Meet the People in our Neighbourhood
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Dawn Allen, August 21st, 2020 |
Olwynn Hughes: Okay, so first question, what is your name?
Dawn Allen: My name is Dawn Allen.
OH: What year were you born?
DA: 1956.
OH: What is your connection to the museum?
DA: Right now, I've just become a board member and at our last AGM, I accepted the role of Vice President.
OH: And I know you're on the board for the West Hants Historical Society too, so what inspired you to be on both boards?
DA: I don't really know, Carolyn vanGurp asked me if I would want to be on it, but, just, I feel such a strong connection to the river I guess. You know, I see great opportunities here and hopefully something, something can be, can be made of that in the future.
OH: Do you want to tell me a bit about the General Store that you made?
DA: The General Store? Okay. Well, my parents are both from the area and you know, the river would have factored into their lives the same way as it did mine. My father was from Cheverie and my mother was from Riverside, and that's on the Cogmagun River. So Dad and Mom got married in 1950, and Dad's mother and father were always involved in the Mercantile business along the shore.
And so dad's mum must have bankrolled the store in Center Burlington for Dad to take over. We closed the store in 1977. And it, you know, it's just, I always remember being a store brat I guess, and yeah, so it's connected right to our house. And when I look at early Burlington history records, our store on the spot that our store is, it always was a store for as long as Center Burlington, or Burlington at that time really had settlement in it.
So there was a Captain John Mann who operated a store at that location and I think, you know, the back part of our store is actually an earlier building that would have been his original store. Burlington is quite an old community as are most of the communities along the river, and so our house and store were built together a little later on, out in front, very close to the road in 1910 by a man named Robbie P Harvey.
OH: I heard that you kind of brought new life into it with a mini museum.
DA: Yes at this point, you know plans aren't totally finalized. But the store, much of it is just the way it used to be, you know with the big high ceilings, and the big shelves and that sort of thing, and I do open it by appointment and if people want to come in and take a look. Now during the last two summers, I did open it specifically on certain days. I got everybody to sign as they came in and it was amazing. The very first time that I, you know, that I did it I couldn't believe the people and the interest, and Tacha actually shared the post on the Facebook page of this Museum and it received so many views and shares, you know, Tacha told me like, “Dawn, this, in Facebook speak, this is amazing”. Right ,so people are interested in you know, the, the old store.
OH: So can you tell me a bit about this mapping project that you’re doing?
DA: Okay. Let's see, Richard Armstrong is someone that is very interested in history, and I think his parents were very interested in history. He's from the Falmouth area, I believe and I met Richard years ago in a GPS course that we took together and I keep bumping into him.
So, his particular area of interest, or one of his areas of interest, is identifying old Acadian homesteads I guess you would say and you could always ask him more about that. However, his real desire is to, you know, get out there and use his knowledge to pinpoint locations where, this is definitely a cellar, this is definitely a foundation. So I ran into him again at the West Hants Historical Museum, which I'm also a member of, and so we started mapping these locations of the cellars just by using the great imagery that's available through Google Earth and through the West Hants Regional Municipality and so with his knowledge and you know the tools that you have, anyone has available to them on the internet is you know what we've started doing and so we've kind of put things on hold for a bit, but you know, we will continue with it.
OH: What did you do? What's your line of work before this?
DA: That's a good question. I am one of those students who was, you know, just your average, like I used to think I was a grade “A” student, but when I look back on the old report cards, I really wasn't. But I liked everything, every subject, a little bit, and I guess I'm kind of interested in everything. So when I was in grade 11 and 12, we had an interesting geography teacher at Hants West Rural High and his name was Mr. Crickmer. You know, geography was a little bit of this, a little bit of that. One day we'd be analyzing fishery statistics and the next day we'd be looking at aerial photos through stereoscopes. So geography is what I decided to take when I was at university and that brought me into a career where I was always working and getting information from maps, you know combining information under the direction of different researchers, combined with some field work and that sort of thing. So that was really my line of work, and eventually though I got to the point where creating maps by hand, which was what I did, that sort of thing was done more and more with computers. And so I had to go back to school and learn how that was done. So I went to the College of Geographic Sciences, down in the valley, in Lawrencetown, and that, through summer jobs, between my two years of the program, took me to Cape Breton Island National Park for a summer job and then eventually I was able to work for the last say 14 years of my career with Parks Canada. So it was a great experience.
OH: Do you think that your experience as a cartographer and with Parks Canada helps you with what you are doing now?
DA: Oh, definitely, yeah. It really does. I've always had an interest in looking at maps, you know, old maps, new maps, remotely sensed imagery, old air photographs. You can learn so much from them. It's true a picture is worth a thousand words. I even created at one point, using historical records, a map of the old cemeteries in our area. So it was like 11 by 17, it's of more of the western part of Hants County, and not so much the interior, but all of the old cemeteries and new cemeteries. Just interested in people's last names and where they were settled, where the really old cemeteries are, and sometimes people are buried on their own farmscapes, their own landscapes. Just that whole idea is interesting.
