Chestico Museum & Archives

If you would like to redo some of our puzzles over Christmas, this is the list of all the ones we posted this year. Enjoy! Christmas Museum Anne Beaton: https://jigex.com/wbAo Christmas Museum Fireplace: https://jigex.com/e74j... Glenda Campbell https://jigex.com/25Yu Breakwater Workers 1905: https://jigex.com/3kHr Victory Loan Parade: https://jigex.com/or4W War Bride Evening 2006: https://jigex.com/FX3z Laidlaw Family Before Leaving for India in 1956: https://jigex.com/ZaEw 2015 Celtic Colours Tasty Tales Storytelling: https://jigex.com/S535 Court House: https://jigex.com/UnwQ Murdock Beaton Family: https://jigex.com/uAHC St. Peter’s Church Interior: https://jigex.com/rGpN First Convent in Port Hood: https://jigex.com/RZpz Jim Lewis Bluenose Model: https://jigex.com/2oW5 Melody Cameron Teaching Fiddle for TSN: https://jigex.com/yM2R Museum August 2019: https://jigex.com/Y4uA 2009 Chestico Tartan Blanket Winner: https://jigex.com/e72X The Corner prior to the Fire of 1942: https://jigex.com/SpDM Jubilee United Church: https://jigex.com/BEi8 Chestico Museum Float Chestico Days 2008: https://jigex.com/ZqQP Smith’s Cove, Port Hood Island: https://jigex.com/E3u9 St. Stephen’s Church Picnic in the 1920s: https://jigex.com/A6e1 1904 Ad for the Port Hood Bottling Company: https://jigex.com/Giof Accessioning Archival Material at the Museum, Fall 2019: https://jigex.com/xy9o Bunny at the Museum June 2020: https://jigex.com/Jkcj Port Hood Looking North from the Convent ca. 1900: https://jigex.com/6FAU Dick & Flora Anderson, 1981: https://jigex.com/SEFM Picnic on Port Hood Island: https://jigex.com/tPWL John & Cathy Gillies Walking Tour on Port Hood Island: https://jigex.com/KQNJ Chestico Museum: https://jigex.com/f5dX Audience at a Museum Ceilidh: https://jigex.com/ZpXX Central Port Hood ca. 1905: https://jigex.com/fqjj

In case you missed it, here is the story about the "Sorel" that aired on "Live at Five" this evening.

Thank you to everyone for keeping us company over the last number of months. We are taking a bit of a break but you will still hear from us from time to time! We leave you with a photo from a 1990 Chestico Museum Christmas party. From left to right: Vivian Tobey, Ida MacEachen, Elsie Cameron, Rannie Graham and John Gillies. Christmas will be a bit different for many of us this year, but we do hope you will find a way to celebrate the season. All of us at the Chestico Museum wish you each a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Just a reminder to watch CTV's "Live at Five" this evening - Friday, December 11th - for the piece about the 'Sorel"!

We are still selling tickets on this beautiful Christmas Stocking knitted by Helen MacDonald of Colindale. The stocking comes with a number of locally produced products including jam, fudge, fruitcake, salsa, pickles, knitted items, Chestico Museum membership, Rob Martin canvas print of the museum, jar of beach glass and a copy of "Safe Harbour: A Brief History of Port Hood". There is even a bag of Ganong Chicken Bones in there! Items continue to be added. The current value is over $200. Tickets are $2 each or 3 for $5. You can purchase by e-transfer [email protected] - just let us know the name and phone number and we will fill in your tickets. The draw date is December 20th. Thank You!

You will want to tune in to CTV’s Live at Five tomorrow Friday, December 11th to see a piece about the Sorel. Lewis Dan Lewis MacDonald, formerly from Port Hood, will be interviewed. The Winter 2015 Chestico News had the following article on the ‘Sorel: The HMCS Sorel, a corvette ship, went down near Henry Island, Port Hood at 3 A.M. on the night of December 13, 1945. Despite a fierce snow storm the full crew of 19 was brought to safety by fishermen from Port H...ood Island. The crew had first sought refuge at the Light House keeper’s home on Henry Island where they were welcomed and fed by Cameron and Frances MacLennan, son and daughter of the lighthouse keeper. When Frances phoned her mother in Port Hood to tell her of the arrival of the shipwrecked crew, her mother’s first advice was, Bake a pan of biscuits and give them tea. As they had very little food and means to take care of the crew the MacLennans' sent a message by telephone to Rufus Embree on Port Hood Island for immediate help. The compass from the Sorel has been donated by Chestico Society member, Donald Andrew MacDonald of Port Hood and Halifax, to the only surviving corvette, HMCS Sackville, now a designated Canada historic site. During the summer months the Sackville is moored in Halifax near the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. She is Canada’s Naval Memorial. The article went on to describe how the compass was displayed on the Sackville along with a plaque honouring the Port Hood Island fishermen - Bruce MacPherson, Lloyd Smith, Walter Tobey and Rufus Embree - who brought the crew in two boat trips to the safety of homes on Port Hood Island. At low tide a few battered and rusted pieces of the Sorel can still be spotted anchored on the rocks of Henry Island where she grounded in 1945.