this old town (st. stephen)

i took ruthie for a walk last evening. it was around 9:30pm and the sun had yet to set completely but the evening air was already cool. it was perfect. my favourite route to walk takes me down king street and milltown boulevard, past all the shoppes and old buildings.

i love this route. i love to look in the windows of the shoppes and other businesses (yes that is a little stalkerish but what can i say, i inherited this propensity to snoop from my mother!). the best part, though, of walking this route is that i imagine what this old town was like by in the high days when these old brick and stone buildings were first constructed. who built them? what were the first businesses that occupied them? what did these streets look like when they were full of pedestrians, horses and carriages? before people drove everyone and cars cluttered the curbs? those days when ladies walked about town in their prim hats and long skirts, or the men were dapper with ties and dress coats, or when the folks who lived in the country made their monthly (or yearly?) trek into town, wearing their country frocks, perhaps their sunday best. and i wonder about the old houses too. who lived in their, the parties that were had, the gallons of lemonade and iced teas that were consumed as folks sat on their front portraits finding refuge from the summer sun, the games children played across many yards as so few house were/are fenced in.

 oh the stories that the walls could tell about this old town.

check out the st. stephen town website for a little bit about the history of this old town!

and because every post is better with a picture, here is one from a spring walk i took about town with my friend genevieve, and it features one of the oldest house in town (according to the current owner :)