Charles Short’s Shipyards refers to a pair of shipyards located along the waterfronts of St. Stephen, New Brunswick, and its neighboring border community of Calais, Maine, which operated from 1861 to 1878. These shipyards were owned and operated by two Irish brothers named John and Charles Short. From 1861 to 1878 20 ships were constructed at the St. Stephen shipyard and 16 were constructed at Calais.

Charles Short was a master carpenter and was well known in the Charlotte County region at the time as one of its foremost shipbuilders. He was known for creating and designing his own working ship models. His shipbuilding career began in the community of Digdeguash, when at an early age he constructed the ship “Homeward Bound”. He spent many years as the master shipbuilder for John and Robert Townshend at Chamcook and spent many years building ships for the Wilsons in St. Andrews. In 1861 he started his own shipbuilding firm in St. Stephen with his brother John Short, the name of which was J&C Short. Shortly after the two formed a firm in Calais known as Short Brothers. At times both shipyards would be operational at once. The brothers also had shipyards located in Digdeguash, Brandy Cove, Lower Bay in St. Andrews, and Oak Bay. Their operation built ships, barques, brigs, and other sailing craft for Chipman & Bolton and J.S. DeWolfe, who were based in St. Stephen with offices in London and Liverpool, England, as well as J.S. Murchie, Todd Brothers, and other firms based in Calais.

The last ship built at the J&C Short shipyard was the “Rocklands”, which launched October 1, 1878. After this year the shipyard at St. Stephen was closed. Shipbuilding operations and repairs continued at the shipyard in Calais after 1878, but none of the vessels that were worked on were recorded. John Short retired and moved to Kenora, Ontario, while Charles Short moved to the Pacific coast of Canada in 1883, although he would return to St. Stephen before his death in 1895. The last shipbuilding work done by Charles Short was molding the frame of the five-masted barque “Shenandoah” at Bishop’s Crossing, Quebec.

The Heritage Club was established in 1989 by the Canada Post Corporation, as a means of recognizing the contributions made by former employees to Canada’s postal services through a formal program to commemorate long service and retirement. The creation of the Heritage Club was spearheaded by Canada Post’s VP of Personnel in 1989, Bill Kennedy, as he felt there should be a program in place to honor long term Canada Post retirees. It was felt that such a program would boost morale and show that Canada Post cared about the contributions of its employees. The program itself was inspired by other retiree programs in place at other large corporations. A corporate task force recommended the creation of the Heritage Club and identified the locations for 31 chapters across Canada. This task force also selected Pro Tem Chapter Presidents, who in turn chose executive officers for each chapter. These people selected their chapter name and nominated each chapter’s founding members. This preparatory work culminated in an inaugural banquet in Ottawa on March 18, 1989, during which the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canada Post Corporation Donald Lander presented charters to the attending chapter presidents.

Members of the Heritage Club raise money for charity causes and engage in local community efforts to increase literacy. The main goal of the Heritage Club is to provide a friendly association for retired Canada Post employees, so members are provided opportunities for camaraderie through social events, volunteer activities, or by simply helping other members.

The United Baptist Woman’s Missionary Union, or U.B.W.M.U is a Maritimes-based Baptist missionary group which aims to encourage the formation of women’s missionary bands in the maritime provinces and perform missionary work abroad, chiefly in India and Bolivia. The groundwork for the foundation of this organization was laid in 1905 when two Baptist groups in the Maritimes, the Free Baptists and the Maritime Baptists, became a combined body with the name United Baptists. In the following year the women’s missionary societies of the two groups were united as well, and together they formed the U.B.W.M.U. An annual meeting of this organization was held in Bridgetown in August 1906. Here the specifics of the union between the two missionary societies were worked out, and the basis of the U.B.W.M.U. was set. For its first year of operation, the executive committees of both groups were amalgamated into the Executive Board of the U.B.W.M.U. The first official annual meeting of this union was held at Sussex, New Brunswick, on August 22 and 23 1907. 1907 was also the year they were officially incorporated.

The primary goals of the union were encouraging the formation of local missionary bands and performing missionary work abroad. The union also published a monthly bulletin named “Tidings”, which provided updates on missionary work being done within and outside the maritime provinces and news from recent meetings. Starting in May 1912 the U.B.W.M.U. was involved with the then newly formed Federation of Canadian Baptist Mission Bands, which was formed from a union between mission bands in Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime Provinces. Going forward all missionary work abroad was done through this organization.

