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Sara Spike

@saraspike.bsky.social

1.8K followers 970 following 360 posts

Cultural historian of rural communities and coastal environments in Atlantic Canada. The ocean and the woods. Visual cultures. Senses. Fog. Flora. Adjunct Prof, Dalhousie University. Executive Committee, NiCHE. PhD, settler, she/her https://saraspike.ca

saraspike.ca

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Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Nov 17

Hi new followers! I'm writing a book about the cultural history of fog in Atlantic Canada, which explores how the regular presence of fog on the coast has shaped the lives of the people who live here. Here's an early bit of that work niche-canada.org/2020/08/27/a...

“a salubrious, saline exhalation”: Fog and Health in Colonial Newfoundland and Nova Scotia

Just a few pages into his 1765 Concise Account of North America, Major Robert Rogers was contemplating the enigmatic fogs along the coasts of Newfoundland.

niche-canada.org

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Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · 19d

☺️

Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · 19d

I love the memories this post has generated in the comments. Did you grow up with dulce (edible seaweed) like I did?
Thanks to @richrray.bsky.social for pulling some stories out of the archives for this fun piece!

NiCHE Canada @nichecanada.bsky.social · 20d

Today @richrray.bsky.social shares a brief history of dulce in in New Brunswick.

"Dark Harbour ... emerged as the dulse capital of the world, an industry likewise made possible by its unique geography and the Fundy tides."

niche-canada.org/2025/09/18/t...

#envhist #coastalhistory #cdnhist

“The Tang of Ocean Spray”: A Brief History of Dulse in New Brunswick

Dark Harbour’s geography fostered fishing, herring, and dulse industries.

niche-canada.org

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Reposted by Sara Spike

NiCHE Canada @nichecanada.bsky.social · 28d

Join our editor @saraspike.bsky.social on the @transcanadatrail.bsky.social to remember the Blueberry Express!

niche-canada.org/2025/09/09/s...

#envhist #cdnhist #trails #novascotia

Sara’s Trans Canada Trail: Remembering the Blueberry Express

Once vital for freight and passengers, Nova Scotia’s Blueberry Express railway now thrives as a scenic multi-use trail celebrating local heritage.

niche-canada.org

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Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Aug 25

Finally rain 🌧

Raindrops falling on the surface of the ocean at low tide with yellow seaweed all around.

An assortment of small plastic and metal buckets set out on the grass to catch rainwater, each partially full.

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Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Aug 25

Big high tide, the goldenrod is swimming xo

A patch of blooming goldenrod is partially submerged in water in evening light.

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Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Aug 19

Feel free to get in touch if you have specific questions, I might be able to help!

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Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Aug 19

Thanks Cathy, I'd love it. That email works.

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Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Aug 19

Wildflowers, history, and dulse what else? 💙

Richard Yeomans @richrray.bsky.social · Aug 19

Thanks @saraspike.bsky.social for sharing this incredible view with me today - a great place to chat about wildflowers, history, and dulse.

Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Aug 19

Thanks for the nice visit!

Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Aug 19

No scholarship I know of (I'm working on it!), but you might find helpful details in Renton's Lost Sounds: The Story of Coast Fog Signals. Jennifer Lucy Allan's Foghorn's Lament is wonderful, but very much about later mechanical foghorns.
This document might be useful archive.org/details/cihm...

Modern types of danger warnings on the sea coast [microform] : Anderson, William P. (William Patrick), 1851-1927 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Caption title

archive.org

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Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Aug 19

Love this!

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Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Aug 19

🌫️📯🤍

Dr Cathryn Pearce @cathrynpearce.bsky.social · Aug 19

Just two minutes in the British Newspaper archive, and I've found a dispute in Dover about the frequency of the fog gun going off in 1905, and poetry. One poem is for @saraspike.bsky.social ! Though that sounds like Newhaven, too!

