Writing this, I kept thinking how the kid I was drove the back roads of Nova Scotia in the back seat, sandwiched between plump elderly women in stockings and floral dresses, my grandmother and any one of her sisters. As they pointed out possums, foxes, and The Measured Mile 1 for me to view, whoever was driving would back up if I missed it. Driving there today, I look out at the scenery… and feel love. In Chapters One thru Six, we met Sarah Rushton walking her land grant in 1827 Westchester, Nova Scotia with her daughter Elizabeth and grandchildren. Sarah, husband Jeremiah, and family were exiled from New York as Loyalists after the Revolution. Promised land by the British, the family boarded a ship, then walked for days, hauling their belongings. Fretting over her husband’s plan to move to Upper Canada, Elizabeth asked, “How will I have a baby by myself in the wilderness?” Sarah explained she’d avoided pregnancy as a refugee. The Rushtons labored to meet the terms of the land g...
Photos, stories, and memorabilia across generations