Note: The cache area is surrounded by cemeteries. Should
there be a burial service taking place nearby, come back at another
time. On one side is the St John the Evangelist Church
cemetery (Sackville's oldest church built in 1829) and on the other
side is Oakridge Memory Gardens. Please respect the area.
Lucyfield was built during the early 1800's. The property
had previously belonged to David Ellis who came to Sackville from
Chester NS in 1812. By the late 1860's the property became the
country home of Dr. George Lawson.
Dr. Lawson was born in Scotland in 1827. He became a noted botanist
and a pioneer for the improvement of agriculture in Nova Scotia. At
his Sackville property, located opposite the top of First Street,
he operated a model stock farm and botanical gardens in an effort
to improve the quality of livestock and crops in Nova Scotia. He
named the property "Lucyfield" for his first wife Lucy
Stapley, who died in 1871. Some trees and shrubs including
Norwegian Spruce and rhododendrons still survive leading to the
site of the origional house. Lucyfield was demolished in the
1950's.
The property was eventually sold to the Oland's of the famous
brewing family and became for a brief time the "Red Ball Farm",
named after the family brewery in St John NB. Eventually Sidney
Oland bought out the family holdings in Sackville and the farm was
expanded to 3000 acres. At this location the farm, then called
"Lindwood", raised champion herds of Ayrshire and Aberdeen Angus
cattle. In recent years, most of the Oland holdings have been sold
off; today the land continues to develop into subdivisions and a
large well kept cemetery - Oakridge Memory Gardens.
You can make a dash for the cache by parking only 175m away at
the top of the Oakridge Memory Gardens. However, for a longer and
more interesting walk to the cache the best parking spot is
(N44.46.515 W063.42.215) down the street at St John the
Evangelist Church hall. From the parking spot it is only a short
jaunt to a trail (beginning at N44.46.500 W063.42.326) up
through the woods that will soon break out into huge fields. One
path will lead you along the fence line right to the cache. Don't
forget to look for the tall buildings of Halifax about 13 miles
away.
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