There was something about how the rock jutted out into the gently flowing Keswick River and the aroma of pine that made me steer my mountain bike over to the side of the Sentier NB Trail recently. That often happens when I’m cycling out in the woods, especially when the trail follows alongside a river. I see or smell something that catches my eye, or my nose, and on go the brakes. That’ll make a great photo, I think, or a great place to take a break. Relax. Breathe deep!
The Sentier NB Trail is a network of hiking trails built on abandoned railways operated by the New Brunswick Trails Council, a non-profit organization. I appreciate the work they do and thank the many volunteers who maintain this extensive network, portions of which are also part of the Trans-Canada Trail. The trails allow New Brunswickers to explore the landscape and history of their province from a less-known, more wilderness perspective. For me, they are trails of discovery into my province and into myself.
Among my favourite trails in the province to ride my mountain bike is the portion of the Sentier NB Trail that runs from Burtts Corner alongside the Keswick River towards Millville. I start cycling where the trail crosses the Tripp Settlement Road. Although I haven’t yet cycled all the way to Millville (I plan to), I recently made it to a spot on the trail that Google Maps highlights as a place called Hayne.
An online document from the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick says Hayne (formerly called Burnside) was a railway point located 2.57 km E of Lower Hainesville. In 1904, Burnside was a flag station on the Canadian Pacific Railway and a settlement with one store and a population of 50. Who knew? Aside from a widening of the trail and the gravestone of a man named John Barton, who died in 1898, there’s nothing in Hayne to show anyone ever lived there.
The unfortunate Mr. Barton, PANB documents note, was killed at Upper Keswick, another railway flag station about 4 kilometres from Hayne (heading towards Millville). In 1898, Upper Keswick was renamed Barton in his honour.
Since I had gotten a late start on my bike ride, I decided to hold off on going any further and save my exploration of the place on the trail where the community of Barton used to be for my Burtts Corner to Millville trip. Cycling back along the former rail line, I couldn’t help but think of all the human drama that has unfolded out here in the backwoods since the railway was built in the late 1800s. And how much has changed.
Whole communities are gone. Places like Hayne and Barton, where people struggled day-to-day to make a living from the land, are now just empty and impersonal points on the map. Peddling through a stand of pine, I breathe deep and wonder what their lives were like.
Steering my bike around a puddle on the trail, I get to wondering about how John Barton died. How old was he? Was he married? Did he have kids? What was he like? He must have been held in reasonably high esteem to have the community of Upper Keswick renamed Barton in his honour. If he did have a family, I can only imagine how much of a loss it would have been to his wife and children? And how they must have missed him.
But the cycles of history and time continue, and the sounds of the gently flowing Keswick remain. So do whispers of the past as I pause to admire the colours and feel of this jagged rock and the sandy beach beyond. In my imagination, I hear the sound of the train and the voices of the passengers talking and wonder if they, too, can smell the aroma of pine.
