Today is difficult to grasp the magnitude of the prosperity that Maitland enjoyed as a shipbuilding and trading centre during the late 1800s. Fortunes were made in the timber trade, in mining gypsum, and selling Maitland ships. In one summer, nineteen ships were built for a revenue of nearly one million dollars. A thousand men worked in the shipyards of this town on the shores of Cobequid Bay, requiring hotels, boarding houses, taverns, clothing stores, hardware stores and a bank.

Maitland sea captains like W.D Lawrence sailed the globe in huge schooners. A railway was built; there was a telegraph, professional photographer, and eventually a six-car ferry. There were tennis courts, and glorious mansions furnished with the finest articles money can buy.

And then it ended. The golden age of wooden ships and iron men was over, and the economic engine that generated such wealth faltered. The halcyon days of Maitland disappeared but its heritage not forgotten. Much of the town, including its great homes, still stands as it did in the glory days. Maitland has been declared a heritage conservation site, to be preserved for future generations.

JOHN HAWKINS vividly describes this remarkable community and its fascinating history. Mr. Hawkins is a former Cabinet Minister and chairman of the Treasury Board for the province of Nova Scotia. His fascination for local histories led to an earlier best-selling book, Renfrew Gold – The Story of a Nova Scotia Ghost Town.

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