September 19, 2010

I got up early this morning even though we did not have to leave home until about 11:10 for Mass at 11:30. My reward for getting up early was to see the lake in the early morning light. The water was like a mirror with a reflection of the trees in the water. The bonus this morning is the little patches of mist and fog in different areas of the lake. Everything is just so quiet and calm. We do not get periods of time with such a silence in the world today. When Walt got up at 8:30 to drive into town for the paper and he returned, he said, “The town is dead as a door nail, there isn’t even a dog walking around.” This tells you how small and quiet this area is most of the day.

When we went to Mass we were welcomed with open arms. The congregation was made up of mostly retired people. There were only a few people under the age of 50 and maybe a handful of children. Father was a substitute priest and looked like he had been retired for years.

After we left the church we went to the local attraction: Sherbrooke Village. It was the best restored village we had ever seen in our days of travel. They took 31 buildings which were original to the town and either moved them or worked with other buildings to make a small town setting. The buildings had original fixtures and contents with some additional antiques. It was very enjoyable. They even had boxes of buttons in the tailors shop which dated back to the early 1900’s.

The French were the first Eurpoean visitors to Sherbrooke, as early as 1655. The settlement was known as Fort Sainte Marie.
By 1815 the settlement which developed at the head of the navigable waters became known as Sherbrook, in honour of Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.
The Sherbrooke Village Restoration Area was established in 1969 to conserve a part of Sherbrooke and depict a typical Nova Scotian village in the 19th Century.

As we entered the village they had a restaurant in the old motel so we enjoyed our lunch with a cup of tea and coffee. You see I am getting into the hot tea mode. It was very chilly in the church so the hot tea warmed my inners and my cold hands. After visiting the exhibits and 3 hours and 45 minutes later we stopped and had some ice cream and coffee and hot tea again. I still have not found the right tea pot as a souvenir.

It had been misting all afternoon but when we got home it rained for a short time. Some of the locals told us that the leaves were not changing color because when the hurricane came thru the sea salt had been blown inland and killed all the blooming flowers and tree leaves. You don’t know things like that until you talk to the local people.

Tomorrow we move to Peggy’s Cove, until then Goodnight.