St. Denis 1848 Universalist 1863
Minudie Cumberland County Nova Scotia
Two heritage churches and a school, built by Amos Seaman, the “Grindstone King.”
Photographed on 30 July 2003
St. Denis church 1848
GPS location: 45°46’32″N 64°20’59″W
Built 1848 Restored 1977
The above photographs were taken on 30 July 2003.
King Seaman Universalist church 1863
GPS location: 45°46’32″N 64°20’53″W
The above photographs were taken on 30 July 2003.
Also see: A.P. Seaman plaque and tombstone
The Minudie Millionaire
The Minudie Millionaire by Bill Hamilton
Sackville Tribune-Post, 12 September 2000
http://billhamiltonflashback.ca/listnews.php
?id=64&cid=&searchtext=ceased&offset=0
King Seaman School Museum
by the Cumberland County Genealogical Society
http://www.ccgs.ednet.ns.ca/cumb/minudie.htm
Minudie Interpretive Park by Fundy Shore Ecotour
http://www.fundyshoreecotour.ns.ca/tour_am07.htm
Lower Cove: Former Site of Booming Grindstone Quarry
…Grindstones were fashioned in a variety of weights and sizes. In 1875,
a stone produced in Lower Cove, Cumberland County, and shipped to Maine
was seven feet [213 cm] in diameter and weighed 8,000 pounds [3500 kg]…
http://www.ccgs.ednet.ns.ca/cumb/l_cove.htm
An Infant Railway: What the Iron Horse will do for the Joggins
Halifax Morning Herald, 3 November 1887
The opening of the Joggins Railway…
…there is the Minudie Branch of six miles…
http://www.geocities.com/dblegere/rail.html
The History of Joggins
by CREDA: Cumberland Regional Economic Development Association
…The quarrying of grindstones from the great sandstone reefs along
the shore was a much valued industry for the Joggins area. The
largest company to work this resource was the Atlantic Grindstone
Coal & Railway Company at the Lower Cove. These quarries were
operated by Amos “King” Seaman and later by his son Gilbert
who at that time was one of the most powerful and wealthiest men
in Nova Scotia…
http://www.creda.net/~jfcliffs/history.htm
Joggins
by CREDA: Cumberland Regional Economic Development Association
…Learn about Minudie’s history at the interpretive park or the
Amos Seaman Schoolhouse Museum, and catch glimpses of wildlife
through the trees. The schoolhouse museum describes the history
of the granite quarry and recounts the of life of Minudie’s most
celebrated citizen, Amos Seaman, the “Grindstone King”…
http://www.creda.net/~jfcliffs/communities.htm
St. Denis Church, Barronsfield Road, Minudie
Provincial Heritage Property Owners Assocation of Nova Scotia
By 1968 the population of Minudie had dwindled to such a degree
that the Church doors of St. Denis closed for regular mass. In 1975
a committee was struck to restore the building. In 1993, St. Denis
Church was designated a Heritage Property, and the Restoration Committee
of St. Denis started preserving this grand old church. Today (2002)
the Blessing of the Crops Mass is still celebrated every year, on the
third Sunday in August. There is a bake and harvest sale followed
by an afternoon Blessing of the Crops Mass….
