Resident looks to generate better awareness of County treasure

Few of the County’s assets have inspired as much ambition and ultimately dashed so many dreams as has the Millennium Trail.

While many have seen promise in the natural link between the communities of Picton, Bloomfield, Wellington, Hillier, Consecon and Carrying Place, a paucity of funds and competing interests have conspired to drain enthusiasm.

But now there is a new effort afoot, not to do anything grand, but simply to generate better awareness of the under-used County treasure.

The municipality purchased the 49-kilometre stretch of former rail line in 1997 for the purpose of developing a trail system through the County. But beyond erecting and fixing a few fences and trimming vegetation threatening to reclaim the trail back to wilderness, very little material work has been done.

Conrad Beaubien lives near the trail. He walks it a lot. For him the trail is a magical place—combining the appeal of history, nature and tranquility. Beaubien doesn’t have a grand ambition for the Millennium Trail—he just wants to share his joy of the space with others.

Beaubien is organizing a series of talks and music events celebrating the Millennium Trail. He has called his series “a Storied Path—a series of presentations revealing the trail’s untold past, natural wonders, lore and intrigue.” He doesn’t want to lecture or persuade; rather his goal is to amuse and entertain.

The first event will feature the County’s best known naturalist Terry Sprague, along with the music of David Simmonds. This presentation will be held at Waring Hall (just steps from the trail) on Feb. 27.

Sprague share his rich experience with the trail, with specific emphasis on the wetlands around Consecon, Weller’s Bay and Trumpour. Simmonds will perform original works both new and old as part of the event.

Beaubien is a filmmaker who, along with his partner Cynthia Riordon, has been slowly but steadily putting down roots in the County while maintaining a life in the city. But finding himself with more time here, Beaubien has been looking for ways to contribute his skills and remain productive.

He says the Millennium Trail called out to him while walking one day.

“Here was a story in need of telling,” said Beaubien. “I realized I could help give the Millennium Trail a voice.”

Future presentations will feature information about the archeology found along the trail, the plants and animals that make it home, as well as the starscape that graces the trail walker overhead at night.

Venues will change for the series but they are all connected somehow to the trail.

“In many ways the Millennium Trail is the spine of the County,” said Beaubien. “It is an important part of our past and perhaps our future.”

The Boxcar Cowboy

By Conrad Beaubien

The summer of 1930 was dry and short on promise for many in the County. For those who wanted to work in the fields and canning factories of Prince Edward, jobs were scarce. The market crash had sent the economy into a spiral that would bring on the decade of the Great Depression.

The call of the steam train echoing over the limestone ridge behind Charles Sherwin’s house became a call he could no longer resist. Three days after celebrating his sixteenth birthday, Sherwin packed the tiny canvas knapsack given to him by his aunt. The dusty, heavy air that clung to the village of Hillier that Thursday would remain as a lasting memory.

Sherwin walked the mile down Station Road to the small clapboard train depot that sat where road and rail intersected. He waited in the cool shadows of the trestle that crossed Slab Creek. When the 4:15 westbound freight shunted through Trumpour’s swamp and into the depot to take on a load of canned tomatoes, the young Charles Sherwin took his chance. Hoisting himself into a boxcar that was bound for the main line at Trenton, Sherwin unknowingly joined an army of thousands of unemployed young men who were travelling the country on the rails. Ducking the ‘bulls’—the railway police—and living in hobo jungles, most of them searched for new beginnings.

The call to adventure that beckoned Sherwin that day launched him on an episodic journey across Canada. The County boy would go into the history books for holding the title of riding the rails from Atlantic to Pacific—a return trip of over 8,000 miles (12,000 kilometres)— more than 65 times.

Of this chapter in the region’s history, one unanswered question remains. Whatever happened to the Boxcar Cowboy, Charles Wesley Sherwin of the village of Hillier, in Prince Edward County?