A walk with the rich history of Mabou Mines
September 17, 2025
-by Beverley Phillips
Three things come to mind when you go to Mabou Mines: fishing, farming, and of course, mining. And John Philip Rankin is a treasure-trove of knowledge on all three and shared stories about them with the crowd that gathered Friday evening for an Inter-generational Walk.
The walk began in the parking lot at the wharf, and slowly made its way down and along the beach, stopping to tell stories along the way of how life used to be and how things have changed.
Rankin’s family has lived and fished in the area for generations. He recalled the storm of 1961, which washed away the bridge and threw the boats and lobster traps into the pond behind the sheds. He spoke about the hard work of making a life there, as everything had to be done by hand, whether it was hauling lobster traps or hauling the rocks to build the wharf in 1920.
