'Such a devastating loss': Fire destroys historic and beloved sawmill in southwestern N.S.

BANGOR – With the smell of smoke and charred rubble still lingering in the air – and blackened, destroyed history everywhere you looked – it was the sense of absolute heartbreak that truly hung heavy Saturday morning as people came to see what was left of their beloved sawmill.

In the early morning hours, a fire destroyed the Bangor Sawmill and Museum located along the Meteghan River in the Municipality of Clare in southwestern Nova Scotia.

The history of the Digby County sawmill and the activity that took place there has a history dating back to the late 1800s. Hours after the fire, people of all ages came out to mourn this huge loss.

Victoria German, who turns 18 this month, tried hard not to cry.

“This place was Acadian history. In this community, people were born here, raised here, made families here,” she said, saying the mill was as important in the present day as it was in the past. “This was a place everyone would come and gather. People would have ceremonies here, you’d see weddings here.”

In Clare schools, children would be taught about the history and importance of the sawmill.

“This is what they used to teach us about our ancestors and our past,” German said. “They’d bring the schools down. They’d teach all the kids. Then they’d go home and they’d have more understanding about their parents and their grandparents and what they grew up with. … This was a centrepiece.”

There was a lot of history inside these wooden walls. Over the numerous decades, the mill changed hands several times. Eventually, the daily work of the past ceased.

But its importance never faded.

In 1994, the property was acquired by the Bangor Development Commission – a group of interested citizens who felt it was important to preserve the mill and share its legacy.

A current description by Nova Scotia Tourism describes the mill as a restored 19th century, water-powered turbine lumber sawmill on the Meteghan River, with an interpretive centre included.

“One of the last functioning mills of this kind in North America,” states the description. “A major industry in this region's past and a reminder of the time when hundreds of such mills were seen along the many rivers of western Nova Scotia.”

In fact, at the height of sawmill production, there were up to 10 water-powered mills operating on the Meteghan River system, reads an interpretative panel at the mill site, noting the property “oozes with history."

FIRE RESPONSE

Numerous fire departments from the Municipality of Clare raced to the scene Saturday.

Kevin Saulnier, chief of the Meteghan Fire Department, said the call came in at about 4 a.m. When crews arrived, the building was engulfed in flames.

"You can't replace something like this,” Saulnier said. “It's really sad."

Speaking with SaltWire on Saturday morning, the fire chief said it was not known what had caused the fire.

Victor Gaudet lives a short distance from the sawmill. The mill was visible from his home. He said he was awoken during the night by the sound of a truck door being slammed.

Now awake, he walked through his home and looked out a window. What he saw shocked him.

The sawmill was on fire. He called 911.

He didn’t know the mill’s civic number so he gave his own, telling the 911 dispatcher, “Just go there. You’re going to see the flames.”

He said the sky was ablaze. The heat was intense.

Gaudet ran to properties across both the street and the river to wake up his neighbours. He said embers from the fire were being blown quite a distance, starting small fires on people’s lawns.

“They were sleeping and I was stepping on grass that was burning and putting it out,” he said, saying firefighters arrived on the scene very quickly.

But before they got there, he was worried the fire would spread. “You could see the fire going towards the trees," he said. "You could see it everywhere.”

Gaudet isn’t just connected to the sawmill geographically. As a teenager, he worked there at the age of 13 after school and on weekends.

“I wasn’t the only one," he said. "There was a bunch of us after school that worked here."

A HUGE LOSS

The loss of the sawmill would have been devastating at any given time, but it especially hits hard now since a major restoration project had just gotten underway a week earlier to make repairs to the mill's dam, among other things.

There was much excitement about that project, with updates and photos being posted daily on the Bangor Mill Museum Facebook page to keep the community updated. Volunteers were playing a huge role in the renovations, which was also benefiting from business donations.

Five days before the fire, a post on the Facebook page by Denise Comeau Desautels read: “The time has finally arrived. Thanks to the generous donations from the Municipality of Clare, local businesses, and members of the community, we can finally repair the Bangor Sawmill dam. The committee elected in July 2023 has worked tirelessly to make this a reality. We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone for their generosity and for believing in the importance of preserving this significant historical site.”

