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Rays of Sunset - Tantramar Marsh

Sunset on the Tantramar Marsh. Sackville, New Brunswick. TM-0101

Morning on the Tantramar Marsh

Covered bridge on the Tantramar Marsh, Sackville, New Brunswick. TM-0102

Inside the Bridge

Covered bridge on the Tantramar Marsh, Sackville, New Brunswick. TM-0103

Sun Beams on Beams

With the sunrise at my back I got a picture of the inside of the covered bridge. Sackville, New Brunswick. TM-0104

Old Barns

TM-0105

Sunrise Reflection

The sun rises over a Ducks Unlimited wetland preservation area on the Tantramar Marsh in Sackville, New Brunswick. TM-0106

Foggy Sunrise

Sun shining through the covered bridge on the Tantramar Marsh, Sackville, NB. TM-0107

In the Shadow

The sun rises behind the an old barn. TM-0108

State of Decay

A gap in the boards of an old barn makes a good home for a spider. Taken at sunrise on the Tantramar Marsh. TM-0109

Curiosity

Horses coming to check me out in the morning fog. TM-0110

Thundering Hooves

The ground shook when these large horses turned and ran. TM-0111

Grasslands

Golden hay on the Tantramar Marsh. TM-0112

Covered Bridge in the Fog

TM-0113

Old Barn at Sunset

TM-0114

The Fallen

A collapsed barn on the Tantramar Marsh. TM-0115

The Old Covered Bridge

TM-0116

Sunset on the Tantramar Marsh

TM-0117

Hay Bales

The new techniques of these large hay bales has made the old barns obsolete. TM-0118

Lost in the fog

Heavy morning fog on the Tantramar Marsh, Sackville. TM-0119

The Covered Bridge

The bridge over the Tantramar River. TM-0120

Tantramar Marsh

TM-0121

Morning at the Boardwalk

Waterfowl Park Boardwalk, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. TM-0122

Sackville Boardwalk

TM-0123

At the Boardwalk

TM-0124

Waterfowl Park

Waterfowl Park Boardwalk, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. TM-0125

Fall Colours

Waterfowl Park Boardwalk, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. TM-0126

Fall on the Boardwalk

TM-0127

Old Hay Barn

TM-0128

TM-0129

Barbs and Webs

TM-0130

Into the bridge

Covered Bridge on the Tantramar Marsh, Sackville, NB. TM-0131

 


See also my older Tantramar photography


Tantramar Marsh

Located near Sackville, New Brunswick, the Tantramar Marsh is the largest dyked, salt marshes in North America. In the previous three centuries, these marsh lands were important hay fields for the Eastern Seaboard and Europe.


Until the First World War demonstrated that the horse calvary was obsolete, the Tantramar Marsh was an important source of hay for British stables located in North America. The hay was also shipped for commercial sale along the Eastern Seaboard and Europe as late as the 1930s. As a salt marsh, with its rich, sticky, red mud and soil, the hay grown there is high in iodine. In a world where food additives were not yet being used, iodine-rich hay made the Tantramar a valuable source for healthy, high quality fodder. It was also more labour intensive to farm the large, fertile fields. Farmers would build one or more barns on their land to store the hay until it could be hauled away. This required many barns or the marsh, and just 70 years ago, there were over 400 of these small barns on the marsh. As farming technology and tractors advanced, it became easier to transport and store the hay differently, and the barns became idle and neglected. Today, less than 30 of these barns remain, but to many who have lived or visited the area, they are symbols of the town and it's history.

 

While I grew up in Sackville and traveled on the marshes many times, it really wasn't until I had moved away and developed my interest in photography that began to be fascinated by the marshes. Now, whenever I get the chance to be back in Sackville, I try to spend as much time as I can out in the Tantramar area with my camera, trying to catch a new vision of the familiar yet changing marshes. In my short life, the Tantramar Marsh has changed quite a bit. I can remember driving across as a kid and there being many of the iconic barns dotting the landscape. But the ever present Sackville wind, the summer lightning storms, and just plain neglect are annually reducing the number of barns that remain. [To catch a glimpse of what the landscape used to be like, visit http://www.mta.ca/marshland/topic1_environment/cunningham4b_29.htm]



 

 

© 2004-2010 Troy W. Johnstone. All rights reserved, reproduction prohibited.

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