Jim Turple, Author at The Pictou Advocate

All about Scotsburn …

January 17, 2020January 17, 2020Jim Turple

Some eight miles east of the Town of Pictou lies the picturesque village of Scotsburn. This petite village lies in the heart of a fine farming district. A pleasing appearance of Scotsburn comes from the attractive properties with their well-kept lawns and gardens. Over the years, thriving industries have developed within and around the village...

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Odd weather patterns on Pictou Island

January 13, 2020January 9, 2020Jim Turple

Winter set in early with about three inches of snow falling on Nov. 11th 1955. My father and Arnold MacMillan had been setting their smelt nets together in coves around the Merigomish area but had returned home to Pictou Island on November 12th because of the unstable weather. It was still blowing hard and was...

Pictou Bar Lighthouse

December 30, 2019December 9, 2019Jim Turple

I recall as a small boy the many, many times during the late 1950s when I would be sailing with my parents to and from Pictou Island and going past the magnificent structure known as the Pictou Bar Lighthouse. During those years there was a dwelling for the light keeper and his family to live...

My early Christmas years …

December 23, 2019December 9, 2019Jim Turple

The Christmas season is once again quickly drawing upon us. I can’t help but reminisce about the changes and meanings that have taken place over the past number of years. I recall my past Christmases as a child on Pictou Island and all the excitement that lingered around we island kids during the months up...

Jack Rankin kept himself busy …

December 16, 2019December 9, 2019Jim Turple

I have previously written about the lives of Pictou Island’s Jack and Mary Rankin. Even today I can bring to mind so vividly those years when Jack and Mary Rankin lived in their big yellow house close to the East End of Pictou Island. Jack Rankin (1882-1965) was born and raised on Pictou Island. He...

A new car on Pictou Island …

December 9, 2019December 9, 2019Jim Turple

I enjoy rekindling those years gone by when I had lived on Pictou Island. I often review my mother’s written diaries that she had always kept when living there. Sometimes certain events that she had written may revive old memories and trigger me to get my computer running. I was surprised during the summer of...

Bill’s Lunch

November 26, 2019November 6, 2019Jim Turple

More then 200 Pictou businessmen and their wives gathered in the Pictou Legion on Wednesday night June 16th 1976 to attend a gala night testimonial dinner to honor the retirement of Bill Watters, long time former owner and operator of Bill’s Lunch on Front Street. Highlights of Bill Watters’ career were outlined for the guests...

… traps and rope piled everywhere …

November 18, 2019November 4, 2019Jim Turple

I received a call some years ago from a Laura Graham who lives in Sunnybrae. She has been reading my stories in the Pictou Advocate and has seen Harold Bennett’s name mentioned a time or two. She had known of a Harold Bennett back many, many years ago and was wondering if perhaps this gentleman...

The day our house burned

November 11, 2019November 4, 2019Jim Turple

1965 was a long cold winter with lots of heavy ice building up in the Northumberland Strait. The strait was still white with ice by the end of April. My father had hired 16 year old Dennis Slaunwhite from Pictou to fish lobsters with him that year. The Dept. of Fisheries put the word out...

Winter isolation …

November 4, 2019November 4, 2019Jim Turple

I struck up a great friendship with a young man from Cape Breton named Gerald Campbell when I became employed at Michelin Tires in 1972. Gerald and I worked the same crew and naturally became best of friends. I married my high school sweetheart, Joann Taylor, in 1973 with Gerald being my best man. Gerald,...

Author: Jim Turple