A search for a simpler lifestyle brought Doris Hagmann to Nova Scotia; serendipity (and hunger) brought us to her
An explorer lives in each of us. Some explore with books; others delve into scientific matters. Some venture far afield; others stay close to home. I like to explore our Atlantic provinces and sometimes our neighbours Maine and Quebec. There are surprises at almost every turn.
Last summer I joined my son Eric, his wife, Yukiko, and daughter, Kate, as we explored a part of Nova Scotia little travelled by us. Our destination was the Evangeline Restaurant in Grand Pré for some of Ellen’s pie, but we took the long route along the Noel Shore.
We dilly-dallied to the point that our tummies were growling. We were in Summerville when we spotted a cutout chef holding a spoon and an open sign, with a chalkboard listing seafood chowder and fresh home baking.
It was enough to make us pull over and enter the Avon Emporium, almost hidden by trees and bushes.
The explorer in Yukiko had brought her from Japan to Canada; she opted to stay after she met Eric. There were squeals of delight from her as she spied the window filled with origami paper cranes held together by string (see left). An ancient Japanese legend says that a thousand origami cranes will guarantee long life or recovery from illness. The owner told us that people in the community made the cranes in the hope that people in Japan would survive the earthquake that hit there in March. Thousands of positive thoughts were sent from Summerville to Japan. Yukiko was thrilled at the gesture made by those so far away from her native country.
The special person central to the cranes and a myriad of other activities and events at the Emporium designed to knit the community together is Doris Hagmann. Doris, her husband, Casimir, and their four daughters moved to Nova Scotia in 1992. In
Switzerland, their home country, Doris was a busy architect and Casimir a landscape architect. They both wanted a less hectic lifestyle for their daughters. A vacation in Nova Scotia in 1989 cemented their desire to move here. Their bucket list included a farm where they could grow organic vegetables, which had space for youngsters and animals, offering a sense of peace. They sniffed around the province and found the perfect place—a farm in Summerville. They were strangers in a multi-generational community, and had to find unique ways to fit in.
By chance, a nearby hardware store, built in 1870, was for sale. While Casimir worked in his field, Doris—with her architectural background—took on the old store. But she didn’t stop there: the entrepreneur in her burst forth. Part of the building became a restaurant, the Café Flower Garden. Doris rolled up her sleeves and became the chef—there were plenty of jobs for her daughters and others in the community. Home was in the kitchen; that’s where secrets were shared and problems solved. Eventually a collectibles section and a market were added, and the post office returned to its original location in the house.
The Avon Emporium became the pivot around which the community turned, and it remains so. However, the builder in her psyche envisioned an inn, so five bedrooms were completed upstairs. The area was once noted for sailing ships and shipbuilding, so each room bore the name of a captain and was decorated with historical artifacts.
The Shipwright Inn was born. Delightful Doris is an explorer of nature, opportunity and spirituality. She is a creative, imaginative and spiritual person who loves her adopted community, the people in it and the people who visit. She says there aren’t enough hours in the day or years left in her life to learn and do all the things she of interest to her.
Rumour has it that a person now starting in the workforce will change his or her career eight times before retirement. How many changes have you had so far? Doris says that her intent was to keep designing large and small buildings in Switzerland. She is also a naturalist, an educator, a chef, a mother, an architect, an innkeeper, an earth healer, a shopkeeper—and who knows, there may be something else in her future!
Her mind works overtime thinking of things that might be of interest to those around her. There are workshops in yoga, belly dancing, knitting, singing, bloodworms, birds and whatever else that might appeal to others.
There’s a jam session every Wednesday evening, year round. It’s a social gathering with nothing predefined. It’s intimate, smoke-free, and the cost is by donation.
What about the food at the café you ask? I’m not telling! I’m selfish and want the Emporium to be my own secret hideaway. The only thing I will say is that Doris uses local ingredients as much as possible, and will not serve farmed fish. For those reasons alone
I toast her!
Let your own explorer loose for a while and find out for yourself if the Avon Emporium should be tops on the list of the best places in Eastern Canada. If you are coming from afar one of the cozy rooms at the Inn will be ready to receive you for as long as you wish to stay. The Emporium and the whole area is a surprise! See you there—often!