River Hebert/Joggins and Area Development Association
1880 Hwy 242, P.O. Box 259, B0L 1G0 River Hébert, NS, Canada

The village of Joggins is located in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia on the shores of the picturesque Chignecto Bay. The town is situated atop the one hundred fo...ot high, world renowned fossil cliffs, that have made the community a house hold name in geological circles. These cliffs were first made famous by Sir William Dawson and Sir Charles Lyell in 1852 when they discovered reptiles and amphibians entombed in fossilised tree trunks embedded in the cliffs. As with most of Nova Scotia the area of Joggins was originally settled by the native Mi'kmaq people. The village derives its name from the Indian word Chegoggin which means " place to fish". This name was applied to the entire coastal region along Chignecto Bay from the Cumberland Basin to Cape Chignecto and would become known as the Joggins Shore. The first Europeans to make use of the site where the village of Joggins is located today were French and English military personnel and early Acadian settlers. The earliest recorded reference to the coal of Joggins, which is visible in the cliffs and along the beach, was in 1692 in correspondence by a captain of the French Navy, exploring the Bay of Fundy . It is known that the Acadians were using Joggins coal to operate their forges and ovens as early as 1720. Also in 1720, records state that coal was taken away by ship to be used by the French at their settlements along the bay. Taking coal from the shore in this means was dangerous work as there was no harbour and the ships would have to lay at anchor in the open bay and the coal transported to the ship by smaller boats. This may be one of the earliest records of mining in Nova Scotia, however French soldiers were also using coal on Cape Breton Island at the same time period. The Acadians chose not to settle at Joggins as they were mostly farmers and and preferred the more fertile river valleys and marsh land of the upper bay. The coal cliffs of Joggins were marked on maps of the Province of Nova Scotia drawn by British cartographers in 1735. Captain Robert Hale of the British Navy mentioned in his log book of 1731 of coal being taken by him from the cliffs of Joggins . In his log book, Hale mentions that coal had been loaded here for the past 30 years. This would put the earliest date of mining at Joggins to be about 1700, a full 20 years before any mention of mining in Cape Breton. Another account mentions Captain John Knox, a British officer, stationed at Fort Cumberland (Fort Beausejour) making use of Joggins coal in 1757. Other than for this military use no commercial mining was done during the rest of this century. The first land grant at Joggins was made to Richard Lee in 1789. The Joggins or Shore mine as it was known was located at the bottom of Main Street and opened in 1905. This would become the largest mine to ever operate in the Joggins -Chignecto coal field, rivalling those of Springhill. This was also the first coal mine in Canada to be completely operated by electricity, produced at the company's generating plant in Chignecto. Up to this time all mines were operated by steam or horse power and used open flame lights. This was also one of the first mines in Nova Scotia to operate under water the only others being on Cape Breton Island. The mine was up to a mile underground with most of the workings out under the Chignecto Bay. At its peak this pit employed close to 500 workers and during the war years of 1914 to 1919 coal production was hampered due to a shortage of miners. A unique feature with this mine, at least in the Joggins area, was the use of an endless chain which was used to lower empty cars or trips with miners into the mine and at the same time raise loaded cars or trips to the surface. In 1920 even with a shortage of miners this mine produced over 112,000 tons of coal. The Shore mine would operate until 1927 when it became too deep and expensive to run. At this same time the Maritime Coal Railway and Power Company, the operators of the mine were developing their Maple Leaf Mines in the Beech Hill area between Joggins and River Hebert As the village of Joggins grew with the increased demand for coal the needs of its citizens grew as well. Religion was very important to the early residents of the community and with this came the need for places of worship. In 1887 under the direction of mine manager McNaughton funds were raised to build a non-denominational church in Joggins and within a year a new 28 X 36 foot meeting house was constructed on Pit Road. This seems to have been the first church built in the town. The official opening took place in October 1888. In later years the building was used as the church hall by the United Church. In 1924 the congregation would join the United Church of Canada. The congregation soon out grew these facilities and new larger church was built on Main Street in 1924. The 1880's would also see the area boom from its other natural resource, namely the great timber resources of the Joggins Shore. In 1885, B.B.Barnhill the lumber baron from Two Rivers, who was one of the instrumental forces in bringing the railway to Joggins, laid the ground work for what would become a first in shipping on the Joggins Shore. From his lumberyards he built slipways and loading facilities to build the famous Robertson and Leary rafts, large cigar shaped bundles of logs which were to be shipped to New York These rafts were between 500 and 600 feet in length and weighed up to 11,000 tons. All through the winters of 1885 and 1886 the forests were alive with wood cutters gathering enough logs to build this monstrous raft. Finally on July 9,1886 Barnhill and his woodsmen had the raft complete, however they would have to wait until the highest tide of the summer to launch the raft. This tide would come on July 31. After numerous attempts to float the raft ended in failure the experiment was abandoned. All was not lost however, and deals were made to develop an even larger raft and attempt to launch again the following year. Joggins never regained it pre-war prosperity and many of the men who returned home after the end of the war could not find work and those that did find work in the mines were not content to remain there. Many young men moved to Ontario in the late 1940's and 1950's. High school education was changed forever for the students of Joggins when in September of 1949 the new River Hebert Rural High School was opened and the students from grades 7 to 11 were transferred from Joggins to this new school. The Joggins School underwent major renovations to accommodate the younger students from grades primary to 6. The year 1949 would see the Town surrender its charter and return to the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Cumberland County. Although no longer an incorporated town the citizens of Joggins would not lose their civic pride. The community would continue to decline throughout the 1950's and 60's with more and more of the young men and women heading off to Ontario and further afield to follow their older brothers and sisters who had left after the war. One after another, businesses closed along Main Street and in other parts of the town, and building after building was torn or burned down until the community was only a fraction of what it once was. In 1956 the population of Joggins was listed as being 863. Through the 1970's things seemed to stabilise in the community but young people continued to move away after they finished their schooling. In 1982 one of the community's most cherished institutions was lost when the elementary school was closed and the remaining students transferred to River Hebert. Mrs. Alma (Dujay) Mills was the last principal of the Joggins Elementary School . The school building was taken over by the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #4 and renovated. In the year 2000, the building was damaged by fire and remodelled with the upper story removed from the seventy year old structure. ----------------------------------------------- https://sites.google.com/si/jogginsmines/myhistoryofjoggins

