Description

NEW RELEASE! Available September 1, 2024

At age 40, Lorne Matheson pushed pause on his business life in Toronto and headed ‘back east’ to ancestral land on Pictou Island, Nova Scotia, a tiny chunk of beach, forest, rock, seasonal settlers and a sturdy core of year-round residents  in the middle of the Northumberland Strait, halfway between Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. It was May 1999: he arrived with a dream, a laptop, and a fancy borrowed digital video camera — ready to build a vacation getaway. What he found were the overgrown remnants of the family farm and a bunch of dilapidated trap houses filled with wildlife, lobster traps, and more than a few stories of  island life. During four months of trips to the hardware store, family gatherings, and off-island adventures he kept friends and family abreast of progress with daily emails that quickly spread to an audience beyond those he knew. In celebration of the 25th anniversary of his arrival on Pictou Island, those emails are shared here: the day-by-day account of a man who arrived to get away and immersed in relatives, salt water, and sea air, found instead a new way of life.

A former owner of an advertising agency and an Apple computer reseller in Toronto, Lorne now owns three per cent of Pictou Island, “And it’s the three percent right next to the wharf.” Over the past 25 years he has raised a daughter, planted a vineyard, and opened Pictou Island Wooden Tents where he and his partner, Wendy, host yoga retreats. He lives most of the year on the island and spends winters in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, making wine from his island grapes and dreaming up more ways to save six bucks.