Jailhouse Rock

Women Who Wander NB

Adventure Seven

Gaols, Tales and Days of Yore

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It’s been a while, but the Women Who Wander NB have polished up The Incredible Wander Wheels (the car), perused our New Brunswick maps and picked some new places for our 2023 travels.

Some of you have been a great help in suggesting interesting nooks and crannies in your hometowns that we might never have found on our own. We plan to visit each of them and share our adventures with everyone hoping that you are inspired to get out and explore New Brunswick too.

Before we set out on our 2023 adventures, we still have an awesome day from last fall to tell you about. Our scribe didn’t get around to scribing back then and we offer no excuses for this dereliction of duty. The good news is that, although beautiful in the fall, the warm spring days of June are perfect for this particular Wander as well.

We set out early, or as early as possible given that 2/3 of the Wandering Women consider 9am early! We stopped at Timmy’s to ensure that the crankies were sufficiently caffeinated and we hit the road! Our destination? Hampton, New Brunswick!

Along the way, we paused just long enough to pick up our guest guide, Carol Dixon, who had planned another absolutely wonderful Wander for us!

Our first stop was a bit outside of Hampton in the tiny little village of Bloomfield where we spent a delightful hour chatting with Carolyn Hawthorne, proprietor of Bloomfield Treasures, Antique Furniture & Primitive Home Decor located at 310 Route 121 Bloomfield, New Brunswick.

Carolyn has owned this little antique shop for over 18 years and comes by her affinity for "all things past" quite honestly given that her Mother, Ruth M. Cusack, was a well known New Brunswick genealogical researcher!

The two storey shop is a “must stop” for antique lovers! As a result of our visit, the shop is now short one very sweet child’s antique rocking chair! We hope the former owner (wherever he or she may be) is happy to see the current three year old owner enjoying a good rock in that sweet little chair!

Have a look at the Bloomfield Treasures, Antique Furniture & Primitive Home Decor website at www.bloomfieldtreasures.com. Better yet, go for a Wander and visit the shop for yourself!

Next up, back into Hampton for a peek into Kredl’s Corner Market located at 1171 Main Street, Hampton, New Brunswick! Kredl’s is one of those places that simply demands a stop. In fact, The Incredible Wander Wheels (the car) just pulled in the Kredel's parking lot all by itself, so what choice did we have but to park and go in?

The most outstanding feature of Kredl’s (and there are many) is their vast array of local products! The Women Who Wander NB love any opportunity to promote New Brunswick products and there is no shortage from which to choose at Kredl’s.

We give them a big thumbs up for supporting local.

We had so much fun poking around Kredl's Market browsing...... ok, truth be told, buying, a few goodies to take home. Honestly, it was hard to choose between everything that looks (and tastes) so delicious! Bakery goods, fresh veggies, berries, produce and all kinds of deliciousness waiting to tempt us!

Even though it was last fall when we visited Kredl's, keep in mind that this time of year is a great time to shop there for all of your garden needs as well.

We found everything from plants to pots and interesting decorations in great variety!

If you still aren't convinced and you need an excuse to stop, we have two words for you – ice cream!

You can't experience the scrumptious taste of Kredel's ice cream on their Facebook page but you can certainly have a look at what you've been missing! Go to Facebook and search for "Kredel's Corner Market". That's where you'll find them!

Since it was approaching the "hangry" hour and our caffeinated contentment was wearing thin, Carol hastily suggested chowing down at the Station 33 Café & Yoga locted at 33 Railway Crescent, Hampton, New Brunswick. What a great choice it was!

The Yoga studio and classes were tempting but we weren't there for Yoga that day. It turned out to be a great choice to "nama-stay" a while for lunch though! (It was also there that one of us met and fell in love with a dear little dog and had to be forcibly dragged into the restaurant to join the rest of us for lunch - we're looking at YOU L.T.).

Once in, we quickly realized that this was no ordinary café. The menu was as off-the-wall as the quirky interior décor and we mean this in a good way!

We love a good club or hot hamburger sandwich but the Thai pizza on Naan bread and the turkey, brie and apple sandwich were definitely a cut above the ordinary.

Be it inside the Café or out on the charming patio where your canine companion is welcome to keep you company, we all agreed, Station 33 Café & Yoga is just the place to renew your mind AND body with a bite to eat and a yoga class! Find them on line at www.station33.ca Namaskar!

