Sara Spike
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saraspike.bsky.social
Sara Spike
@saraspike.bsky.social
1.9K followers 980 following 360 posts
Cultural historian of rural communities and coastal environments in Atlantic Canada. The ocean and the woods. Visual cultures. Senses. Fog. Flora.
Adjunct Prof, Dalhousie University.
Executive Committee, NiCHE.
PhD, settler, she/her
https://saraspike.ca
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saraspike.bsky.social
Sara Spike @saraspike.bsky.social · Nov 17
Hi new followers! I'm writing a book about the cultural history of fog in Atlantic Canada, which explores how the regular presence of fog on the coast has shaped the lives of the people who live here. Here's an early bit of that work niche-canada.org/2020/08/27/a...
“a salubrious, saline exhalation”: Fog and Health in Colonial Newfoundland and Nova Scotia
Just a few pages into his 1765 Concise Account of North America, Major Robert Rogers was contemplating the enigmatic fogs along the coasts of Newfoundland.
niche-canada.org
Reposted by Sara Spike
houseofanansi.bsky.social
For readers of Jennifer Egan and Heather O’Neill, TEMPORARY PALACES is a stunning debut that captures a generation caught between the dreams that define us and the compromises that save us. 🏚️

🔗 TEMPORARY PALACES by Jeff Miller publishes April 21st. Learn more here: houseofanansi.com/products/tem...
The cover of TEMPORARY PALACES by Jeff Miller features a picture of a colourful abandoned house.
December 12, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Reposted by Sara Spike
historiamagoria.bsky.social
To get us all into the festive spirit, I've written a piece on the #EnvHist #histSTM of artificial xmas trees for @nichecanada.bsky.social. Click for the wild ideas, stay for the wisdom of Peanuts. niche-canada.org/2025/12/11/a...
Augmenting Christmas: Artificial Trees and the Lure of Perpetual Nature
Artificial Christmas trees evolved from feather and aluminum novelties to plastic simulations, revealing desires for safer, cleaner, “better” nature and modern convenience.
niche-canada.org
December 11, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Sara Spike
tinaadcock.bsky.social
It’s my book’s half-birthday today! To celebrate, I’d like to mail one of you a free signed copy.

Just like this post to enter the draw. You can enter your name until 11:59 pm Pacific time on Wednesday, December 3rd.

Please reskeet! #cdnhist #envhist

www.ubcpress.ca/a-cold-colon...
A Cold Colonialism
A Cold Colonialism - Modern Exploration and the Canadian North; A Cold Colonialism reframes exploration as a modern enterprise – one through which southern Canadians and Americans sought to exert cont...
www.ubcpress.ca
December 1, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Reposted by Sara Spike
stillots1.bsky.social
It's finally here. A history of the Nova Scotia lobster fishery.

Morton is truly an historian's historian, and from the installments I've seen, the book is going to have riches of social history, politics, economics, and even some marine biology.

share.google/J3GYgjTkjV9I...
Screen capture of a book cover. It's a white background with a picture of part of a multicolored lobster dominating the bottom 2/3 of the cover. Book title is Contested catch: lobster, localism and Canada's Atlantic coast, 1870 to 1970
November 29, 2025 at 2:02 PM
saraspike.bsky.social
We love bringing you smart, fun work about human engagements with the natural world!
Did you know that NiCHE does not have institutional funding?
Your help is greatly appreciated! 🌱
nichecanada.bsky.social NiCHE Canada @nichecanada.bsky.social · Nov 28
We are SO CLOSE to 75% of our fundraising goal.

The fundraiser will end on Tuesday. Have you given yet? If not, can you send $20 our way.

The average donation right now is $189, but we heartily welcome smaller donations!

fundrazr.com/niche2025?re...

#envhist #envhum #cdnhist #envstudies
November 28, 2025 at 11:13 PM
saraspike.bsky.social
I love the memories this post has generated in the comments. Did you grow up with dulce (edible seaweed) like I did?
Thanks to @richrray.bsky.social for pulling some stories out of the archives for this fun piece!
nichecanada.bsky.social NiCHE Canada @nichecanada.bsky.social · Sep 18
Today @richrray.bsky.social shares a brief history of dulce in in New Brunswick.

"Dark Harbour ... emerged as the dulse capital of the world, an industry likewise made possible by its unique geography and the Fundy tides."

niche-canada.org/2025/09/18/t...

#envhist #coastalhistory #cdnhist
“The Tang of Ocean Spray”: A Brief History of Dulse in New Brunswick
Dark Harbour’s geography fostered fishing, herring, and dulse industries.
niche-canada.org
September 19, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Reposted by Sara Spike
nichecanada.bsky.social
Join our editor @saraspike.bsky.social on the @transcanadatrail.bsky.social to remember the Blueberry Express!

niche-canada.org/2025/09/09/s...

