Paradise by the Bay Campground
2107 Highway 215 B0N2R0

Ever hear the expression.....keep your nose to the grindstone????? Read on to find out where it came from. In the 1800s, Nova Scotia sold the best grindstones in North America! A grindstone is a round stone, usually sandstone, used for sharpening tools. Lower Cove in Cumberland County was the main area where the stones were extracted, shaped and exported from. The biggest company was Atlantic Grindstone which operated from 1831 to the early 1900s in Lower Cove because it had... excellent quality sandstone and access to tidewater for exporting. Access to tidewater is still a key advantage for Nova Scotia mining companies. Prior to the 1800s, Acadians produced grindstones from Lower Cove and other sites on Chignecto Bay for domestic use. The British army used grindstones from Lower Cove to sharpen their weapons in the War of 1812. The industry blossomed when Atlantic Grindstone started. Within a couple years it employed more than 100 men and had several quarries. Its stones were considered the best in North America and production tripled from 10,300 stones in 1831 to 30,671 in 1834. Atlantic Grindstone had four quarries on land. It also extracted from the intertidal zone at low tide. Slabs of rock were loosened by gunpowder, tied to rafts and floated ashore at high tide to be cut. A skilled worker could cut 15-20 stones a day, up to 2.5 metres in diameter. Atlantic Grindstone was sold to an American company in 1904. The foundation of its plant and a few original buildings that are now homes can still be found. Footings for the wharf and unfinished grindstones are still visible in the intertidal zone. The saying "keep your nose to the grindstone" means to be conscientious and work hard - something Nova Scotia's mining industry is familiar with! The saying first appeared in the 1500s.

We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2021. Thanks to everyone for your support in 2020 and hope to see you in a few short months. Kevin, Wendy & family

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A little bit of Tennecape history........Did you know the first murder in Hants County occured in Tennecape......read on!!!! On October 22, 1902, 16-year-old peddler Lion Lundore was bludgeoned to death for his watch by fellow peddler Syan Azabulley in Tenecape. This was the first murder in Hants County.[citation needed] Both men were Assyrian peddlers passing through the village. Tenecape resident Edward Church was pursuing Syan Azabulley after he had swindled Church out of... a revolver for a fake watch. Church heard the screams of the victim and upon arriving on the scene found Lion Lundore beaten with his throat cut. Azabulley then turned to chase Church, who escaped and later discovered the victim's body in an abandoned mine tunnel. The men of the village tracked down Azabulley eating supper at the unsuspecting home of H.B. Huntley. A citizen's arrest was made by George Smith, a magistrate, along with Henry McLelland and Wilbert Lingard. Azabulley was eventually taken to Windsor where he was sentenced to death for his crime and hanged on March 18, 1903 at 4:35am. Father Kennedy and Father Collins were both with the condemned man at the hanging. Today, Syan Azabulley is buried in an unmarked grave in the Roman Catholic cemetery in Windsor. His victim, Lion Lundore, was buried in the Moose Brook cemetery and was known as the "Little Peddler".

Did you know this about our area? Here’s the story of the Gypsum Queener, the Gypsum Queens! Access to tidewater is one of Nova Scotia’s key economic advantages. We can get our products onto ships and send them anywhere in the world relatively quickly and inexpensively. It might be easy to take that for granted in a province that’s almost completely surrounded by water but think about the challenge Alberta’s land-locked energy sector has trying to export. While a lot of our ...Continue reading

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