Gus The Gopher Tortoise

Posted on May 29, 2026 by Katherine
PXL 20260522 180425416.RAW 01 copy

Gus was born in Florida around 1922 and spent his early years at the Ross Allen Reptile Institute in Silver Springs. The exact date of his hatching is unknown, but his birthday is celebrated in August.

In 1942, he was purchased for five dollars by Don Crowdis, the director of the Nova Scotia Provincial Museum. Crowdis returned Gus to Nova Scotia, where he began living at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History.

Gopher tortoises typically only live to be around 60 years old, and Gus’s longevity is attributed to a lack of external threats. He has been said to be the world’s oldest living gopher tortoise.

Posted in A bit of Nova Scotia, animals, museum | Leave a comment

Hortonville Field

Posted on May 29, 2026 by Katherine
DJI 0106 ps

A drone’s view captures the beauty of a field in Hortonville, Nova Scotia. I use drones to showcase the beauty and reality of the places I visit.

First known as Horton Landing, Hortonville was surveyed as the intended townsite for the New England Planters Horton Township settlement. However, the town development gravitated instead to Wolfville, further to the west, and Hortonville remained as an agricultural area.

Posted in 4k, A bit of Nova Scotia, buildings, Drone, farms, video | Leave a comment

Hortonville Field

Posted on May 28, 2026 by Katherine

A drone-powered aerial view of a field in Hortonville, Nova Scotia

First known as Horton Landing, Hortonville was surveyed as the intended townsite for the New England Planters Horton Township settlement. However, the town development gravitated instead to Wolfville, further to the west, and Hortonville remained as an agricultural area.

The Windsor and Annapolis Railway, later the Dominion Atlantic Railway, built a bridge across the Gaspereau River at Hortonville in 1869 (re-built in 1911-1912), followed by a station, which further developed agriculture and began tourism in the area.

In 1924, the Dominion Atlantic Railway deeded a plot of land beside the tracks at Hortonville to the Acadian Memorial Society to erect an iron memorial cross at what was believed to be the site of the deportation. In 2005, the railway assisted in moving the cross to a site owned by Parks Canada, closer to the river, established by more recent research as the actual deportation site.

Posted in A bit of Nova Scotia, Drone, farms, video | Leave a comment

Gaspereau River Train Bridge

Posted on May 28, 2026 by Katherine
DJI 0098 ps

The Gaspereau River Train Bridge

The Annapolis Valley is a valley and region in Nova Scotia. It is located in the western part of the Nova Scotia peninsula, formed by a trough between two parallel mountain ranges along the shore of the Bay of Fundy. 

The valley measures approximately 126 kilometres (78 mi) in length from Annapolis Royal and the Annapolis Basin in the west to Wolfville and the Minas Basin in the east, spanning the counties of Digby, Annapolis and Kings.

Some also include the western part of Hants County, including the towns of Hantsport and Windsor, even farther to the east, but geographically speaking, they are part of the Avon River valley.

There is significant historical value here, but information about the bridge and how to access it legally is scarce.

I used a drone…

Posted in A bit of Nova Scotia, bridges, Drone, rail, river | Leave a comment

A Drone Selfie

Posted on May 27, 2026 by Katherine

Shortly after I shot this video, the drone flew away, never to be seen again…

Posted in 4k, Drone, video | Leave a comment

Middleton Railway Museum

Posted on May 27, 2026 by Katherine
PXL 20260524 163015796.RAW 02.ORIGINAL ps

1274 and 7260 – the locomotives at the Middleton Railway Museum

PXL 20260524 162819075.RAW
PXL 20260524 162748625.RAW

There is also 78769, a CNR caboose

PXL 20260524 162825022.RAW
Posted in A bit of Nova Scotia, history, museum, rail | Leave a comment

Middleton Railway Museum

Posted on May 27, 2026 by Katherine
DJI 0109 copy

A drone-powered aerial view of the Middleton Railway Museum

DCIM100MEDIADJI 0112.JPG
DCIM100MEDIADJI 0113.JPG

Although Nova Scotia once had an extensive rail network, there are very few visible sections left to see unless you are in the corridor running between Halifax/Dartmouth and Montreal.

The Middleton Railway Museum is one of the small number of remaining train stations.

Posted in A bit of Nova Scotia, Drone, history, museum, rail | Leave a comment

Gaspereau River

Posted on May 27, 2026 by Katherine
DJI 0101 ps copy sfex

Gaspereau River Train Bridge

The Gaspereau River stretches about 24 km, flowing from Gaspereau Lake on South Mountain, just south of Kentville, to its mouth at Hortonville on the Minas Basin. The lower 6.5 km is tidal up to Melanson, with wide tidal marshes along its lower stretches. The upper 16 km moves quickly over gravel beds, boulders, and bedrock, except for a few dammed spots that create narrow, deep channels.

Damming for hydroelectric power has linked twelve major lakes to the river, forming a watershed of 1,375 square kilometres. One key tributary is the Black River, which meets the Gaspereau at White Rock. The Black River once flowed farther north into the Cornwallis River but was redirected to the Gaspereau through a natural erosion process called river capture.

DCIM100MEDIADJI 0104.JPG

Posted in A bit of Nova Scotia, Drone, Nova Scotia, river | Leave a comment

Deportation Cross

Posted on May 27, 2026 by Katherine
PXL 20260526 211657070.RAW 01.MP

Deportation Cross

About 3.2 kilometers from the Grand-Pré National Historic Site’s Visitor Centre, the Deportation Cross at Horton Landing stands as a moving tribute to the forced deportation of 2000 Acadians from Grand-Pré in 1755.

Designed by René-Arthur Fréchet, the Gothic-style cross was constructed by Abrams and Son of Moncton and installed by Thaddée Léger of Lewisville in 1924. Made of malleable iron and standing about 4 meters tall, it features an inscription recounting the deportation, marking the site where Acadians were forcibly taken aboard ships.

The dry bed of the creek which is in sight, a few paces in the marsh is the spot where the VICTIMS OF THE EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS OF 1755 were embarked on the small boats to be rowed over to the transports lying at anchor in Minas Basin.

In 1924, the Dominion Atlantic Railway deeded a plot of land beside the tracks at Hortonville to the Acadian Memorial Society to erect an iron memorial cross at what was believed to be the site of the deportation. In 2005 the railway assisted in moving the cross to a site owned by Parks Canada, closer to the river, in a location established by more recent research as the actual deportation site.

DCIM100MEDIADJI 0107.JPG

Posted in A bit of Nova Scotia, history, National Historic Site | Leave a comment

Gaspereau River Train Bridge

Posted on May 27, 2026 by Katherine
DCIM100MEDIADJI 0096.JPG

Gaspereau River Train Bridge

DJI 0097 ps

The wide, open tidal estuary of the Gaspereaux River at Horton Landing called for major bridgework. Finishing this bridge was one of the last hurdles for the Windsor and Annapolis Railway, which began operating in August 1869, aside from the missing link between the Gaspereaux and Avon Rivers at mile 44.5 on the Halifax Subdivision between Avonport and Horton Landing.

The first bridge was described by W. W. Clarke as a covered railway bridge. Additional bridge work was started in 1871 and was completed in 1872.The last of several DAR bridges over the Gaspereaux was built for the DAR in 1911 by the W.R. McNeil Company of New Glasgow, NS. The bridge consists of two high deck plate girder spans, two steel through truss spans and 89 feet of standard piles.

Posted in bridges, Drone, history, rail, river | Leave a comment