An interview with David Goss who has spent over 45 years sharing about the wonders of Saint John and the surrounding area through his walk and talks, and his books. In this episode, I talk to him about his new book on Fernhill Cemetery co-authored with Harold E. Wright, and on walks he is doing on New River Beach. The book launch will be at a huge celebration at Fernhill cemetery on August 26 in the morning. Walk and talks on New River Beach will be on August 23-24 and September 14-15.
[00:00:04] Hello, I'm Mark the NB Traveler and I'm so glad that you came by for a few minutes. Here we talk about New Brunswick stuff. From time to time I do interview an author from New Brunswick and today is no exception.
[00:00:20] I'll be talking with David Goss and if you stay until the end of the program you will be hearing a ghost story from St. John. So sit back, get a cup of coffee, go to my website and order one for me if you want. Here it comes.
[00:00:40] Wait for it. I'm here today with David Goss and he's been doing walk and talks for what? David 45 years. So we're going to talk a little bit about two different places that he's doing the walk and talks. First I want to talk a little bit about Fernhill Cemetery.
[00:01:04] Right. And you've probably been doing those just about all the time you've been doing walk and talks haven't you? Not really. It's only about 20 years ago we started going to Fernhill Cemetery and only about
[00:01:16] 10 years ago they were really doing, started going almost six times a season because they became a sponsor and they realized the value of getting people in to have a look at what most people don't wander through Fernhill Cemetery.
[00:01:32] So they realized that this was a valuable program and it exposed people to the Fernhill and so they started to sponsor walks about 10 years ago. So what's some of the uniqueness of Fernhill Cemetery? I think the most unique feature is that there's 40,000 burials there and they have stories
[00:01:54] and some of the stones are particularly well done and elaborate and they have a story on their own but often there are stones there that you can identify a former mayor or a former classic of musician or a former artist or a former legislative
[00:02:10] member or somebody like that that has an interesting story. For instance, Kilby Reynolds built the first bridge to cross the harbor at reversing falls and he built a tomb there 15 years before he died and he's, he and his family are all in that tomb.
[00:02:28] So the interesting story about people like that, so that's what we've exposed over the years. Well you and Harold E. Wright have written a book, Fernhill, The City of Sleep with Stones that Speak. How did you get that title for that book?
[00:02:48] Really the city of sleep came from Mr. Reynolds himself. Mr. Reynolds' son, actually not Mr. Reynolds but his son wrote an essay about 1906 and called Fernhill the city of sleep and Hiram Led Spencer, an artist, a writer,
[00:03:08] an artist and a poet also used that when he described where he was going to be buried and he too had a stone placed 15 years before his death and used to go to the cemetery and write poetry about the cemetery and he used the term
[00:03:26] city of sleep. So we wanted to use this term to keep an old traditional life in the describing the book. So how do you and Harold divide your efforts with regard to writing books? I know you've done it before together. Harold and I are very compatible.
[00:03:47] Harold is a stickler for facts. I love folklore. So I will tell a story about Kilby Reynolds that may not necessarily be exactly true but Harold will say now Dave, this is the facts and this story. It's a good story Dave but you haven't got it 100% historically correct.
[00:04:11] Now you would think that would be like mixing the oil and water but with Harold and I it isn't. It's just a good way we bounce our way of telling stories off one another. So that you're going to find that throughout this book is that
[00:04:26] I've told the stories, I've elaborated on some of the stories of people. For instance the fellow that was the first electrician in St. John has a very nice fist with electric power radiating from it and that's on his marker.
[00:04:45] It's in a remote area of the cemetery. 99.9% of the people will never walk and see that particular stone but I've identified it in the book and I've given it a story. You know why did he select this? Well I suspect that he didn't select it at all.
[00:05:05] His wife outlived him by about 30 years and when she died that's when the stone got put up and this tribute to his life as the first electrician was placed on the stone. Now Harold would say David you can't prove that.
[00:05:20] I said no Harold I can't prove it but it will get people down there to look at that stone so that that's the sort of nature of way we've done it. Well that's very interesting. I know the book's not published yet.
[00:05:32] When do you expect it will be available? We are going to have the unveiling of the book on August the 26th. The morning of Monday August the 26th. The Lieutenant Governor will be here to help us unveil the book.
[00:05:46] Roy Clayton who is a relative of one of the long-time caregivers on the cemetery over there Doug Forbes who was the present man that we worked with through these last 10 years to sponsor and has done marvelous work of restoring stones, resetting stones, having the lady holding the lantern,
[00:06:10] the torch, repainted all kinds of things Doug hadn't roads paved. Doug will be there. There will be board members from Furnhill. The IODE will be there. The RCAF represents will be there. We're hoping to Lansie's and the Civil War veterans
[00:06:28] will be there. We're trying to make a big ceremony of it. Sounds like it's going to be a real big ceremony. Yes. Now I know that with some of your recent books you've self-published them.
[00:06:40] Yes. Is that what you're doing with this one? No, there are three ways of publishing. You work with the publisher and that's the toughest way for a writer because you've got 45 people telling you what is right and what is wrong.
[00:06:55] You do it yourself, you have one person responsible for the whole thing and it falls back on you, me to make sure it's right or you get it somebody who is going to publish it for you. So in this case it's Furnhill. They pay the bills
[00:07:13] and Harold and I are just paid to do the work and that's the easiest way for a writer because you don't have, it has the best of the three. Sounds like a fantastic arrangement. It is a good arrangement, yes.
