Things get hopping in the New Germany area around the second week of November. The Lunenburg County community about 25 kilometres up the LaHave River from Bridgewater is in the heart of Christmas-tree country.
“The first trees go out to international markets in late October, and by Remembrance Day everyone is busy filling orders for the American market,” says Jack Wentzell, who ships about 12,000 trees a year from his base at Pear Lake Farms in Maplewood, a few kilometres northwest of New Germany. “I send trees as far as Venezuela, though most of them go to the States, to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. I also supply some to markets in the Halifax area. The St. Margaret’s Bay Lions Club has a lot in Tantallon, and they sell my trees.”
Jack, who is also the Warden of the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg (essentially all of Lunenburg County outside the towns of Bridgewater, Lunenburg, and Mahone Bay), tells me that there’s more than Christmas trees to the economy of the New Germany area. “There’s a lot of people doing logging in this area – more for sawmills like a big one at Oak Hill near Bridgewater than for the pulp companies,” Jack says. “Agriculture is still pretty big around here too, with a fair bit of hog and dairy production, though it’ has declined somewhat in recent years. There are a few maple and blueberry producers around here, and, some people commute to work at the Michelin plant in Bridgewater, while others go as far the Bowater pulp-and-paper plant near Liverpool.”
Jack has been on municipal council for twelve years, and has been Warden for six. “Before I got into municipal politics I was involved with the provincial Federation of Agriculture, and with producers’ groups,” says Jack, who still keep a few head of cattle in addition to his Christmas-tree operation. “Getting into municipal politics just seemed a natural progression. It has its rewards – it benefits from not having political parties directly involved – but it also has its frustrations. They tend to come when the province downloads responsibilities without downloading the resources to do the job. You want to help people out wherever possible, but sometimes you just can’t.”
Jack has noticed changes in the logging industry in his area over the years. “There’s a lot more mechanization in logging now than there was years ago,” he says. “This means there’s much more capital investment involved in logging operations and also that there are fewer people employed in the woods than in the past. And, I’m concerned about the level of harvesting. There are some stands being taken that probably shouldn’t be. On the other hand, there are some stands that could probably stand to be harvested that are not.”
In what Jack sees as the New Germany area of the future, there will be less emphasis on farming, though the Christmas tree industry will still play a major role. “I think we’ll see even more people commuting to jobs in Halifax, Bridgewater, or Liverpool,” he speculates. “And there’s been a growing trend of people moving to this area when they retire. I think that will only continue, as people look for quiet, liveable communities in which to spend their retirement years.”
Matthew Wright lives a five-minute drive from New Germany and, like Jack, he’s neck-deep in the Christmas tree industry as both a grower and broker. He is also a Past President of the Lunenburg County Christmas Tree Producers’ Association, which has an office in the village. “I’d estimate that, if you take Lunenburg County as a whole, there are something like 600,000 to 700,00 Christmas trees shipped every year,” he tells me. “And of that number, I think about 350,000 come from within about a fifteen-kilometre radius of New Germany. The typical price at the woodlot gate for a Christmas tree is between seven and eight dollars, though it can range from as low as three to as much as fifteen dollars (U.S.) on the streets of Boston. So, Christmas trees are pretty central to this area’s economy, and that’s true all the way from here through to New Ross.”
In addition to making a living in the Christmas-tree business, Matthew is also actively involved with the Community Access Program (CAP) Committee of the New Germany Area Improvement Society. “We began with a CAP site at the local high school,” he says, “and now we have other sites at the Parkdale-Maplewood Museum, in the offices of Hide and Sleep Beds Limited in Barss Corner, and one in Guppy’s Place Family Restuarant in New Germany. The one in Guppy’s tends to get the heaviest traffic. In fact, it might be one of the busiest CAP sites around.”
When I drop into Guppy’s I’m met by owner Carl Hall. “I remember a few years back, when we were just in process of building the restaurant,” Carl recalls. “Matthew approached me with the suggestion that they put a CAP site right here in the restaurant. I was more than happy to do it, because the whole idea of this restaurant is community service. We employ seventeen people here, which helps the local economy. And, we have a meeting room downstairs that’s available at no charge to non-profit groups like the Girl Guides and a diet club. Mind, if a for-profit group wants the use of the meeting room, then I’ll charge them for it. Either way, it’s a community service we’re happy to provide.”
