New Ross Freighters' Re-enactment

As part of the 250th Anniversary of Chester Basin, spectators will have a chance to cheer on the New Ross Freighters as they re-enact a historic two-day oxen walk.

Organized by Ross Farm Museum and the Chester Basin 250th Anniversary Society, eight teams of oxen will take turns hauling wagon-loads of freight along route 12, recreating the journey traditional oxen teams would have once made. The relay will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 14 at Ross Farm and end with the oxen teams arriving in Chester Basin on Sunday at 4 p.m.

New Ross and Chester Basin have been interdependent communities for hundreds of years. The farms of New Ross produced items such as food, lumber and wool-crafted products for local use and export to coastal communities, while imported goods, such as stoves, books and farming tools, arrived at Chester Basin by sea. It was the New Ross Freighters who would carry materials between the two communities.

On Sunday, the teams will leave Countway's Cooperage at 3 p.m., to arrive in Chester Basin by 4 p.m. The teams will pull wagons through Chester Basin. The teams will proceed to Corn Hill and down into the main business area, where everyone can gather to watch the freighters arrive at the shore.

One of the wagons will be unloaded onto the Tancook Whaler, part of the historic vessel collection of the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic in Lunenburg.

Stops are planned all along the route, but the best public viewing points will be at the start at Ross Farm Museum, 4568 Highway 12, New Ross, on Saturday and at Chester Basin on Sunday afternoon.