Geocache Description:
Welcome to Atlantic Canada’s Hidden Histories Geotour Part 2!
You’ve located another stop in this set of geocaches that are part of the Atlantic Canada’s Hidden Histories 2 GeoTour. Find the 9 geocaches which are located in Nova Scotia and earn a Geocoin.
About this location:
Before the settlement of white and black folk on Upper Hammonds Plains, there were the Mi’kmaq First Nation People. They were here hundreds of years before any other group of people discovered the land. (Contexture International | mentions that by the middle of the seventeenth century, most of the Mi’kmaq First Nation People in that area had succumbed to the diseases brought by the invading Europeans. Like most historical places in Nova Scotia the people here also desired to have a place to practice their religion. According to (Contexture International | n.d.) in the year 1820 Father Burton founded the Hammond Plains Second Baptists Church. Its existence was quite significant since most of the members of this church were people of color. This wasn’t the only church in the area, in the year 1845 Rev. Richard Preston established a separate church. The name was The Hammonds Plains Baptists Church it can also be identified as the Emmanuel Baptists Church (Contexture International | mentions that the reason for the second church was that in Father Burtons church there were many problems such as dissensions, abuse of power and racial tension. Rev.Richard Preston decided to separate from the church, and he went on to make his own church. Preston went on to establish 11 more churches in Nova Scotia.
More About the Geotour
You’ve located a stop in the ACHH Geotour, which as of Oct 21st, 2023 consists of 27 geocaches divided into two phases. Initially launched in July of 2022, this Geotour aims to highlight various diverse and sometimes relatively unknown histories in Atlantic Canada. It will continue to grow. The first 2 phases of the tour highlight Black History in Atlantic Canada. In Phase 1 there are two segments with six locations in New Brunswick, and eight locations in Nova Scotia. Each of these segments has their own geocoin and passport, the link for which is provided in relevant cache descriptions. Caches in Phase 1 start with ACHH: in their name. Caches in Phase 2 start with ACHH2: in their name. This cache is part of Phase 2.
In order to participate in the Tour, you will obtain a passport that you will take with you as you visit each location. When you find the geocache, in addition to signing the log sheet, you must sign your passport with the included passcode (under the geocache container lid at each location). Once you have a completed passport, you can submit it to receive your geocoin.
To learn more about Atlantic Canada’s Hidden Histories GeoTour, visit the website.
You can download the Nova Scotia passport: pdf.
You may pick up your Nova Scotia geocoin by making an appointment with (or mailing to) :
Kirrily Freeman
Professor, History Department
Director, Outreach and Experiential Learning, Faculty of Arts
923 Robie St,Saint Mary's University
Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3C4
Kirrily.Freeman@smu.ca
Alternatively you may mail your completed passport to the address above and your geocoin will be mailed to you.
Atlantic Canada’s Hidden Histories GeoTour is a collaborative project between the City of Fredericton, National Trust for Canada, the Capital Region Association of Geocachers, Saint Mary's University, and the Association of Nova Scotia Geocaching. We acknowledge that caches of this tour are placed in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people. The territory of the Mi’kmaq people are recognized in the Peace and Friendship Treaties to establish an ongoing relationship of peace, friendship and mutual respect between equal nations.
