The Oct. 10 print edition of the Tri-County Vanguard and special coverage on our three digital news sites - thevanguard.ca, thecoastguard.ca and digbycourier.ca - is dedicated to "Then and Now."
The idea came about months ago when editor Tina Comeau was attending a newspaper conference training session on mapping. As she sat there watching photos being pegged on maps to help place locations for readers, she started thinking about how much our community landscapes in Southwest Nova Scotia have changed over the years.
In addition to drawing comparisons through photographs, we decided to expand the idea further by drawing then and now comparisons in stories and we’re expanding this effort online as well, with more photos and added graphics and videos.
We would like to make Then and Now a regular series, which means we are looking for your ideas!
If you have a suggestion for the series or historical photos you would like to share with the our newsroom, email us at [email protected].
The Tri-County Vanguard team
Read our Then and Now stories
Tiny house, big view: New home, old soul in Cape Forchu, Yarmouth County
CAPE FORCHU, N.S. - A century-old building that once rang with the sounds of music, laughter and dancing has been reborn as a tiny house.
Random Digby County find leads to huge loss in leatherback sea turtle research
DIGBY, N.S. - Whenever Jonathan Riley heads out on a hike, it’s usually an adventure. And on this particular day – a Sunday in early August – he could have hiked just about anywhere.
This way. That way. That way. This way. “I could have chosen a million other things to do that day, but I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll just do that walk,” he says.
Kathleen Martin is thankful that he did. Well, thankful and sad.
Sam Langford’s story ‘Chasing Champions’ coming to the Marc Lescarbot Theatre as his legacy lives on
WEYMOUTH, N.S. – Sam Langford was born in Weymouth Falls in 1882 and died in the United States in 1956, but his memory is still very much alive today.
Langford or, as some called him, the Boston Tar Baby, was a professional boxer who fought 642 fights in his 24-year career. By the time of his last fight he was blind. He had to listen to the sound of his opponent’s feet approaching in order to get a swing in.
Celebrating Yarmouth area’s sports history
YARMOUTH, N.S. – Two decades ago – on a Saturday evening in March 1998 – the Yarmouth Town and County Sports Heritage Association held its first Hall of Fame induction ceremony. And now in 2018...
Running shoes, equipment, have come a long way
YARMOUTH, N.S. – New people are taking up running and, thanks to better shoes and other developments, their chances of enjoying the sport in a healthy, positive way have never been better, says local running instructor Mark Hubbard.
‘I wanted to keep it here for everyone to enjoy’ – New life for historic Robertson building in Barrington Passage
BARRINGTON PASSAGE, N.S. – For 110 years, what is known as the Robertson building has stood stately on the corner of Highway 3 and Station Road in the heart of Barrington Passage.
Historic Milton horse returns to Yarmouth for its perch back on 1893 fountain
YARMOUTH, N.S. – It’s been photographed.
It’s used as a reference point for directions.
It’s been spray painted and defaced.
And now . . . it's back. Which begs the question, where was it?
How a 1963 fire reshaped a streetscape in downtown Yarmouth
YARMOUTH, N.S. – When looking at the current-day landscape of Yarmouth’s Main Street, much has changed over the past century.
And then there were fires that destroyed parts of the streetscape.Buildings have been painted. Their facades improved. There's been closures. There's even been a massive collapse.
One of the worst of these fires happened on Nov. 6, 1963, when fire broke out at the rear of the Margolian’s Building at around 8 a.m. By the time the fire was brought under control on Main and Brown streets, eight businesses had been destroyed, three others were damaged, 33 people were left unemployed and some people were left homeless.
Rural internet efforts continue as travel the information highway in southwestern Nova Scotia
YARMOUTH, N.S. – Few issues have dominated the news in southwestern Nova Scotia over the past half-century more than transportation.
‘I love upholding the tradition’ – 1880 history lives on at Shelburne Dory Shop
SHELBURNE, N.S. – Not much has changed since John C. Williams opened his dory shop on Shelburne’s waterfront in 1880.
What was it? Shared story of September daytime UFO sighting in Cape Sable Island has people talking
SHAG HARBOUR, N.S. – A near capacity crowd was on hand at the Shag Harbour Incident Society UFO Museum on Oct. 6 to hear about, and see video and photographic evidence of, a daytime UFO sighting over Cape Sable Island on Sept. 15.
Electric City: ‘We may not have everything we started out with, but we still have the story’
WEYMOUTH, N.S. — For nearly 10 years Hal Theriault and Stacey Doucette have been researching the history of the New France, Electric City near Weymouth.
And they had lots of artifacts – until those artifacts were destroyed in an August 2018 massive blaze.
What now?
COLUMN: Laurent d’Entremont: Turning back the clock to my childhood days
WEST PUBNICO, N.S. – Today we live in a very fast world, controlled by money, big enterprises, many rules and regulations and a hundred other things that did not exist during my youth.
Yarmouth businessman Richard LeBlanc hits home run with triplets
YARMOUTH, N.S. - The goal that local businessman Richard LeBlanc set out to achieve has been reached after he purchased and revitalized the third building in a triplet set across from his office on Main Street in Yarmouth.
LeBlanc joyfully dove into the revitalization of the first two in 2017, working with a colour wheel, hand-painting many pieces for the renovation, spending hours online searching Victorian structures and noting architectural features of historic homes in Yarmouth.
The first, #258, became a rich gold with sage accents; #260 was painted purple, with black and gold trim. Now, #262 is now a bright red, with blue and cheery yellow accents.
LeBlanc says he didn’t want to match the other two buildings but that the third had to work with them and be just as outstanding in its own right.
