Hard Times

David C. Clark

Mar 2020 · Thirteen Towers Inc.

About this ebook

It is not widely known that Tatamagouche played an important role in the past history of Nova Scotia. Much of the heritage of our ancestors is fading in our collective memories as time passes. Perhaps the reader of this narrative may be intrigued enough to delve further to learn about the historical significance of the area. How many people nowadays know that almost three hundred majestic wooden sailing ships were built along the Tatamagouche waterfront, or that this was the location of the Acadian village that was the first site chosen for the horrible expulsion of those early settlers from the province? How many know of the existence of Fort Franklin, or of the British vs French and Mi’kmaq naval battle that took place in Tatamagouche Bay?

Growing up in Tatamagouche in the 1940s and 1950s the author himself paid scant attention to such matters. Now he wishes that he had.

About the author

David Charles Braine Clark was born in the old Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital in Middleton, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, on October 1st, 1938. The reason for the Middleton location was due to his grandfather who assisted in the delivery having been a family practice medical doctor in Annapolis Royal, and having his hospital privileges in Middleton. Dave spent all his early life from one week to eighteen years of age growing up in Tatamagouche.

David C. Clark has been a professional land surveyor for more than fifty-five years. He is licensed to practice in Nova Scotia and the State of Maine, and has worked on surveying projects in five Canadian Provinces. Dave is a Past President and Life Member of the Association of Nova Scotia Land Surveyors and a Past President of the 3,000 member Canadian Council of Land Surveyors.

Dave’s working career spanned 39 years with the Canada Cement Company and Lafarge Corporation, located in Brookfield, Nova Scotia and Havelock, New Brunswick.  Over the years he has worked as a construction inspector, blaster, heavy construction equipment operator, mineral prospector, wilderness guide, and for a greater part of his career as a manager in heavy industry.

Dave enjoys writing in his spare time. For a number of years he wrote technical articles for publication in Canadian and American professional magazines, and in newspapers, before switching to fiction. He has three published books in paperback and eBook formats, two being fiction and the third an anthology of some of his land surveying experiences in short story format. Dave’s works of fiction reflect an inherent familiarity with the people and setting of the Nova Scotia Scottish culture.