Protecting the Sims Settlement Stonehouse
Posted May 5, 2020 07:59:46 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Tree-clearing off of Highway 103 has exposed an old stonehouse.
The structure, thought to have been constructed sometime in the 1920s, overlooks Exit 6 at Hubbards.
Now it needs to be protected, according to Mary Ellen Sims, who started a Facebook Group called Save the Simms/Sims Settlement Stonehouse, which has over 750 members to date.
She says she’s written to Chester municipal council about trying to get them to take control of the site so that it could be developed.
“We envision just a small community park where people can go to enjoy that stunning view,” says Sims, whose husband is a descendant of the original family.
Originally, there were fears that the stonehouse could be damaged by the ongoing highway work.
But David Jones, Director of the Nova Scotia Archaeology Society, and member of the Facebook group, says he’s heard from the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal that work will not impact the structure.
Jones wrote to the ministers and deputy ministers in both TIR and Community, Culture and Heritage and says he received a quick response from Leo Glavine (Minister of CCH).
“I went whoa, this is a serious response, and I was really pleased to see that,”
Jones says it was a positive step for Glavine to copy so many different people and departments in his response.
“So many different bureaucrats who are responsible for protecting our heritage and working on our roads are now aware of this,” he says.
In the meantime, Sims is asking people to stay away from the structure. She says, not only is the site dangerous, but accessing it is also unsafe, and the stonehouse could easily be damaged by people in its current state.
But for now, Sim says, she’s excited about the potential of what could happen with the stonehouse site.
“We realize that it’s a long road but I’m feeling more confident than ever that something will come of this and the site will be there for people to enjoy for a long time to come.”
