“Waterside? Where's that?” is the question I get whenever someone asks where our cottage is located. I am always amazed people have not discovered this natural gem along the Fundy shoreline.
Once you have seen it, though, you won’t forget it. I will always remember the exclamation of my niece from New York when she first saw Waterside Beach this past year: “This is Paradise!”
Once you have seen it, though, you won’t forget it. I will always remember the exclamation of my niece from New York when she first saw Waterside Beach this past year: “This is Paradise!”
For my husband and I, this piece of Fundy shoreline has been special to us since childhood. Individually, each of us experienced this natural wonder with friends and family in our younger years. When we were dating, it was a place we would find ourselves either walking the beach or exploring the rock formation known as Red Head. (Sadly, Red Head lost its signature head around 1999 and another section came down in 2017 due to storms and erosion.)
The beauty of Waterside is that it offers such a large expanse of beach to walk on when the tide is out. On a rare warm day, we see so many families come and pitch their chairs and blankets and some do get in the water! Don’t fear: it will never be as busy as that beach on the other coast known as Parlee. One needs to be careful, though, when they head out so that they don’t get caught as the tide comes back in. We love hiking over to Red Head (which is farther than it looks). You can still see some of the breakwater that is in the old photo above when the tide is out. If you time it right, you can even walk all the way to Dennis Beach, which a lot of people know about and have explored as well.
The beauty of Waterside is that it offers such a large expanse of beach to walk on when the tide is out. On a rare warm day, we see so many families come and pitch their chairs and blankets and some do get in the water! Don’t fear: it will never be as busy as that beach on the other coast known as Parlee. One needs to be careful, though, when they head out so that they don’t get caught as the tide comes back in. We love hiking over to Red Head (which is farther than it looks). You can still see some of the breakwater that is in the old photo above when the tide is out. If you time it right, you can even walk all the way to Dennis Beach, which a lot of people know about and have explored as well.
We have enjoyed some entertainment on the beach over the years from kite surfers and powered paragliders to small aircraft, fishing boats and even horses and their riders enjoying the wonderful expanse of the beach at low tide. I would love to get out in some sea kayaks and do some exploring from here but I don’t know if I am brave enough.
Fast forward to 2011—finding us on this stretch of Fundy shoreline again searching for a spot we could call our own. We had spent many years camping with our children in the Fundy area but we were getting tired of the packing and unpacking and never finding one particular spot that we liked to go again and again. One day we spotted a small “land for sale” sign in front of Waterside beach. We immediately scoped it out to see its potential for development and access. It was just an overgrown field but we could see the potential and who couldn’t dream with that view?
We secured the land in 2012 and tried camping on it but the wind and the bugs had us changing our minds very quickly about how we were going to use this property. We drew up some plans with a local draftsman, borrowed some money and found a builder to start building our cottage. After the local plumber, electrician and drywall finisher did their jobs, we did the rest of the finish work ourselves.
We have a lot of pride in what we did because we had never taken on such a project in our lives. By the beginning of summer 2015, we were finally staying there overnight with most of it finished and really starting to enjoy it with our family and friends.
This place has been our escape from work and the city, a place for our family to gather, a place for our kids to find summer employment and, hopefully, a place where we can retire. The beauty of this place has ignited our love for the area all over again and our creativity has blossomed. I like to upcycle and paint furniture and garage sale finds, make signs, and sew decorative pieces. My husband loves photography and is hoping to expand his repertoire as time goes by and he has more time to devote to it. We have found ways to inject our gifts into our cottage and make it feel like an expression of the things we love about this place.
We started a blog this year called “The Road to Waterside” to feature the area and the places you pass from Riverview to Fundy. It will also feature DIY projects, my husband’s photography, and fun information and events going on in our lives, all influenced by our link to this beautiful area. We would love to have people follow us along. I try to post three to four times a month.
We look forward to many years ahead enjoying this little piece of Paradise. Thank you to our wonderful neighbours for welcoming us to your community. We love it!
Fast forward to 2011—finding us on this stretch of Fundy shoreline again searching for a spot we could call our own. We had spent many years camping with our children in the Fundy area but we were getting tired of the packing and unpacking and never finding one particular spot that we liked to go again and again. One day we spotted a small “land for sale” sign in front of Waterside beach. We immediately scoped it out to see its potential for development and access. It was just an overgrown field but we could see the potential and who couldn’t dream with that view?
We secured the land in 2012 and tried camping on it but the wind and the bugs had us changing our minds very quickly about how we were going to use this property. We drew up some plans with a local draftsman, borrowed some money and found a builder to start building our cottage. After the local plumber, electrician and drywall finisher did their jobs, we did the rest of the finish work ourselves.
We have a lot of pride in what we did because we had never taken on such a project in our lives. By the beginning of summer 2015, we were finally staying there overnight with most of it finished and really starting to enjoy it with our family and friends.
This place has been our escape from work and the city, a place for our family to gather, a place for our kids to find summer employment and, hopefully, a place where we can retire. The beauty of this place has ignited our love for the area all over again and our creativity has blossomed. I like to upcycle and paint furniture and garage sale finds, make signs, and sew decorative pieces. My husband loves photography and is hoping to expand his repertoire as time goes by and he has more time to devote to it. We have found ways to inject our gifts into our cottage and make it feel like an expression of the things we love about this place.
We started a blog this year called “The Road to Waterside” to feature the area and the places you pass from Riverview to Fundy. It will also feature DIY projects, my husband’s photography, and fun information and events going on in our lives, all influenced by our link to this beautiful area. We would love to have people follow us along. I try to post three to four times a month.
We look forward to many years ahead enjoying this little piece of Paradise. Thank you to our wonderful neighbours for welcoming us to your community. We love it!
Text by Sheila Nicole; images by Mark Nicolle.
Subscribe to the blog at www.theroadtowaterside.com. See posts on Instagram @theroadtowaterside or Facebook.com/theroadtowaterside
Subscribe to the blog at www.theroadtowaterside.com. See posts on Instagram @theroadtowaterside or Facebook.com/theroadtowaterside
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