[00:07:29] Well David you do regular tours on your walk and talk tours and I understand that you've got a new one at New River Beach so let's talk about that. Well I've been doing New River Beach longer than I've been doing Furnhill but the thing about this
[00:07:47] year is that there's a the trail that we've used for years and years and years which got into a terrible, terrible condition has now been refurbished and it is completely accessible as far as Chiddick's Beach which is about a mile and a
[00:08:04] one and a quarter kilometers, one and a half kilometers. It's completely accessible for people in wheelchairs or people with disabilities walking. It's not a paved road but it's smooth and comfortable for walking and we want to highlight that in three weekend walks that we're going to do
[00:08:26] and those weekend walks will have a Ghost of John appearance the first time which is my traditional ghost story about New River Beach and how John wants to be rescued from wandering as a ghost forever and ever but he will never will be because I can't do the
[00:08:42] stories anymore if I get rescued and then the second night I'm going to do Pirate Treasure in the Bay of Fundy and there's so many great stories about pirate treasure that I will share these stories and let people make up
[00:08:57] their mind themselves whether they're going to go home and get a pick and shovel and start digging up part of the Bay of Fundy. So those two are the two programs so it's Friday night, the second of August and Friday again Friday night the 23rd of August
[00:09:14] and then the following night Saturday night in both cases. Then in September we're doing two afternoon walks and they will be on the September the 14th and the 15th and they will be two o'clock in the afternoon so that people who
[00:09:30] like to get down have a fall walk on this new beach and on the afternoons and it will just be play of fundy stories on those just general Bay of Fundy stories that I've collected over the years. What are some of the most interesting Bay of
[00:09:46] Fundy stories that you can share with me? One of the the most interesting stories is that on New River New River Beach there was once a bride who had a dream the night before her wedding that she was going to go to New River
[00:10:01] beach on her honeymoon and discover a treasure of a vivid dream and she saw a big old tree and if she could find that tree on the beach she would find the treasure under the tree. So the wedding was over and she said her husband said
[00:10:21] let's go dear we're going to Boston or honeymoon which is typical Maritime St. John destination for honeymooners. She said no dear we're going to New River Beach to dig treasure and they went to New River Beach and she dug
[00:10:35] and she dug. She found the tree she dug and she never found a bit of treasure so the husband said well next year we'll go to Boston no sir next year they go back to New River Beach on the
[00:10:50] anniversary date and they dug and they dug and they dug well that treasure is still somewhere on the beach if you can find that tree you may find that treasure because she never did. That's an interesting story on your walks and talk what's some of
[00:11:07] the most intriguing and interesting experiences you've had? I would say that the most interesting experience has been when people have come from the neighborhood where I'm doing the walk and shared stories with me that I would have never
[00:11:24] ever got in research. Most of the research I do would be at the library and you're digging through old newspapers looking for accounts but then someone will come and they will share with you an account that they've had that you would never have known.
[00:11:43] Oh it's fun to tell stories. Yes. So I'd like to close this off with one more story that you might have what's probably the most interesting ghost story that you've told here in St. John? Well the ghost of West St. John is the favorite
[00:12:00] Daniel Camor 1889 he's on Navy Island the city of St. John announces they're going to build a bridge and it's going to obliterate Navy Island in the middle of St. John Harbor so Daniel says if they ever build that bridge
[00:12:17] I will come back to haunt this city. That day Daniel drowned out fishing in the Bay of Fundy the next year one year after he had drowned he showed up on the doorstep of his home and on Seastreet in West St. John carrying
[00:12:35] a huge codfish and placed it on the doorstep. His wife came out and said oh the men have brought me a fish they remember this one first anniversary of Daniel's death they brought
[00:12:47] me a fish she took it and cooked it up for supper for five years every year on the anniversary of his death a fish appeared on her doorstep on the sixth year she had remarried and moved when Daniel arrived and saw the conditions nobody in the house
[00:13:07] he burned the house to the ground. Oh wow Daniel doesn't appear again until 1968 that's when the city finally built the harbor bridge and they obliterated Navy Island just as he had promised that year on April 18th Daniel walked
[00:13:28] across eight lanes of traffic in the early morning and every car had to stop as the ghost of Daniel came across that highway they rolled down their windows they hollered and screamed at him to get out of the way but Daniel walked right across the harbor and he
[00:13:47] carried that codfish right up the street Prince Street up past Martellet Tower and down to Seastreet and dropped it on the very ground where that cottage had stood now when I tell that story
[00:14:00] sometimes people say Dave how can you prove that said well all I can tell you is next April 18th early in the morning you drive down heading towards St. John and as the sun comes up
[00:14:15] you will see the shadow of Daniel cross that highway. That is an absolutely fantastic way to end our little talk here today David thank you so much for spending the time and I look forward to getting reports back on your success with Fernhill book and also with
[00:14:38] that walk on New River Beach on a trail now that's easily done by everyone right you have a good day thank you. Now it's been a real joy being with you today I appreciate you taking the time to listen
[00:14:59] to the podcast if you go to my website mbtraveler.com you can leave a comment you come to do a rating and I look forward to seeing you back here again next week and oh by the way
[00:15:12] you can also buy me a copy there on that website if you care to have a great day and a wonderful week.