History often means reaching back into the far distant past – trying to imagine how our forebears lived, and studying the important events that took place. Interesting and intriguing but often tantalisingly out of our reach.
Heritage means more simply - the things we have inherited, things we can still touch and feel.
The Memory Lane Heritage Village at Lake Charlotte (Eastern Shore, Nova Scotia) is a time capsule – our heritage, a place and repository for the 1940's and 50's. And even before then.
It is an amazing collection (all donated) of buildings - houses, barns and sheds, cabins, a school, a church, even an outhouse to show how it used to be!
The School
The Church
The Barn
And as you enter each place it is as if the folk who
lived and worked there have just walked out, they feel just a breath
away.
This is because each place is filled with all the things people used in the daily lives – vehicles, tools, books, cooking utensils, machinery, bicycles, lumber, and so much more.
The Forge
The Lumber Mill
The Mine Shack
The Boat Shed
But here is the wonderful thing about this village – there are no barriers to any of the items in these buildings – you do literally walk in on someone's life – there are no signs saying 'don't touch'.
There are no 'displays' as such – everything has been put into the houses and barns as they would have been used by the long gone families.
That is the delight of this place – newspapers left as Dad would have put them down, close to the radio as he listened to the news.
A recipe book open on the kitchen table just as Mom would have used.
Shingles in the wood yard still being cut and split.
The sheep keeping the grass down.
Books on the children's desks in the school.
A boat being made in the boat shed.
Fish drying on a rack.
The assayers equipment in the cabin by the mine.
A Car by the Gas Pumps
A pair of Ice Skates ready for the winter
The Mine Managers Bedroom
And his Kitchen Table laid for his solitary supper.
The eye catching shelves in the shop – tins and packets of half remembered and nostalgic names.
Stop at the 'chow house' and enjoy a good old-fashioned cookhouse meal. Relax with good company and food to remember.
And as you walk around this village slowly immersed in the era – figures walk in and out of buildings, small girls with bows in their hair, women in cardigans and sensible shoes all adding to the sense that you are observing a real world. A world only just around the corner – still a living memory of many that come to see this place.
Children love to be told about the 'old days' - and as you walk around here with grandchildren, tales can be told, memories revisited, families recalled, adventures can be embellished, and good times and hard times can be explained and cherished.
A Child's fascination
The Wood pile
The Pantry
The Sitting Room
Visitors come from all over the world – we met some nice folks from New Hampshire USA! Be sure you pay a visit too.
The School
The Church
The Barn
The Forge
The Lumber Mill
The Mine Shack
The Boat Shed
A Car by the Gas Pumps
A pair of Ice Skates ready for the winter
The Mine Managers Bedroom
And his Kitchen Table laid for his solitary supper.
A Child's fascination
The Wood pile
The Pantry
The Sitting Room