I grew up in the community of George’s River just outside North Sydney, Nova Scotia. While taking a short cut through an old farm walking home from a friend’s house in 1992 I found my first antique bottle at the age of eight. From there I found a few more in the woods hunting with my dad and that was the start of a collection for me. From there friends of the family started dropping off old bottles that they had found. In the summer of 1999 I found my first four embossed soda bottles from Cape Breton. That was the beginning of my interest in the history of Cape Breton Island. Shortly after that I started collecting postcards, photos, documents and whatever historical artifacts I could find. Two years later I assisted the late Barry Wright with his book “Stone Ginger Beer Bottles in Nova Scotia” contributing a great deal of information to the Cape Breton section.

After graduating from Memorial Composite High School in 2002 I lived in New Brunswick for awhile before moving to Edmonton Alberta in the Fall of 2005 where I reside currently. After arriving in Edmonton I attended NAIT and the Alberta Pipe Trades College where I earned a qualification as a Steamfitter-Pipefitter becoming a member of UA Local 488.