The Nova Scotian Firsts

Annapolis County , Nova Scotia

Fall 2007.

Soon after arriving in Nova Scotia, I left school one day for a drive along the ocean. I didn't intend to get into anything that day, but sometimes it just happens. Sometimes those are the best days.

These 2 subjects aren't that interesting, but the day was beautiful and the locations are sentimental.

I started out towards the Bay of Fundy. Driving along a road which followed the path of the shoreline; I spotted this dilapidated structure spaced from the road.

The cottage was at the end of a long driveway with the house at right and a trailer at left. The trailer sort of worried me; I didn't want some local to come home and find an Ontarion inside his ramshackle structure.

The prospect of the trailer dweller coming home worried me, so I quickly made my way through the small cottage.

Old houses are actually one of my favorite things to check out because there is usually some good stuff lying around. I'm just used to the houses being a little more separated from their old neighbors.

It ended up that the house was a cottage. There was a paper still on the wall that dictated the tasks required before you left the cottage.

Often times these old houses have a layer of old newspapers beneath the floor boards. This house has tabloid newpapers.

I didn't even bother going upstairs because I didn't feel like spending all day inside. I took a minute to look out the window upon the saltwater Bay of Fundy and then departed.

I continued on the ocean road until I reached its end at the local wharf. I u-turned at the wharf and back the opposite way on the road I was just on. Not wanting to travel the same road twice, I took the first dirt road south into the North Mountain.

The mountain road didn't look all that promising. That was true until I was coming over a random hill and lo and behold, the Hollow Mountain Park entered my vision as it decayed in the autumn sun.

The Nova Scotia pace of life sometimes comes in handy. I parked my car in the Hollow Mountain Park parking lot and wandered about. The one car that passed while I was there couldn't seem to care less.

First, I wandered out onto the overgrown baseball field. I wondered if I could clear the left field fence 240 feet away.

You can also see in the above picture the one surviving and the one collapsed dugout.

I stepped on a board while walking away from the ball field. I had the sense to flip it over and the old sign for the park was quite well preserved.

I flipped it back over and moved along.

Hollow Mountain also had a playground to compliment its baseball field.

An abandoned playground is incredibly exciting.

Between the playground and the ball field was a single structure. It appeared to hold the sports items along with a small snack shop.

It wasn't exciting inside.

The start to a quality, not quantity year of exploring in Nova Scotia had begun.

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