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Carolyn Fowler believes the Avenue deserves to be “recognized properly.”

The Avenue is a small, historically Black community that dates back to the early 1800s, situated at the end of Crichton Avenue in Dartmouth, near Mic Mac Mall. The 83-year-old Fowler was born and raised there.

The community was once home to over 130 residents. Some of their descendants continue to live in the community. Fowler said six houses still stand in the Avenue, including her childhood home that was built by her grandfather in 1921. Fowler lives on the property behind her childhood home.

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“History is trying to forget it, and that gets me so riled up,” Fowler said in an interview.

Sitting on her front porch, Fowler points to the toney residential neighbourhood that was constructed adjacent near the Avenue.

“That’s lucrative Crichton Park,” she said, adding that the first homes there were built in 1956.

“But the Black community has been here since the early 1800s. We were isolated for some reason. But, growing up, we didn’t know we were isolated.”

Communities and culture were separated by woods on the outskirts of Dartmouth.

The Avenue was home to two 19th-century churches, the first established by renowned religious leader Richard Preston in 1827. But both burned down.

The foundation of the original community church is believed to be in the properties next to Fowler’s. She would like to see the piece of land commemorated.

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“There’s supposed to be a church foundation there. Let’s have a designation,” she said.

“Maybe put a small little park there, a little community park with some plaques that name the names of the people in the Avenue and another that talks about the history of the Avenue. Maybe some benches. I can pay for those. Some recognition (and) nothing that’s going to cost millions of dollars. I would like to stay away from anything that costs money.”

Last month, Halifax regional council voted unanimously in favour of a staff report to conduct a detailed archeological assessment of 232 and 234 Crichton Ave.

In 2020, council designated the properties as surplus for potential use as affordable housing. The motion calls for further examination of the site. If the assessment uncovers evidence of church buildings, the municipality could rescind the properties’ surplus status and evaluate the possibility of a commemorative park at the site.

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The Avenue didn’t have any municipal services, and a dump and incinerator were placed nearby in the 1940s. But as the city expanded, including the Crichton Park neighbourhood, the land around the Avenue increased in value and the dump and incinerator were removed.

“These are two surplus properties in what was an historic Black community at the end of Crichton Avenue,” Coun. Sam Austin (Dartmouth Centre) said.

“The community dates back to the 1820s, and it’s very much the history of African Nova Scotians, complete with institutional racism in terms of noxious issues in Dartmouth. And you could tell when you arrived in the community because the pavement ended at the last white family house on Crichton Avenue. It’s a long, complicated history, also somewhat poorly documented because history has its blind spots. It’s the history of the marginalized.

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“We were looking at these (properties) as affordable housing. However, it has since come up that this might in fact be the location of the community’s original church. I think we need to pause on the surplus and figure out what exactly we have here, whether or not we have remains of these original founding churches, and then figure out what that means for us in terms of commemorating heritage in this area and in terms of our cultural landscape plan.”

Fowler questions why it’s being called a cultural landscape and not a heritage property.

“They’ll make it as complex as they can to make you go away.”

She’s also not optimistic about what the assessment will actually unearth.

“No, because when the city decided to sell the surplus land to a contractor, there was no research, no archeological dig, no requirements, just selling surplus land to the highest bidder,” Fowler said. “The highest bidder just happens to be an affordable housing project.

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“I have nothing against affordable housing. However, if there’s a church foundation there, then you have to stop for a minute. I would like to see that property off the surplus list and have it recognized properly.”

The municipality did put up a sign that commemorates the Avenue. But it wasn’t placed in the community. It’s located over a kilometre away in Birch Cove Park, on the shores of Lake Banook.

While the efforts to recognize her childhood community have been painstakingly slow, Fowler said her childhood in the Avenue was pastoral.

She learned to swim and skate at Lake Banook. Life in the tight-knit community was positive and loving.

“An old African proverb says, ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’” Fowler said.

“Church was mandatory; we all had to attend church. And there was an importance of staying in school. That was reinforced for all of us. There were no excuses. It was important to get your education.

“We had our summers off and all we did was swim and kind of do nothing. We didn’t work. At that time, even when we were in junior high and high school, we didn’t get jobs in stores. It was that era. There was no work unless you wanted to clean someone’s house.”

Intolerance was common. Fowler recalled the day her mother sent her on an errand to a local store.

“(The store owner) wanted me to ask my mother if she knew anybody who could clean for her,” Fowler said.

“My mother said, ‘You go back and tell her that I’m looking for someone, too.’

“I didn’t hit me until years later. I thought, good for her.”

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