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History: Guides of Yarmouth
History: Guides of Yarmouth Nova Scotia Timberland
Nova Scotia Timberland
There were several mills in areas around Burrio. The road ran from George Burrill's to New France. They worked with oxen where they could make ten trips or turns per day from the waterways to Silver River, Caribou River, Carrynoles Lakes between Birchdale and Burrio. Work also went on around Moose Lake and from a brook called Savannah. Mersey Paper and the Dept. of Lands and Forest made the excess road were timber was in abundance. Lewis Lumber built the roads and Boutlier and Prosser worked on the Homer Belt a short distance from Birchdale.
Dickey Mcgraw owned al the land (around 1910) in the area, he then sold it to Ralph Bell from Musquodoboit. He then sold it to Nova Scotia Timberlands. They in turn sold it to Mersey in 1944 (96,000 acres.) The Stalines owned New France and a part of the surrounding areas. People from all over Kempt, Clare and Yarmouth County work there. New France was fifteen to twenty miles from Birchdale. The Stalines had grants of lands along Lankford Lake, Long Tusket and Little tusket Lake.
Note:The altar in Nova Nada church was taken to Boutilier Prosser and shaped by the sawyer John Lombard of Corberrie, Digby County.
April 29,1985
This was told to me by Selwyn Ring.
Omer Roberts built the dining room in 1911, it took three years to build.
Between 1911-1920 it was a fishing and hunting lodge. He built two log cabins after 1911-1914 and he died in1921.
He left it to his estate and it was bought by four businessmen from Yarmouth.
They engaged Selwyn's father (Lloyd Ring) to operate from 1922-1930 when they offered to sell Birchdale (Nova Nada) to him. He bought it and during his ownership he built two cabins.
Birchdale was closed from 1939-1945 (second World War) to the public due to rationing.
In 1945 Selwyn Ring purchased it from his father. During this time he added three cabins , a large kitchen and dining area. A water system ran by pumps allowed a bathroom in each cabin.During this time he built three piece bathrooms in nine cabins.
Selwyn Ring sold Birchdale to a person from the United States who operated it as a hunting and fishing lodge for eight years and sold it to the present owners, The Spiritual Life Insitute and they called it Nova Nada.
One picture in the main dining room was of Mrs. Robert Guest taken in 1912.
At the beganning and for twenty years the only access to Birchdale was by ox team.
One of the tame deer's name was Butts as the deer would go in the main lodge and eat the cigarette butts in the ash tray.
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