After exploring the Port-Royal habitation last summer, I wanted to learn more about the travel routes that our European settlers built.
I was surprised to learn that most of major roads in the province today follow very closely the originals routes once blazed by the British military, letter carriers & stage coaches.
The road from Halifax to Windsor was the first major highway back in the early 1800's, developed mainly as a military & postal route. It would slowly get upgraded and widened over time.
Today, you can still explore a section of this lost highway at the Mount Uniacke Estate Museum. The estate was originally built along the route as a summer home for Richard John Uniacke, an Attorney-General based in Halifax. Today, the grounds of the estate are open year-round and you can walk the 7 trails.
Along the trails, you would come across the old stone fences, hot house & non-native tree species brought up from the United States in the 1800's.
But the trail that interested me the most was the Post Road trail. This was a section of the old highway to Windsor.Somewhere along this trail was one of the last remaining pieces of history during the time of stage coaches.
You see, the road from Halifax to Windsor had mile markers along the way. Most were made out of wood, but some were carved into stone.
Somewhere along the Post Road trail was mile marker 27. I walked along the trail, interpreting the clues I've discovered along my research and eventually found it.
I walked the trail and thought how rugged and dreary it would have been to travel along this road until you approached Bedford or Windsor.
The trails range from wheel-chair accessible to back-country and which can add up 12km based on your ability.
I walked 6km, you can view my GPS route below.
Comments
Check out: Woolford's Surveys: The Roads from Halifax to Windsor and Truro, 1817-18 at http://gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/woolford/default.asp
Last summer found some trail remnants near Fall River
ReplyJim, loved the entry for the Old Windsor Rd., and was really excited to hear about the stone marker. I'm a huge history buff, especially about built heritage in NS and the eastern seaboard. (I'm from Hfx., live in T.O.). I was really hoping to see a pic of the stone marker. Is it carved into a rock or is it a an actual carved marker driven into the ground ?? I'm fascinated by old markers and other relics of history. FYI, they used ornately stone markers in the late 1700's along the Mason Dixon line (roughly). They were beautiful works of art. Please email me if you get a chance... thanks.
ReplyMark - If you watch the youtube video at the top of the blog post, you will see the marker around 1:45. In this case, the numbers were simply etched into a large piece of granite. Supposedly, mile marker 12 was a carved stone, but haven't found any pictures of it.
Reply