http://www.nsheritageproperties.ca/maps/glooscap/
Glooscap_files/StDenisChurch_129.html
Amos Seaman House, Minudie
Provincial Heritage Property Owners Assocation of Nova Scotia
Amos built his mansion in 1837. The Homestead, also known
as Grindstone Castle, comprised of four huge rooms downstairs and
five bedrooms upstairs, as well as quarters for six servants. The
house was always filled with guests from all corners of the world,
including Sir Charles Tupper and Joseph Howe…
http://www.nsheritageproperties.ca/maps/glooscap/
Glooscap_files/AmosThomasSeamanHouse_131.html
Amos Seaman’s mansion, a.k.a. Grindstone Castle, Minudie, 1875
200 Grindstones now in Sackville
In the mid-1980’s, Mr. Herbert C. Read dismantled the Grindstone Museum
which he had put together in the “Carriage House” of the Marshlands Inn
in Sackville, New Brunswick, (the old family home – a Heritage Property) and
donated all its contents to the town of Sackville. In January, 1999, these
articles were passed on to the Tantramar Heritage Trust, including about
200 beautiful grindstones which likely originated from the Stonehaven quarry…
Source:
The White Fence the Tantramar Heritage Trust newsletter, March 1999
http://heritage.tantramar.com/WFNewsletter_8.html
A Thriving Industry
In 1847 over 33,000 grindstones were shipped from Cumberland County…
Source:
Secondary Processing of Industrial Minerals in Nova Scotia
http://www.gov.ns.ca/natr/meb/ic/ic53.htm
Archived Business Records
The Public Archives of Nova Scotia has the business records of the
Minudie Mining and Transportation Company, 1867-1901 1.1 metres
MG 3 Vol.: 5077-5085
Grindstone Companies
On 10 May 1864, Major-General Hastings Doyle, Lieutenant-Governor of
Nova Scotia, gave Royal Assent to an Act for the Incorporation of the
South Joggins Freestone and Grindstone Quarrying Company
(owned by Amos Seaman).
Source: page 168 of Journal of Proceedings of Her Majesty’s Legislative Council
of the province of Nova Scotia, 1864
CIHM 9_00947_38
Nova Scotia Legislature, 1873, chapter 55: — An Act to incorporate
the Minudie Mining and Transportation Company Limited
Seaman & Company of Lower Cove, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia,
exhibited grindstones at the International Exhibition of Philadelphia, 1876.
Source: page 7 of Catalog of Canadian Exhibitors in the Report of
the Canadian Commission at the International Exhibition of Philadelphia, 1876
CIHM 9_03761
Atlantic Grindstone, Coal & Railway Company Limited
Nova Scotia Legislature, 1906, chapter 155: — An Act to authorize
the amalgamation of Atlantic Grindstone, Coal & Railway Company with
Atlantic Grindstone Company and Fundy Coal Company.
Nova Scotia Legislature, 1887, chapter 63: — An Act to incorporate
the Minudie Railway Company Limited
Nova Scotia Legislature, 1888, chapter 80: — An Act to amend the Act to
incorporate the Minudie Railway Company Limited and to extend the line.
The following Dominion Acts also applied to this railway:
Dominion Parliament, 1887 chapter 24 —
Dominion Parliament, 1889 chapter 3 —
Dominion Parliament, 1894 chapter 4 —
Dominion Parliament, 1903 chapter 57 —
Nova Scotia Legislature, 1902, chapter 140: — An Act to incorporate
the Minudie Coal Company Limited
Amended 1905, chapter 137
Nova Scotia Legislature, 1903, chapter 190: — An Act to incorporate
the Minudie Coal Railway Company Limited
Reference
Nova Scotia Legislature, 1874, chapter 103: — An Act to authorize the sale
of certain trust property, Minudie Estate, Cumberland County
“Seaman Street,” Halifax Sunday Herald, 21 September 2003
Amos Seaman School Museum
The Virtual Museum of Canada has assembled an impressive collection of
historical material about King Seaman, his grindstone business, and his
many other interests and accomplishments. This material, comprising more
than 200 items including old photographs and other documents, has been
digitized and posted online. Normally, I would include a link here to direct
interested viewers to the Virtual Museum’s material about King Seaman of
Minudie, Nova Scotia. Unfortunately, the Virtual Museum website is badly
designed, with several significant deficiencies. The worst design deficiency
is the navigation – baffling, obscure, enigmatic, unfathomable. The internal
search is next to useless. A link to the Virtual Museum of Canada will lead to
frustration, not to enlightenment. For that reason, no link to it appears here.
ICS 28 December 2007