The efforts of the U.B.W.M.U. continue today under their new name of Atlantic Baptist Women (registered 2017). Today the organization supports local church activities and community services, children’s education, and global missionary work.

The Tides Institute and Museum of Art (TIMA) is an organization which aims for the promotion of arts and culture in the Passamaquoddy region which was founded in 2002. The institute is located on a campus comprised of eight 19th century repurposed historic buildings and additional properties owned by TIMA in Eastport, Maine. All of TIMA’s initiatives are cross-border in nature, as it aims to foster innovation and economic development in the Passamaquoddy homeland region along the Atlantic Coast at the U.S./Canada border. TIMA’s activities include hosting art installations and promoting local artists, art and history education aimed at all age groups, sponsoring art and history research endeavors, and hosting talks and special events.

The Tides Institute and Museum of Art also maintains a collection of art and architectural and historical materials that can date from the 18th century to today. Geographically their collections are focused on the Northeast coast of the U.S. and Canada with connections to the broader world. The types of items in their collections include paintings, prints, photographs, sculpture, Passamaquoddy and Micmac basketry and other art and craft, architectural drawings, documentation and artifacts, ship models, decorative arts, musical instruments, oral history recordings, and graphic arts.

As part of its mission to strengthen U.S./Canada cultural ties along the Northeast coast, TIMA played a leadership role over six years in concert with other cultural leaders in Maine and New Brunswick which led to the establishment of an official cultural agreement between the state and the province in 2010. Called the Official Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), this memorandum established a task force whose goal is to facilitate greater cultural exchange between Maine and New Brunswick. TIMA also organized CulturePass, an online regional cultural directory and events post for the Northeast region, as well as Artsipelago, a guide for cultural resources within the region.

A Baptist Church formed in 1888 in the small community of Bartletts Mills, New Brunswick, in the parish of St. Croix. Before July 1888 the Baptists of Bartletts Mills were connected with the church in Bayside, New Brunswick. Aside from the occasional service held in the schoolhouse at Bartletts Mills, members of the church had to drive eight or more miles to Bayside to worship. Due to this inconvenience, a council was conducted with the Bayside church to investigate the possibility of creating an independent Baptist church in Bartletts Mills. The result of this council was the formation of a new church, which united with the Oak Bay field. At this time Reverend F.S. Todd was pastor of the Oak Bay group of churches and therefore became the first pastor of the Bartletts Mills Baptist Church.

The first deacons were Robert Richardson, Hosea Little, and William Munny. G.H. Bartlett was the first clerk and served faithfully in that capacity until his death in 1928. In October of 1888 construction of the church building began. It was erected the following year and dedicated in November 1889. In 1952 an adjoining vestry was added to the church to accommodate more children attending the beginners and primary classes at the church. The church and vestry were wired for electricity in 1953.

Periwinkle Productions was established in 2003 to provide a New Brunswick based promotion, event planning, artist management, and career development company for musicians in the Maritimes and beyond. Periwinkle Productions was organized by Jamie Steel and operates in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. Jamie Steel is also the founder of St. Andrews music festivals Paddlefest and the Winter Warmer festival, and the owner and operator of accommodation and creative residency space Salty Towers. Periwinkle Productions has been nominated twice for Company of the Year at the East Coast Music Awards, and its artists tour regionally, nationally, and internationally.

In its earliest years of human occupation, Ministers Island was an important summer camp for the Passamaquoddy First Nations. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Passamaquoddy inhabited this island after the retreat of the glaciers 13,000 years ago. Qonasqamkuk, now known as St. Andrews, was an important meeting place & sacred ceremonies by the Passamaquoddy were held there.

The first known European settlers on the island were John Hanson and his family, from 1778-1784. At the time, Ministers Island was referred to as Chamcook Island, in the Province of Nova Scotia. The island was later granted to Captain Osborn by King George III for services rendered during the American War of Independence. Sometime between 1788 and 1791 the Rector of St. Andrews, Reverend Samuel Andrews formerly from Wallingford, Connecticut acquired ownership of the island from Captain Osborn. Andrews paid 250 pounds for the Island. This sale wasn't without some controversy as the earlier loyalist settlers of the island, claimed that they had forfeited ownership as a result of some trickery and intimidation.

