It is hard to ignore the past in a town like Amherst in northern Nova Scotia. The setting fir the Leon Trotsky’s internment in one of Canada’s largest World War One prisoner-of-war camps and for Henry George Ketchum’s unusual plans to build a ship railway, Amherst has witnessed the rise-and sometimes fall- of personal fortunes and revolutionary dreams. Once the battleground for the historic struggle between the English and the French, it has been called home by notable figures of all kinds, including four fathers of Confederation and renowned artist Alex Colville.

Historic Amherst looks at the fascinating evolution of the small community of “Morse’s Corner” into “Busy Amherst,” an Industrial centre for the production of steel, iron and automobiles at its peak in the early 1900s. Supported by priceless photographs that testify to Amherst’s early prosperity as well as to its social, sporting, recreational and agrarian past, this illustrated history promises to inform and delight as it traces the significant moment in this once-bustling bordertown.

PAULINE FURLONG is a well-established freelance writer who has lived in the Amherst area since 1988, most recently in one of the restored heritage homes for which the picturesque town has become known

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