Sandy Cove

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The most famous story told about Sandy Cove shows how the village looked after someone who could not care for himself. In the summer of 1866 George Albright who lived near the Bay of Fundy, found a man on the beach, apparently left there by a sailing vessel. His legs had been amputated above the knees and he seemed unable to speak. They carried him to a house in the village and the local Overseer of the Poor was contacted to arrange for his support. He had no letters or identifying marks on him but appeared to be foreign so he was taken to Meteghan in the hope that he would respond to the French language. Advertisements were placed in Halifax, Boston and farther afield and many people came to see him. When it appeared that he would be a permanent charge on the county the Province agreed to pay two dollars a week to care for him. Many stories grew up about him. Some said he spoke when taken off guard but the only utterance he clearly made sounded like “Jerome” and by that name he was known. Some spoke of a great ship when has been glimpsed in the fog from which he had been cast away, of a ship’s mutiny or a missing heir. A New Brunswick correspondent maintained that he was an injured lumberman left in Nova Scotia so that he would not be a charge on his own community. He died in 1908 with his secret. On the Bay of Fundy beach is a large black rock, a favourite place for summer picnics, known today as Jerome’s Rock.

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