Guiding traditions are a strong part of the cultural history of Queens. The Mi’kmaq, skilled at hunting, fishing and ways of the woods and waters, passed along their skills to European settlers who shared the same passion for the wilderness of Queens. In 1909 an amalgamation of the Western Nova Scotia Guides Associations took place in order to assist guides in obtaining professional recognition and to help improve wild game and habitat protection initiatives. Currently, there are over 400 members of the Nova Scotia Guides Association whose home is in Queens County. Every year members gather to share their pastimes and to relive the traditions passed down through the generations.
The Tent Dwellers
Mark Twain’s biographer, Albert Bigelow Paine, wrote an autobiographical story of his trip through what is now Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site and the Tobeatic Wilderness Area that was published in 1908. The Tent Dwellers recounts, rather humourously, Paine’s journey with his friend and several Nova Scotia Guides. It is perhaps one of the best accounts of Guiding life at the time and is a treasured book for Guiding enthusiasts in the County.