OH: Did you ever come to Avondale when you were a child?
DA: When I was a child? Oh, gee, I always knew Avondale was here and my uncle married a woman who is from Belmont. Let's see now. I definitely had driven around in the area and saw how beautiful it was and knew that, you know, it had a rich Acadian heritage, for instance, but I don't think there really was any major reason for me to come over, but you know, definitely knew of its existence. Yeah.
OH: Now that you are more involved with Avondale, what do you hope to see in the future of Avondale?
DA: What I hope to see is just unearthing more of our history relating to the entire, you know riverscape and how Avondale was connected with all the other communities, and I know the museum here has some very interesting artifacts and old pictures. Again little pictures, worth a thousand words and just think you can learn so much from them. And I think that if there's a way to display more community history, I think that we learn by looking back through the past and it allows people to have pride. So I hope that there's there are ways, smart ways that we can think of delivering the history of Avondale and other communities to to the General Public
OH: What do you see your contribution being to the community in the future?
DA: Hmm? I don't know, I think just having an interest in it. The possibilities are endless. I like doing volunteer work and if I can help with the database and the association of Nova Scotia museums has ways and means online to show people the history of Nova Scotia, and I'm currently working with the database and I don't know, just anything that I can volunteer with to help out.
OH: What do you love about Avondale?
DA: What do I love about it? I love looking at the lay of the land. I think it's beautiful. The cemetery that I looked at when I was doing the cemetery pamphlet, the large cemetery out there, you know the history on the tombstones, on the gravestones, is just amazing. I love the Mounce houses and any of the old houses in the area, if they can be preserved, I think that's wonderful. The history of the farming in this area, the Acadian history. I go by the Shaw’s farmstead there, the Shaw properties, and I think next year there's going to be a Mosher family reunion, and the Moshers have been here, they were the first founding families. They were shipbuilders. You know, just that whole history, right from start to finish and you know, not forgetting the relationship between the Acadians and the Mi’kmaq. I think this whole area here, it's so resource-rich, that of course the Mi’kmaq, the early people's, this is a prime area for them to get food and shelter and to have transportation. So, you know, you can't forget about that. Just the melding of all the cultures, it's so fantastic, we are so lucky.
Dawn Allen: My name is Dawn Allen.
OH: What year were you born?
DA: 1956.
OH: What is your connection to the museum?
DA: Right now, I've just become a board member and at our last AGM, I accepted the role of Vice President.
OH: And I know you're on the board for the West Hants Historical Society too, so what inspired you to be on both boards?
DA: I don't really know, Carolyn vanGurp asked me if I would want to be on it, but, just, I feel such a strong connection to the river I guess. You know, I see great opportunities here and hopefully something, something can be, can be made of that in the future.
OH: Do you want to tell me a bit about the General Store that you made?
DA: The General Store? Okay. Well, my parents are both from the area and you know, the river would have factored into their lives the same way as it did mine. My father was from Cheverie and my mother was from Riverside, and that's on the Cogmagun River. So Dad and Mom got married in 1950, and Dad's mother and father were always involved in the Mercantile business along the shore.
And so dad's mum must have bankrolled the store in Center Burlington for Dad to take over. We closed the store in 1977. And it, you know, it's just, I always remember being a store brat I guess, and yeah, so it's connected right to our house. And when I look at early Burlington history records, our store on the spot that our store is, it always was a store for as long as Center Burlington, or Burlington at that time really had settlement in it.
So there was a Captain John Mann who operated a store at that location and I think, you know, the back part of our store is actually an earlier building that would have been his original store. Burlington is quite an old community as are most of the communities along the river, and so our house and store were built together a little later on, out in front, very close to the road in 1910 by a man named Robbie P Harvey.
OH: I heard that you kind of brought new life into it with a mini museum.
DA: Yes at this point, you know plans aren't totally finalized. But the store, much of it is just the way it used to be, you know with the big high ceilings, and the big shelves and that sort of thing, and I do open it by appointment and if people want to come in and take a look. Now during the last two summers, I did open it specifically on certain days. I got everybody to sign as they came in and it was amazing. The very first time that I, you know, that I did it I couldn't believe the people and the interest, and Tacha actually shared the post on the Facebook page of this Museum and it received so many views and shares, you know, Tacha told me like, “Dawn, this, in Facebook speak, this is amazing”. Right ,so people are interested in you know, the, the old store.
OH: So can you tell me a bit about this mapping project that you’re doing?