Originally settled in the late 1700s and early 1800s by descendants of German immigrants who had settled in Lunenburg in the 1750s, New Germany itself is home to about 800 people, but local businesses serve a wider area populated by about 3,500 people. The village is also home of the New Germany and Area Medical Centre, of which local people speak very highly. Bill Alexander, now retired from work with provincial Department of Transportation, remembers how the Medical Centre got started. “Back in 1992, we had doctors working out of inadequate facilities, and they decided to move to Bridgewater,” Bill recalls. “I got involved in getting the Centre going because it was a clear need in the community if we were going to attract new doctors. We had a contractor come in and tell us it would cost us about $221,000. Well, that was just way too much, so we mobilized the community. Countless people volunteered their time and resources. We raised money by getting people to buy bricks for $100 or plaques for $1,000. The response was great. The land was donated, and people from as far away as Alaska and Ohio chipped in, and when we’d raised about $30,000, we began construction. That was on July 6, 1993. The Centre was completed on October 30, and officially opened on December 5. And, it certainly did its job of attracting the needed doctors. One doctor came to the area while it was being built to visit a woman who had been his secretary. He went to the construction site, had a look, and within two hours he’d bought a house in the area.”
By the time the members of the New Germany and Area Medical Association were done, they had built the Centre for just $70,000, while another $45,000 went for air conditioning, landscaping, paving, and a security system. Altogether, the community raised $150,000 for the Centre. Today it has two doctors, and as well as basic medical care it offers clinics for foot care, breast scanning and women’s health, hearing tests, flu shots, blood collection and other needs. Talking to people in the area about it, one can tell that they are all very proud of their Medical Centre.
Another thing people in New Germany are proud of is New Germany Rural High School. Principal Glen Demone was born in nearby Cherryfield and grew up in New Germany. As a boy, he went to the very school he now works in.
“This school serves one of the largest catchment areas on the South Shore,” Glen tells me as we settle into chairs in his office. “It extends all the way to the Annapolis and Kings County lines, and almost down to Bridgewater itself. Enrollment, at about 500 students, has been pretty stable in recent years.”
After high school, Glen went to Acadia University in Wolfville and then taught in New Ross and Bridgewater for several years before returning to his old alma mater in the fall of 1999 to serve as Vice Principal. He took over as Principal at the 28-teacher school at the start of the 2002-03 school year.
“Being Principal of the local high school and living in the community can sometimes have its drawbacks,” Glen says. “There’s occasional petty vandalism, and you’re always ‘the Principal’ rather than ‘Glen.’ But I loved going to school here, and I love my work here and my community. Our aim here is to develop the ‘whole child.’ We offer French immersion and other French instruction, advanced placement courses, full music and art programs, physical education, a drama club, and our sports teams have gained provincial honours. We also have a comprehensive guidance program that offers students career counselling and other advice.”
In addition to the long hours Glen puts in at the school, he’s active on the Executive of the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union and helps with cooking at community maple and blueberry dinners held in the area. (Perhaps in this he calls on skills passed on to him from his father, who worked a cook for foresters in the Mersey woods.)
“As a school, we strive to work with the community for mutual support,” Glens tells me. “Right now, for example, we’re working with the school board and the community itself in an effort to upgrade our soccer field. And, though there’s not a whole lot of unemployment or overt poverty in the area, we do notice that a few kids come to school hungry in the morning. So, we’re working to try to get a school breakfast program going here.”
As I leave the school and head south along Highway # 10 toward Bridgewater, I notice Carl Hall outside Guppy’s Place Family Restaurant putting tomorrow’s specials on a big sign. I slow down as a big truck loaded with Christmas trees heads south, likely for markets in American Northeast. Then the Christmas-tree truck, with me behind it, stop completely while a school bus stops, lights flashing, to allow some students from New Germany Rural High to alight safely and head up a side road toward home.
Just another day in the life of New Germany and area.
