Welcome To Richfield
by Steven Fitzgerald

Richfield Digby County which is in the municipality of Clare. Richfield is just over the Yarmouth Digby county line, about 45 minuets from Yarmouth. 
There are three ways to get to; one is to follow the 340 from Yarmouth to Carleton then to Richfield. The second way is to come from Weymouth through New Tusket to Richfield. The third way to get to Richfield is to follow the Boars back road that comes from Hectoniga. All three of these "roads" meet at a place called Moody's Corner. There is also another way to get to Richfield but it is not by road but by a body of water called the Wentworth River, a branch of the Tusket River. 

The river is also a great place for summer activities, such as swimming tubing, canoeing, and fishing. The fishing this year was great due to the large number of bass in the river. The largest bass caught in the river this year, (that I know of), was caught by me. It was approximately 18 in. and weighed about 4 lbs. 
Richfield got its name from the fact that when the first new settlers saw the fields they thought that sense the fields had such good hay that soil had to be rich. And they figured that with such rich soil they could grow nice big gardens and sell the extra vegetables for profit. They must have made quite a profit because from then on the place became known as Richfield. 

 The community is not that big, in fact it only has about eleven houses and a rough population of 40. Out of which only 4 of us are teenagers. The activity in the community is about as big as the community, not much ever happens. Except the occasional cattle round up, but this happens only a few times a year. 

Richfield is small but not so small that it doesn't have a fire department. The Richfield Volunteer Fire Department has, (including the Ladies Auxiliary) about 30 members. And like most other fire departments at the end of each summer it has a Fireman's Day. The other summer activities in Richfield include the Fireman's day, getting hay and everyone's favorite swimming. 

The communities main resources are farming and logging. Their is one logging road that if you follow it right you end up anywhere from New France to Nova Nada. There is another logging road that gives locals access to 3 lakes (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Briar lake). The logging in Richfield was once so good that there was a saw mill across from my house. You can still see the foundation of it if you know where to look. 

People in Richfield are very nice and every one knows every one else. In fact people are so nice and neighborly that when something happens we all pull together. Take for instance two years ago when a neighbor's barn burnt down. Two weekends later we all got together and helped rebuild it. Even people from outside the community that no one knew came to help. And if for some reason people couldn't come help they sent building supplies or donations. Not much happens in Richfield so when something like a barn fire happens it gets everybody's attention, even the media. CBC's First Edition even did a story about how the community pulled together to rebuild the barn. 

Most of Richfield is owned by 2 families, the first of which is the Chlanders and the second is the Whites. Between the two of them they own about 75% of the land in Richfield. This is not all bad because when somebody wants to buy land they know who to look for. 

The community is currently growing. Within the last year two new families have moved in. Both families are currently just renting houses but hope to buy land and make Richfield a permanent home. 

Richfield has also seen an increase in the amount of campers traveling through in the summer months. This doesn't really mean much but it's nice to know that people are taking there time to see things on back roads rather then just speeding along the highway, where everything looks the same even the towns. 

All this extra traveling through Richfield could prove to be a good thing because the Department of Highways is finally starting to repair the roads in and to the community. Some people don't like all the road repairs but for the ones of us with low cars the repairs are a life, or rather car saver. By this I mean that in some spots on the road the bumps are so bad that if you have a low or heavily loaded car you can almost rip the bottom out of it. I know because it almost happened to me one winter. 

Winter in Richfield is even funnier then summer because there is more going on like hunting, winter camping, skating, sliding, ski-dooing and other winter activities. There is also more money to be made in the winter for the person willing to work for it. In the winter I make money by shoveling snow, ploughing driveways and selling rabbits that I catch in my snares. Winter is also fun for me for two other reasons; one being my birthday and the other being Christmas. Both of these are fun to me cause it gives me a chance to see people outside the community that I don't get to see that often, mostly my relatives. 

Well like I said in the beginning there isn't much to do in Richfield and I've written just about everything that I can think of. So the only other thing to say is I hope you enjoyed your little look into the life of Richfield. 

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