Backyard History

A tragic true story of forbidden love, bloody murder, and miscarried justice in Fredericton.

Elizabeth Driscoll was considered the most beautiful young woman in Fredericton. “A very sweet, ladylike girl” wrote famous British author Juliana Horatia Ewing who happened to be in town during the murder, trial, and subsequent riots. "But," Juliana wrote, "Elizabeth’s family has always been a bad lot.”

https://backyardhistory.ca/popular/f/getting-away-with-murder

After a small town mob boss starts making big moves in the black market, a straight-laced British detective goes undercover to try to figure out what is going on.

Much to a small village's surprise, a Soviet bomber crash lands in a bog. The world turns its attention to the 1939 race to get to first reach the pilots.

Unraveling a legendary Maritimes mystery.

A few days before Christmas in 1859 a mysterious stranger was found freezing, but still alive, alone deep in the woods. Disabled from his injuries, he would be murdered to save the town money. Or did he escape death and start a new life?

Coincidentally, around the same time he goes missing in New Brunswick, a mysterious legless man washes up on the beach of Sandy Cove, Nova Scotia. 

https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/the-legless-mystery-man

Newspaper reports tell the story of a crazy invention seen driving around the streets of Saint John NB. Was it the first car to be invented?

A circus rolls in to small town Fredericton, but tensions between the performers and the locals soon boil over. A dead snake is thrown on the stage, and a riot erupts..

During the First World War, the crew of a Canadian naval vessel was abducted by a German U-boat, but were surprised to find what they were met with on board.

https://backyardhistory.ca/f/ship-crew-gets-captured-by-u-boat-in-bay-of-fundy-served-lunch

When a young Oscar Wilde toured the Maritimes, not everything went according to plan.

When Oscar Wilde’s tour of the Maritimes was being booked, it was not expected to be a success. Despite being heckled in Fredericton, and reports circulating around the world that he got arrested in Moncton, the tour was a rousing success. Every date was sold out, scalpers were selling tickets outside at outrageous prices, Nova Scotia's Governor gave him a personal tour of Halifax, he received rapturous receptions, extra dates had to be added, and a wave of people began copying his style across the region.

https://backyardhistory.ca/f/oscar-wildes-tour-of-the-maritimes

Lost deep in the woods of Nova Scotia on a maze of logging roads, I came across a faded sign saying “The Electric City - La Nouvelle France.” Intrigued, I followed it, and found the abandoned ruins of what had once been an egalitarian utopian society. It had been among the first places in the Maritimes to have electricity and running water, and even boasted a train which ran on wooden rails.

https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/the-electric-city

What are the origins of the mysterious Mount House and is it the oldest building in The Maritimes?