Joe's Scarecrow Village Began in 1984, some say by chance because he was better at raising scarecrows then he was at raising crops for the scarecrows to protect. Joe Delany put up the first 3 scarecrows along with his son's one night to keep the animals out of his vegetable garden. the next morning they found a tour bus had pulled over and the passengers were taking photo's of his scarecrows. They had been fashioned in the style of what the Acadians of the region would wear during mi-carme, and scarecrows became an unusual attraction in St. Joeseph DuMoine, in 1984 Joe had 12, by 1986 there were 46 scarecrows and 18,000 visitors... but on Nov 10, 1986 the unthinkable happened, 45 of the 46 scarecrows were destroyed by vandels, one scarecrow nickname "Rory" had survived the night. An article was published in the local paper from "Rory's" POV, asking for help to rebuild his village, and help came from as far away as B.C., donations and clothing poured in and the following spring, Joe's Scarecrow Village came back with over 100 scarecrows, by 1989 there had been 27,000 visitors. Joe's Scarecrow Village continued to grow the number of scarecrows until 2011, time waits for no man (or woman) and with no one left to keep the attraction going, the scarecrows were removed rather then let them fall into disgrace of disrepair. I never got to see them myself, I moved back to Cape Breton in 2013, and in my trips home all those years living away, i could never find time to make a trip around the Cabot trail. But after looking over the pictures and standing in that field, I could picture the crowd of scarecrows welcoming the tourists to stop and take some photos.
Please remember this is private property, the field is not for camping or RVing. it does make a nice spot to stretch the legs maybe eat a sandwich, but please do not linger too long and please keep it clean. Joe's daughter gave me permission to place this cache on her property, but does not want any hassle, thanks.
WARNING: This cache is not really winter friendly, the parking lot itself may not be accessible in winter as it is not maintained, without it there is NO PARKING!!! Please return in the spring, summer of fall.
If you want to see a little of what the Scarecrow Village was like, you can see it in this : video (keep in mind it is posted on FaceBook) from when Billy Connolly paid a visit to the region.