The Rivaa Medway

One of the places where my ancestors settled was in a little town/area called Charleston near Liverpool in Nova Scotia. Next to Charleston is Mill Village where many of my relatives still live.

The way that my family used to give directions or describe the location of something was to use the terms “up rivaa” or “down rivaa”. My dear great-grandmother was particularly notorious for this and would often ask: “Where are you going to / Where’ve you been, up rivaa or down rivaa.”

These directions are irrelevant right now because the “rivaa” (a.k.a. the Medway River), has flooded and taken over the village.

These photos were sent to me by my dad. The photos with the dates (ignore the dates – I don’t think the camera that took them has been configured yet) came from a cousin, Helen. The ones without dates come from my dad. About these, he writes: “Here are some pictures I took of the Medway River in April when I was down for Doris’s funeral. It [the flooding] wasn’t too bad then.”

The last photo in this grouping is of my great-grandmother’s house, which is now owned by my cousin Darlene.

12 comments on “The Rivaa MedwayAdd yours →

  1. Crap…Glad I don’t live by a rivaa!

    A creek is enough. Hope everything drys out for your family soon.

  2. Here are some news links:

    novascotia.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=ns-flooding-roads20050524

    halifaxherald.com/stories/2005/05/24/f259.raw.html

  3. Liverpool had 128 cm of rain last weekend and it’s still raining. The LaHave River in Lunenburg County is also flooding. I haven’t had any reports for the Mersey River in Liverpool but would imagine it is high also. We were going to stay at the Privateer Inn if it stops raining. I hope it’s not underwater.

  4. If the Medway rises any higher, Darlene will be surrounded by water. She’ll need a boat to escape. They are forcasting rain all this week.

  5. They are expecting heavy rainfall along the south shore tomorrow when another front moves in. Darlene will probably need a boat. I just watched some pictures on TV of the LaHave River and it is a raging torrent. Roads are washed out and they are very worried about Petite Riviere where the water is rising very fast.

  6. that’s crazy about the rain – I haven’t been to Liverpool in ages, though my dad grew up not far from there.

  7. Wow, I’d heard there was flooding along the South Shore area, I had no idea it was the Medway River that was flooding. My aunt’s back yard is on the river (in Liverpool)!

    Your grandmother’s house is too cute for words – such a perfect NS country place.

  8. My grandfather built that house early in the last century and would you believe they (Park and Dora Mae Mckinnon) had 12 kids. Somehow they stuffed them all in that little house along with themselves.

  9. 11 — Sharlene said on 28 May 2005
    Here are some more pictures of the flooding along the South Shore in Nova Scotia. These come courtesy of my cousin Helen. She writes: “The first photo is the village store. The second photo is the door to a friend’s basement, Michael. His furnace is in there (Sharbean note: that’ll probably need to be replaced). And, the third photo is where a little brook used to run on the other side of the river. The river is now running into Michael’s yard. This fellow lives right here in the Mill Village Square….

  10. That little General Store has probably been there for over a century. I’m surprised it’s still there. During the flood of 1949, the water was much higher. It’s interesting how delicate the equilibrium of these river systems is. If the summer is dry the water is very low. If you get a lot of rain, they overflow their banks.

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