Hidden Gem - Mark's Journey

Today started with a spiced chai and a wonderful croissant (geez, you’d think this country was half French or something) at Two If By Sea in downtown Dartmouth.  The morning was spent visiting with various nonprofits in the Dartmouth area including the feeding program at First Baptist Church, meeting with staff people at the Dartmouth Literacy Council, and touring the Habitat for Humanity Restore with Mary Elizabeth.

  Congratulations to my Habitat colleagues in H.R.M. on the completion of their 30th build!  These visits were done with friend Kevin Little, who was working on behalf of the Public Good Society.  All of these organizations certainly operate as hidden, or perhaps not so hidden, gems in your community. My brand new neon orange winter Nova Scotia cap is off to all of them.  Please give them your time and support.

Then it was off to today’s hidden gem, Deadman’s Island, tucked away just off Purcells Cove Road.  Hidden it was, down a residential street that was under repair, surrounded by luxurious homes on one side and the ocean on the other.  One can walk to the island, which really shouldn’t be possible for an island, through a small wood that would have been more welcoming if a freezing drizzle hadn’t been falling.

Originally the final resting place of a lone Cape Breton mariner and later a target practice site for the royal navy, Deadman’s Island today holds a memorial to the prisoners of war from various countries that were buried there after dying in naval custody.  My navel mainly has lint. Many of these were Americans captured at sea during the War of 1812 who never made it back home.  The memorial was created relatively recently, in 2005.

I’m not sure I’d go far out of my way to see Deadman’s Island, but then again, people living in the H.R.M. wouldn’t have to. It was historically interesting and would be lovely place for a picnic on a nicer day, especially  with boats on the water.  Plus, the next time Johnny Depp comes out with a pirate movie, I can casually let slip that I visited Deadman’s Island in Canada.  That should earn me a fair measure of respect and I can certainly use it.  Now if I can just get over being mistaken for Orlando Bloom.

Mark Lassman-Eul