and water line would far outweigh any short-term losses they might experience.
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Inclement weather resulted in the Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce postponing its annual general meeting from Jan. 26 to Feb. 2. Gerald Purdy would succeed Jim Stockman as chamber president. Linda Deveau would be first vicepresident for the coming year.