The end of an era...

I awoke this morning to news that The Owl's Nest had burned to the ground.

Apparently overnight, and it is suspected that faulty wiring is the cause.

***Please see below for an update***

July 15, 2011

The loss to the community of Pubnico cannot be quantified. I myself had the 'pleasure' of visiting... uh... on a number of occasions. My first night in Nova Scotia was my introduction to what is known as Richard Owl's. I was introduced to and embraced Hold 'Em. It was my first real bootleggers. It was where I made some life-long friends.

It is a place that I will visit again (not simply because my son is a commercial fisherman there, and has a family of his own now), but because it is a place where I felt like it was home. I was adopted as an infant, my origins are Acadian, and my 2yr stay in 2011-2013 was my first real exposure to the French culture. (I don't/won't include my Army experience in Cornwallis... for obvious reasons.)

Pubnico is located in what was called, before the Expulsion, CAPE SABLE, which, even at the beginning, around 1614, had as its center what is now Port La Tour, called then Port Lomeron, David Lomeron having here a trading post, dealing with fur and fish. Charles de Biencourt, who was at the head of the small group of Frenchmen of what was then Acadia, comprising the south-western part of the peninsula, died around 1624. In 1631. Louis XIII named as Governor of Acadia Charles de La Tour, who had been a faithful companion of Charles de Biencourt. It is then that the name of Port Lomeron was changed to the name of Port La Tour. He was named Governor of Acadia again in 1651, while in France, from where he came back, bringing with him Philippe Mius d'Entremont, who was to be his Major. It is Philippe Mius d'Entremont who was to be the founder of Pubnico.

Pubnico comprises three different sections. There are West Pubnico, whose people are almost all French speaking, Pubnico proper, better known as Pubnico Head, whose people are mostly all English speaking, and East Pubnico, the part where is believed to have been located the barony, being occupied by English speaking people, and the rest, up to the Shelburne county line, which is occupied mostly by French speaking people.

The first Acadians who came from the surrounding communities to settle in Pubnico were the Surettes. They were followed by the LeBlancs. Today, the surnames in Pubnico are very numerous, comprising a certain number of anglophones. But it is still the d'Entremont family which is the most numerous, followed by the Amirault and d'Eon families.

According to the census of 1981, there were in West Pubnico 1877 people; in Pubnico (Head) 173 people, and in East Pubnico 140 people in the anglophone section and 423 people in the francophone section.
I will miss the place.

I will miss most those friends that I made there.

Never would've thought to find these two on Google.

Some of those from Owl's

It's hard for me to imagine Pubnico without Richard Owl's. It is such a small community and his Nest has been around so long. It's more than a simple bootlegger. It's a hub for the community. 'Church' occurs there Sunday mornings (you have to be there to believe it), poker happens most nights, music, laughter and general silliness occur on a nightly basis.

1877 people... and I'm sure I met most of them. Either walking along HWY 335, or working at the Shipyard, at the library or at T-Paul's (the local Petro-Can, owned by a descendant of one of the founders of Pubnico.)

Trying to 'explain' The Head to the uninitiated is near impossible. I often refer to Owen & Gerry singing If I Caught a Million Lobster, or Rock & Roll Pubnico (in the thickest of French accents.)

I tell people that there are three things that happen in Pubnico... fishing, fighting and f**king.

And they do all three well.

Richard and I

Irish Richard

It is uniquely Canadian, and I will never find another place like it.

Nor will I ever come across someone as unique as Richard 'Owl'. He is a one of a kind man.

Richard 'Owl' LeBlanc
But this... this is what has come of The Nest.

2014-04-13

2014-04-13

2014-04-13

2014-04-13

As I said to my kids today, Pubnico will never be the same, their world has changed forever.

Here though, here are some pics of The Nest in full swing...

The Gangs...

all here.

Some have spoken/posted about rebuilding.

Thought the sentiment is nice, I simply don't see it happening. It's 2014. You can't simply throw a couple of boards together anymore. There is a building code, a fire code... not the least of which is good luck getting a building permit.

No, the county and the police have let this slide for too long, and see this as an opportunity to reign in the 'silliness'.

And that, people, is a shame.

No more poker, no more late night 'drop buys', no more pool/darts and pissing on the porch... no more walking in with a dead rabbit that has been trapped, dead deers on the hood of your truck, fires in the field (right Joey?), and sadly... no more Nest.

I'd like to be proven wrong... but I don't think I will.

The cantankerous, curmudgeonly Big Man will carry on. Of that I am sure. But I am just as sure that he too, is suffering today.

I leave you with this bit of nonsense from the Big Man himself...

Richard Owl
Thanks for the memories...

UPDATE Please visit here, a gofundme.com page set up to help Richard.