Much heartbreak as people in the Mun. of Clare in southwestern NS woke up the news that their beloved Bangor Sawmill, a restored 19th-century water-powered turbine lumber sawmill & interpretive centre on the Meteghan River, was destroyed by fire overnight. @chronicleherald pic.twitter.com/0uOTduNVMG

— Tina Comeau (@TinaComeaunews) June 8, 2024

The post described the sawmill as a unique and historical landmark whose presence in the community was a significant cultural and historical asset.

“Sawmills like the Bangor Sawmill were once pivotal in the economic development of many regions, supporting local economies and industries,” her post stated. “Preserving and celebrating such sites offers educational opportunities and helps maintain a tangible connection to the past.”

Now, just days later, excitement is replaced by devastation.

A post by Comeau Desautels on Saturday said: “The Bangor Sawmill and Museum burnt down in the early hours this morning. It's truly devastating to lose a place with so much history and significance. The impact of such an event is felt deeply by everyone who held pride in the historical site and were connected to it in any way possible.

“All the work that was done over the years, and being done now, and all the preparations to have the historical site ready for the Congrès mondial acadien and all the activities planned have all be done in vain.”

TOURISM IMPACTS

In August, the southwestern region of the province is hosting the Congrès mondial acadien (World Acadian Congress). The mill and its museum were to be featured, as they have always played a role in the local tourism scene.

“The loss of the Bangor Sawmill is tragic due to its historical significance as an Acadian landmark for Clare and Nova Scotia, and for all the hard work that dozens of community volunteers have poured into restoring and repairing it over the years,” said Larry Peach, tourism manager for the Municipality of Clare.

“As a restored 19th century, water-powered lumber sawmill, it was one of the last functioning mills of its kind in North America and a window into the region’s past when hundreds of mills existed in western Nova Scotia,” Peach said, noting the revitalized development commission had been planning all sorts of great activities at the site for this summer, the Acadian congress, and beyond.

Peach said the mill was visited by thousands of people, with many enjoying the lumber-sawing demonstrations.

The mill also served as a popular spot for photography, and as a backdrop or pit stop for many tourism events, including the Wharf Rat Rally Poker Run and, more recently, as one of the cyclists' favourite landmarks during the Gran Fondo Baie Sainte-Marie cycling event.

“We were also working with the group on finalizing a new interpretive panel and bilingual video vignettes to showcase the Bangor Sawmill as part of the refresh of the Acadian Shores interpretive tour, a self-guided itinerary of 38 Acadian sites in southwest Nova that is being rebranded and relaunched this summer,” Peach said.

“It's such a devastating loss of a key chapter of the Acadian story of the region.”

MEMORIES AND SADNESS

The mood was indeed sombre at the sawmill site Saturday morning, as more and more people stopped by to take in the loss.

Robert Thibault, a former MP for West Nova, was among them.

“A lot of people had volunteered a lot of hours, a lot of time to preserve an important part of our history and all of the stories and the memories that went with it for generations," Thibault said. "It’s such a loss.

“It was an anchor to this part of the community, just a beautiful site."

Guy Leger Comeau worked at the mill many decades ago, from around the ages of 16 to 18. It was a job many teens had after school and on weekends.

“I would haul logs in the mill from the water,” Comeau recalled. “Eventually, I graduated to the trimmer for firewood.”

Asked if there were a lot of employees, he waved and pointed his hand in the air, counting off the number of people one by one – almost as if he could still see them standing at their workstations.

Cutting. Sawing. Loading. Trimming. Hauling. Piling. The work wasn’t so much hard, he said, but repetitious.

“There were three mills within two miles on the river here," he said. "There were always trucks hauling logs and trucks hauling lumber out. People coming to buy lumber or firewood. It was a busy little village."

On social media, people have also been expressing their sadness and heartbreak about the loss of the mill.

This loss comes at a time when things have been difficult in the Municipality of Clare. There has been a rash of business break-ins, property damage and some fires, which have left people concerned and on edge.

To now see such an iconic structure gone, and not knowing how the fire began, was more sad and bad news for the community.

“This is history. We can’t build that back,” German said as she looked around where the mill once proudly stood.

“I loved the structure. It was really beautiful. I loved the inside. They still had the original things – all of the history was still built in there. It was in the wood. It was in the tools.

“It was made by people’s fathers and grandfathers and uncles, and you’d go in there and you’d be touching stuff that your ancestors touched over a hundred years ago. It was a really good way to connect with them. This was a place everyone loved.”