At some point between 1788 and 1791 Reverend Andrews built the small stone cottage on the Island that is still there today. Thereafter it acquired its informal designation as Ministers Island. The Rector is remembered to have laboured by horse and buggy along treacherous winter roads and trails to visit parishioners in the outlying areas. With the tide covering the bar a large part of the day, getting on and off the Island, and even coming into town for regular church service, would not have been the easiest task. Perhaps for this reason Andrews spent about half his time on the mainland.

Except for a brief interlude between 1798 and 1841, Ministers Island remained entirely in the Andrews family until 1891, when a part of it was sold by Edwin Andrews, great grandson of Reverend Andrews, to Sir William Cornelius Van Horne.

Van Horne purchased part of the island in 1890. He continued to buy other parcels with the last piece being purchased by his daughter Addie after Sir William's death in 1915. He constructed a summer estate on the site which included Covenhoven - a 50-room summer home with walls constructed from sandstone cut from the shore, a windmill, leading edge gas plant, carriage house, garage, circular bath house and farm buildings. The centrepiece of the agricultural buildings is the livestock barn, a massive two-story timber structure with a hipped gable roof, which was home to Van Horne's thoroughbred horses and prized herd of Dutch belted cattle.

In its day, the Island and Van Horne's activities were a major tourist draw for St Andrews and played a major role in the economic development and support of the region. Indeed he was single-handedly responsible for attracting many of his wealthy friends who came and made St Andrews their summer homes and established St Andrews as Canada's first and oldest seaside resort. Van Horne's engagement of Edward Maxwell, the renowned Boston and Montreal Architect in the creation and design of Covenhoven and the large agricultural barn set the stage for Maxwell's shaping of many of the magnificent buildings in St Andrews. Following Sir William Van Horne's death in 1915, his daughter Adaline inherited the property and maintained it until her death in 1941. Afterward, it was placed in a Royal Trust and maintained by Edith Bruce, the wife of Adaline's brother Richard Benedict Van Horne, and his granddaughter Beverley Ann. When Beverley Ann came of age in 1953 she inherited the island, but showed little interest in maintaining it, and the island was eventually sold out of the Van Horne family.

In 1958 the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada rejected Covenhoven as an historic site and the island was put up for sale. It was listed for $80,000 including 500 acres, all of the buildings and a working farm producing 200 tons of hay and enough oats to feed 100 head of cattle. In 1960, after a failed last-ditch attempt by locals to keep the island from falling into American hands ,it was sold to an Ohio syndicate that planned to turn it into a semi-private club for shareholders and their friends and acquaintances.

In 1967 after numerous financial problems, the island, its buildings and all of the treasures housed therein, was sold again to real estate developer, Norman Langdon a resident of Maine. This was after, yet again, an attempt to have the provincial government recognize the island's potential as a park development in conjunction with an historical complex. Langdon envisioned a significant cottage development on the island and proceeded to sub-divide the land. Langdon sold three lots to other parties. He invested over $300,000 in renovations. Numerous buildings on the site were removed and poor quality repair work on other buildings left them in poor condition.

In 1977 it was announced that the island and all the furnishings would be put up for auction. Local activists attempted to halt the proceedings and lobbied the Provincial government who had been in talks with Langdon to buy the property to step in. In March the Province declared Ministers Island a provincially protected site. In August the deal was finally done at a cost of $855,000 for a nearly empty property that could have been purchased completely intact in 1971 for $400,000.

In 1978 Parks Canada National Historic Sites and Monuments Board recognized the island's Shell Midden noting the importance of the site to First Nations history

The island was locked and access was denied to visitors until 1983 when limited tours were allowed.

Since that time numerous concepts have been floated for the island; everything from a working organic farm; time-share condos; railway museum to an international centre demonstrating wind, solar and tidal power.

In 1996 Parks Canada National Historic Sites and Monuments Board designated the island a National Historic Site.

In 2008 the provincial government of New Brunswick signed a long-term lease with the current operators The Van Horne Estate on Ministers Island Inc. (VHEMI) which is a volunteer, not-for-profit charitable body representing the local communities who believe strongly in the provincial and national importance of the Island.