DA: Okay. Let's see, Richard Armstrong is someone that is very interested in history, and I think his parents were very interested in history. He's from the Falmouth area, I believe and I met Richard years ago in a GPS course that we took together and I keep bumping into him.
So, his particular area of interest, or one of his areas of interest, is identifying old Acadian homesteads I guess you would say and you could always ask him more about that. However, his real desire is to, you know, get out there and use his knowledge to pinpoint locations where, this is definitely a cellar, this is definitely a foundation. So I ran into him again at the West Hants Historical Museum, which I'm also a member of, and so we started mapping these locations of the cellars just by using the great imagery that's available through Google Earth and through the West Hants Regional Municipality and so with his knowledge and you know the tools that you have, anyone has available to them on the internet is you know what we've started doing and so we've kind of put things on hold for a bit, but you know, we will continue with it.
OH: What did you do? What's your line of work before this?
DA: That's a good question. I am one of those students who was, you know, just your average, like I used to think I was a grade “A” student, but when I look back on the old report cards, I really wasn't. But I liked everything, every subject, a little bit, and I guess I'm kind of interested in everything. So when I was in grade 11 and 12, we had an interesting geography teacher at Hants West Rural High and his name was Mr. Crickmer. You know, geography was a little bit of this, a little bit of that. One day we'd be analyzing fishery statistics and the next day we'd be looking at aerial photos through stereoscopes. So geography is what I decided to take when I was at university and that brought me into a career where I was always working and getting information from maps, you know combining information under the direction of different researchers, combined with some field work and that sort of thing. So that was really my line of work, and eventually though I got to the point where creating maps by hand, which was what I did, that sort of thing was done more and more with computers. And so I had to go back to school and learn how that was done. So I went to the College of Geographic Sciences, down in the valley, in Lawrencetown, and that, through summer jobs, between my two years of the program, took me to Cape Breton Island National Park for a summer job and then eventually I was able to work for the last say 14 years of my career with Parks Canada. So it was a great experience.
OH: Do you think that your experience as a cartographer and with Parks Canada helps you with what you are doing now?
DA: Oh, definitely, yeah. It really does. I've always had an interest in looking at maps, you know, old maps, new maps, remotely sensed imagery, old air photographs. You can learn so much from them. It's true a picture is worth a thousand words. I even created at one point, using historical records, a map of the old cemeteries in our area. So it was like 11 by 17, it's of more of the western part of Hants County, and not so much the interior, but all of the old cemeteries and new cemeteries. Just interested in people's last names and where they were settled, where the really old cemeteries are, and sometimes people are buried on their own farmscapes, their own landscapes. Just that whole idea is interesting.
OH: Did you ever come to Avondale when you were a child?
DA: When I was a child? Oh, gee, I always knew Avondale was here and my uncle married a woman who is from Belmont. Let's see now. I definitely had driven around in the area and saw how beautiful it was and knew that, you know, it had a rich Acadian heritage, for instance, but I don't think there really was any major reason for me to come over, but you know, definitely knew of its existence. Yeah.
OH: Now that you are more involved with Avondale, what do you hope to see in the future of Avondale?
DA: What I hope to see is just unearthing more of our history relating to the entire, you know riverscape and how Avondale was connected with all the other communities, and I know the museum here has some very interesting artifacts and old pictures. Again little pictures, worth a thousand words and just think you can learn so much from them. And I think that if there's a way to display more community history, I think that we learn by looking back through the past and it allows people to have pride. So I hope that there's there are ways, smart ways that we can think of delivering the history of Avondale and other communities to to the General Public
OH: What do you see your contribution being to the community in the future?
DA: Hmm? I don't know, I think just having an interest in it. The possibilities are endless. I like doing volunteer work and if I can help with the database and the association of Nova Scotia museums has ways and means online to show people the history of Nova Scotia, and I'm currently working with the database and I don't know, just anything that I can volunteer with to help out.
OH: What do you love about Avondale?
DA: What do I love about it? I love looking at the lay of the land. I think it's beautiful. The cemetery that I looked at when I was doing the cemetery pamphlet, the large cemetery out there, you know the history on the tombstones, on the gravestones, is just amazing. I love the Mounce houses and any of the old houses in the area, if they can be preserved, I think that's wonderful. The history of the farming in this area, the Acadian history. I go by the Shaw’s farmstead there, the Shaw properties, and I think next year there's going to be a Mosher family reunion, and the Moshers have been here, they were the first founding families. They were shipbuilders. You know, just that whole history, right from start to finish and you know, not forgetting the relationship between the Acadians and the Mi’kmaq. I think this whole area here, it's so resource-rich, that of course the Mi’kmaq, the early people's, this is a prime area for them to get food and shelter and to have transportation. So, you know, you can't forget about that. Just the melding of all the cultures, it's so fantastic, we are so lucky.