Clip of the poem in the Derbyshire Couriers, 13 July 1839:

While through the fog and driving rain
The lab'ring vessel flies,
Again, again, the welcome sound,
Nearer and nearer still;
It cometh from their native ground---
The steep and well-known hill
Frowns through the evening's darkening glooms
As once again the Fog-gun booms.

They pass at length the guarded fort,
They pass the rocky height,
And now within the sheltered port
They're safe from Ocean's might.
One cheer, one loud,long, grateful cheer,
Burst forth from ev'ry lip,
As, in their welcome rest, they hear
The sound that led their ship,
And brought them o'er the raging sea,
To the calm port "where they would be."

H.P. NOVA TERRA.

*It is customary at St. John's Newfoundland, at Halifax, Nova Sotia, as well as in many other situations where fogs are frequent and dense, to fire a gun every hour, as a guide or warning to any vessels that may be near the coast.'

Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Aug 19

You have my attention :)

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Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Aug 17

🙏

Irish @nakedirish.com · Aug 17

This, actually works. For me at least.

How to Turn Off Google AI Overview and Set "Web" as Default

tenbluelinks.org

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Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Aug 17

Blueberries 💙

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Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Aug 1

I've been working with Sarah on a project about the history of forestry in our area. Her presentation tonight was excellent; her GIS skills are incredible! We'll be sharing the results of this work this fall. Get in touch if you have any personal knowledge of sawmills in Halifax County!

Sarah O @bluenosegardener.bsky.social · Jul 31

Kinda nervous! Haven't done anything like a lecture in 3 years. Not sure if I will be able to enjoy my fish cakes and baked beans.

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Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Aug 1

You were great! Your talk was excellent and clearly demonstrated the incredible skill that goes into creating these maps. And people are excited to contribute their knowledge to the project too!

Reposted by Sara Spike

Julie Park @juliepark.bsky.social · Jul 31

My essay on how the early modern camera obscura brought us more deeply into our interior lives is now live @publicdomainrev.bsky.social

publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-ea...

Watching the World in a Dark Room: The Early Modern Camera Obscura

Centuries before photography froze the world into neat frames, scientists, poets, and artists streamed transient images into dark interior spaces with the help of a camera obscura. Julie Park explores...

publicdomainreview.org

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Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Jul 30

Mackerel xo

Blue water over the gunwhale of an aluminum boat.

Two people wearing sun hats and life jackets fishing with rods from a small aluminum boat. A beagle is sitting on one person's lap.

Two mackerel caught on a line being lifted into the air.

A white bucket on a wooden wharf with 7 small mackerel in it and a beagle looking in.

Reposted by Sara Spike

Marianna Dudley @dudleymarianna.bsky.social · Jul 25

I was excited to find out that my book is available for pre-order! One for anyone interested in energy, climate, and the history of Britain. Thanks to MUP for making it pretty and affordable 🫶 manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526182968/

Manchester University Press - Electric wind

Electric wind - Browse and buy the Paperback edition of Electric wind by Marianna Dudley

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk

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Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Jul 25

Congratulations! The cover is beautiful, and the book sounds great!

Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Jul 24

I was asked to write about my local section of the Trans Canada Trail. Here is my short essay called "Remembering the Blueberry Express," about rail to trail along the coast of Nova Scotia tctrail.ca/stories/reme...
#envhist #cdnhist @transcanadatrail.bsky.social

Two people walking away from the camera on a flat gravelled trail with bright blue sky and blue water around them.

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Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Jul 18

It was beautiful today, a perfect sunny/foggy mix!

Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Jul 18

Finally found the fog, at Cape Spear Lighthouse xo

A small white building with a red roof on a hill surrounded by fog, a yellow sign warns that the fog alarm may sound at any time.

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Reposted by Sara Spike

Christi Belcourt @christibelcourt.com · Jul 18

The way the blueberries feel when I roll them from their stems with my thumbs into my palm.

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