From See Two See: May 27, 2019

I showed Greg a book on things to do in NB and his eye immediately found Ganong’s chocolate factory museum in St Stephen, Canada’s oldest chocolate maker. So off we went on a bit of a longer route to get there.  We decided to get off the main highway and take some of the secondary roads to St. Stephen. 

As we came down a hill and around a curve into the community of Harvey Station on highway 3, we were immediately taken by a store next to the highway.  It exuded that old-world charm and reminded us of the stores we may have frequented as a child.  We pulled into the “pubic parking”, an open field next to the railroad tracks and went to take some pictures. 

Caught by the variety antique items in the widows that looked brand new, we decided the store needed to be explored.  Up the stairs, across the landing and to the door which of course needed some effort to open and complained bitterly about having to open.  Stepping inside was like stepping through the portal of a time machine. 

I (Greg) was immediately greeting with the aroma of old wood that sent me back to walking into the local store as a child.  My next step treated me to the sound of the old plank floor creaking.  I was briefly completely thrown back to the age of 6 as a flood of memories from a time almost forgotten caught me.  The floor showed the effects of tens of thousands of feet taking their toll over many decades, worn down near the center of the isle and almost new adjacent to the shelves.  Shelves that held almost everything you could imagine from pliers to French’s Yellow mustard, from nails and screws to glass jars to cups, to photos that were themselves decades old and alluded to the history. 

There was even a stool used in shoe stores, that the sales person sits on to help you get those new shoes on for the first time.  One could see the shelving that was probably originally designed to hold everything from shoes to rain boots to winter boots and possibly snowshoes. On one wall in a place of honour was a photo of Don Messer who was originally from nearby. Don Messer’s Jubilee with Marg Osburne was mandatory watching in our house as a child. 

There was so much I could hardly take it all in.  While talking with Marsha, who ran the store and her daughter Chloe, we learned that the store has run continuously for 150 years!  For more of the history of the W.W.E. Smith Store (click here).  Marion found a special treat from her childhood.

 I (Marion) found grapenut ice-cream and as it is never too early for ice-cream I had to have  at least a small cone. Grapenut ice-cream is a NB delicacy.  One origin story is that it was created by chef Hannah Young at The Palms restaurant in Wolfville, NS in 1919. She created it when she ran out of fresh fruit to add to ice cream, and decided to throw in some cereal. It proved popular at the restaurant and the Scotsburn Dairy began mass-producing the ice cream variety. You can see what it looks like on this website (click here). Not to be out done Greg decided to try an ice cream called Privateer’s Bounty. It was a wonderful combination of rich vanilla, salted caramel and licorice twist. (Hey Larry, there’s a bigger world out there than just bubble gum flavour). One other thing we found at the store was Mrs Dunster’s donuts (click here). We always try to bring several bags of these home (too bad we will have to eat these and can’t share them with you).

When we were finally able extricate ourselves from the lure of W.W.E. Smith Food Market, we continued on highway 3 until spotting a sign for Briggs and Little Yarn. 

One of my mother’s’ favourite places to go. This is Canada’s oldest woolen mill and has been in this location since 1857. It is a fully integrated vertical mill that performs all the processes and functions to change raw wool into wool spun yards and products.

A couple of balls of yarn  found their way into the truck with us.  Another piece of our incredible Canadian Hidden History (click here).

We finally reached St. Stephen and had a lovely tour of the old factory. We discovered that it takes around 5 years to learn how to hand dip chocolates well and, while this is not done anymore routinely we did see the last two women trained to do this working away. 

They do this bare handed as they can’t assess the temperature of the chocolate with gloves on and there can only be a couple of degrees variance for the process to work as it is supposed to. They use their thumb to make the little twirls that one sees on the top of the chocolate. 

We enjoyed the tasting session and the visit to the store where a few more samples found their way into our truck.  I did sample more than one chicken bone (you can get Ganong’s Chicken Bones (invented in 1885) at Carol’s Sweets at Christmas).  Gangon’s history (click here).

From St. Stephen’s we went on to St. Andrews By The Sea. A beautiful town on the Bay of Fundy.  St. Andrews By The Sea is very scenic and historic. As our timing was perfect, but only by pure luck, the tide was out so we took the moment to wander way out into the bay.

Stones glazed to a shine by eons of surf, massive red and green rocks, barnacles, sea weed clinging tentatively for dear life, and millions of clam/oyster shells created a colourful mosaic. A brisk breeze blew the salt laden air in from the bay.

Looking back at the block house (a defensive cannon placement) on shore we could only imagine the historic events that must have unfolded here.

As we stood there lost in thought, Marion posed the question about when the tide will start coming in. At that very moment, we noticed the few centimeters between our feet and the water had dramatically narrowed. Stepping back a couple of meters and watching the water, it only took seconds for the water to creep another meter. For more about the history of St. Andrews By The Sea (click here). Time to boogie.

Our journey home took us along the scenic Bay Of Fundy towards St John then inland through Oromocto which is the base community for Camp Gagetown, (Canada’s largest military base) to the St John river and down River Road through Burton and back to Harts Lake.  Time for a Mrs Dunster’s and some fresh made Ganong jelly beans.

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