Picture Day at RDHS is on Wednesday, February 24th, 2021.

Tomorrow’s (Tuesday February 2nd) AGM and regular meeting have been moved to Tuesday February 9th at 7 pm due to forecasted weather. See you then.

Prior to the fall of Port Beausejour, Minudie was a prosperous Acadian settlement. The Acadians had dyked the marshlands and tilled the fertile slopes above the...m they had virgin forests at their door, and at their front door the water way of Chignecto Basin, noted for its shad fishing. The inhabitants would not join other Acadians in raids against the English but lived largely to themselves. For more than 150 years the crops of Minudie were blessed by an annual rite. In 1755, however, the New Englanders raided the village and burned every dwelling, killing many persons and taking the remainder prisoner. The cleared land was granted to J. F. W. DesBarres in 1765, but at the turn of the century he sold the estate to Amos Seaman, who quarried grindstones from the ledges and made a fortune trading between Boston and the West Indies. "King" Seaman, as he was called, built a mansion at Minudie, and had another fine home in Boston. He established a large store at Minudie wharf. But with his passing in 1866 the prosperity of his estate waned, and today his name is but a memory. Minudie is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Cumberland County about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from River Hebert. Once a thriving town with a population peaking about 1870 at more than 600 people, Minudie today still has three churches but a population of just 20. Industries included shipbuilding, farming, lumbering and the manufacture of grindstones. It was settled, dyked, and farmed by Acadians in the eighteenth century. After the expulsion, the lands were granted to J.F.W. DesBarres, who leased it to displaced Acadians and others who farmed the marshlands, and cut grindstones along the shore. [2] Amos Seaman (1788-1864), the self-appointed "Grindstone King", assumed control of the grindstone quarries there about 1826 and was also largely responsible for the rest of the industries there as well. -------------------------------------------- Historic Nova Scotia. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015008893573 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minudie =======================