Believe it or not, the highlight of our day was going to jail!! Carol had arranged a private tour for us of both The Old Kings County Gaol and the Kings County Museum, both located at 27 Centennial Road, Hampton, New Brunswick!

Our tour guide, Debbie Hickey, was a walking encyclopedia of all things King County and generously shared some of her favourite stories with us. You can meet Debbie for yourself by clicking "Friends We Meet" on our Home page!

Women Who Wander NB are of the opinion that museums may be somewhat under appreciated these days, especially the small, local ones that are often run by residents of the area who know some really juicy secrets from the past!

We try never to miss out on these little treasures in our travels and always come away glad that we visited, marvelling at the stories we’ve heard! Our advice: don’t EVER pass by a museum without stopping in for a look and a chat!

We started our tour in the Kings County Museum which was established 51 years ago by the Kings County Historical Society.

The Centennial Building, which is where the Museum is housed, was purchased in 1967 as part of a Canadian Centennial project which required provision of museum space for the housing of artifacts and information pertaining to the area.

Most of what is contained within the space has been donated by Kings County residents or relatives of early settlers. Once established, donations poured into the Museum and a jurying system was put in place ensuring a strong Kings County connection to every piece!

Our Guide, Debbie, is better versed on all things Kings County than you can imagine! Surely there could not be a more knowledgeable person in charge of this treasure trove. Debbie told us that the Museum is open year round but the hours are seasonal so its always best to check before a visit.

If you have Kings Country roots, we highly recommend you schedule a visit to check out the museum's genealogical section which contains Kings County family information that going back over 100 years.

Who knows what family secrets and/or skeletons may be stored here at the museum!

They also have a large collection of land grant maps for the entire Province of New Brunswick.

Our next stop landed us in jail!

And believe it or not, it wasn’t anything we'd said or done that put us behind bars!

The Old Kings County Gaol was built in 1840 and was moved, block by stone block, when the County Seat moved from Kingston, NB to Hampton, NB.

The Gaol contains vignettes which show how the jailed and the jailor lived back in the day. Second floor exhibits feature farm implements, rustic furniture and dress examples of the period.

Fortunately for us, the jail closed in 1971 so guilty or not guilty, Debbie had to set us free! Actually, we confess, she was probably quite happy to set us free by the end of it! Honestly, we hated to leave her but we had one more stop to make before calling it a day!

The Old Kings County Gaol and the Kings County Museum are well worth the trip to Hampton! Find details about how to get there and hours of operation on their websites:

https://www.kingscountymuseum.com/ and

https://www.kingscountymuseum.com/gaol-jail

Our final stop (not to be confused with our final resting place) was The Church of the Ascension Anglican Cemetery in Lower Norton, New Brunswick!

Check out the beautiful iron gates at the entrance of the cemetery leading to the church walkway.

The large set of double doors on the church are beautiful over which the inscription reads “Enter His Courts With Praise”!

This lovely property includes the beautifully maintained church building but there are also loads of interesting and very old tombstones surrounding the building.

The tombstone pictured in the ceter (above) belongs to Hanford Bostwick who was born in 1785 and died August 15, 1865 at 80 years old.

What history Mr. Bostwick must have seen in his life time! The City of Saint John, NB (the first city incorporated in Canada) was granted a charter in 1785, The University of New Brunswick was founded in 1785 and Frederick's Town (Fredericton) was established as the Capital of the new colony of New Brunswick in 1785. And these are just a few examples of the exciting things going on in this neck of the woods in 1785! What a time to be alive!

When you visit The Church of the Ascension Anglican Cemetery, do us a favour please:

Find the tombstone for Mary Cookson and tell us what her relationship was with Rev. James Cookson. The Wandering Women were left wondering!

You can easily find The Church of the Ascension Anglican Cemetery at 31 Norton Shore Road, Hampton, New Brunswick or contact them by telephone at 506-832-3513 for information.

It was an awesome day and we enjoyed every minute of it with our guide and friend, Carol Dixon!

Stay tuned for more adventures this summer but while you wait check out our past blogs by going to our Home Page and clicking the Blog tab!

Just adventure!

Women Who Wander NB

Lynne, Barb & Gail

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Women Who Wander NB