and residents, ranging from birdwatching walks to sand sculpture competitions to marine life beach trips to lighthouse visits. Films are also shown and Parks Canada has a summer theatre group which puts on skits and plays; “Rum and Spirits” in the summer of 1982 was a very successful after-dark interpretation of local history and folklore. A new Stanhope beach facility is planned, on the lines of the one at Brackley Beach, with similar buildings, situated between the present campground and the Stanhope Lane installations. Another very long- range park project is concerned with silviculture: the re-creation of the Acadian forest. It is planned to replace the present white spruce monoculture with the trees of the original Island forest: beech, maple, oak,yellow birch and pine; a tree nursery will be set up in the park to grow the necessary seedlings. Something for our great-grandchildren to enjoy!

Park conservation programs include the preservation of Long Pond as a wild-fowl resource, the protection of the Arctic Terns’ nesting grounds on our beaches, and the program to preserve the endangered tiny Piping Plover.

Parks Canada has been involved during the past several summers in an archaeological “dig” on Rustico Island; the investigation of an Indian campsite has yielded some very interesting artifacts, such as arrow heads and spear points, and preliminary investigations point to this site being that of Palaeo-Indians, dating back 8,000 to 10,000 years.

Dalvay-by-the-Sea

Dalvay-by-the-Sea is a very special place. A magnificent house, surrounded by smooth green lawns, overlooking the blue waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, it is now owned by Parks Canada, and operated under contract as a summer hotel by David Thompson of Pleasant Grove. As beautiful inside as out, it is a lovely place to stay, and visitors tend to come back year after year; so do the staff, all local people; service is great, and the atmosphere delightful. . Dalvay was built in 1896 as a summer home by Alexander MacDonald, a wealthy American, one-time Vice-President of Standard Oil and partner of John D. Rockefeller. He named the place Dalvay after his Scottish birthplace, and his palatial home in Cincinnati, Ohio was also called Dalvay. The MacDonalds, who were great travellers, spent part of the summer of 1895 at the Acadia Hotel on Tracadie Bay (which burned down on August 16, 1906). Mrs. MacDonald was much attracted by the nearby countryside and sea- shore, and said, “Do you think they would sell?” They would, and the MacDonalds promptly bought 120 acres of land, including Duck Pond,

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