#envhist #cdnhist #trails #novascotia
Sara’s Trans Canada Trail: Remembering the Blueberry Express
Once vital for freight and passengers, Nova Scotia’s Blueberry Express railway now thrives as a scenic multi-use trail celebrating local heritage.
niche-canada.org
September 10, 2025 at 3:38 PM
saraspike.bsky.social
Finally rain 🌧
Raindrops falling on the surface of the ocean at low tide with yellow seaweed all around. An assortment of small plastic and metal buckets set out on the grass to catch rainwater, each partially full.
August 25, 2025 at 6:40 PM
saraspike.bsky.social
Big high tide, the goldenrod is swimming xo
A patch of blooming goldenrod is partially submerged in water in evening light.
August 25, 2025 at 1:10 AM
saraspike.bsky.social
Wildflowers, history, and dulse what else? 💙
richrray.bsky.social Richard Yeomans @richrray.bsky.social · Aug 19
Thanks @saraspike.bsky.social for sharing this incredible view with me today - a great place to chat about wildflowers, history, and dulse.
August 19, 2025 at 9:23 PM
saraspike.bsky.social
🌫️📯🤍
cathrynpearce.bsky.social Dr Cathryn Pearce @cathrynpearce.bsky.social · Aug 19
Just two minutes in the British Newspaper archive, and I've found a dispute in Dover about the frequency of the fog gun going off in 1905, and poetry. One poem is for @saraspike.bsky.social ! Though that sounds like Newhaven, too!
Clip of the poem in the Derbyshire Couriers, 13 July 1839: While through the fog and driving rain The lab'ring vessel flies, Again, again, the welcome sound, Nearer and nearer still; It cometh from their native ground--- The steep and well-known hill Frowns through the evening's darkening glooms As once again the Fog-gun booms. They pass at length the guarded fort, They pass the rocky height, And now within the sheltered port They're safe from Ocean's might. One cheer, one loud,long, grateful cheer, Burst forth from ev'ry lip, As, in their welcome rest, they hear The sound that led their ship, And brought them o'er the raging sea, To the calm port "where they would be." H.P. NOVA TERRA. *It is customary at St. John's Newfoundland, at Halifax, Nova Sotia, as well as in many other situations where fogs are frequent and dense, to fire a gun every hour, as a guide or warning to any vessels that may be near the coast.'
August 19, 2025 at 9:16 PM
saraspike.bsky.social
🙏
August 17, 2025 at 11:32 PM
saraspike.bsky.social
Blueberries 💙
A bowl partially full of blueberries placed among leafy blueberry bushes with ripe berries, a beagle is snuffling nearby.
August 17, 2025 at 8:33 PM
saraspike.bsky.social
I've been working with Sarah on a project about the history of forestry in our area. Her presentation tonight was excellent; her GIS skills are incredible! We'll be sharing the results of this work this fall. Get in touch if you have any personal knowledge of sawmills in Halifax County!
bluenosegardener.bsky.social Sarah O @bluenosegardener.bsky.social · Jul 31
Kinda nervous! Haven't done anything like a lecture in 3 years. Not sure if I will be able to enjoy my fish cakes and baked beans.
August 1, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Reposted by Sara Spike
juliepark.bsky.social
My essay on how the early modern camera obscura brought us more deeply into our interior lives is now live @publicdomainrev.bsky.social

publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-ea...
Watching the World in a Dark Room: The Early Modern Camera Obscura
Centuries before photography froze the world into neat frames, scientists, poets, and artists streamed transient images into dark interior spaces with the help of a camera obscura. Julie Park explores...
publicdomainreview.org
July 31, 2025 at 5:33 PM
saraspike.bsky.social
Mackerel xo
Blue water over the gunwhale of an aluminum boat. Two people wearing sun hats and life jackets fishing with rods from a small aluminum boat. A beagle is sitting on one person's lap. Two mackerel caught on a line being lifted into the air. A white bucket on a wooden wharf with 7 small mackerel in it and a beagle looking in.
July 30, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Reposted by Sara Spike
dudleymarianna.bsky.social
I was excited to find out that my book is available for pre-order! One for anyone interested in energy, climate, and the history of Britain. Thanks to MUP for making it pretty and affordable 🫶 manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526182968/
Manchester University Press - Electric wind
Electric wind - Browse and buy the Paperback edition of Electric wind by Marianna Dudley
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
July 25, 2025 at 1:51 PM
saraspike.bsky.social
I was asked to write about my local section of the Trans Canada Trail. Here is my short essay called "Remembering the Blueberry Express," about rail to trail along the coast of Nova Scotia tctrail.ca/stories/reme...
#envhist #cdnhist @transcanadatrail.bsky.social
Two people walking away from the camera on a flat gravelled trail with bright blue sky and blue water around them.
July 24, 2025 at 4:09 PM
saraspike.bsky.social
Finally found the fog, at Cape Spear Lighthouse xo
A small white building with a red roof on a hill surrounded by fog, a yellow sign warns that the fog alarm may sound at any time.
July 18, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Reposted by Sara Spike
christibelcourt.com
The way the blueberries feel when I roll them from their stems with my thumbs into my palm.
July 18, 2025 at 12:02 AM
saraspike.bsky.social
My mom made a lot of the clothes for this fashion show, based on historical photos from our local archives. It promises to be a lovely time, and another great reason to come to the Eastern Shore 💗
visitmemorylane.ca/events/1940s...
A woman in 1940s garb on a poster advertising the 1940s Costume Magic Fashion Gala at Memory Lane Heritage Village, August 9 and 10.
July 16, 2025 at 12:56 AM
saraspike.bsky.social
Looking for fog in St. John's at @theroomsnl.bsky.social
A pile of yellowed paper on a wooden table beside a big window looking out over St. John's harbour.
July 15, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Reposted by Sara Spike
wfmhfx.bsky.social
(Weather) A high fog settles over the Halifax waterfront as temperatures climb today.

Temperatures are expected to climb into 30+c over the next few days with high humidity.

Molly the dog was definitely taking advantage of a fun cool down activity. Take steps to avoid heat related illnesses
July 14, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Sara Spike
saraspike.bsky.social
Heading to eastern Newfoundland to visit archives and talk to folks about fog. Any suggestions for fog- or non-fog-related activities, great community museums, excellent food, people to connect with all greatly appreciated! Hoping to get back to Elliston, where I took this photo a few years ago ❤️
Three puffins perched at the edge of a rocky cliff, the foggy ocean behind them.
July 11, 2025 at 6:11 PM