On The Cover: Steve Skafte

Steve Skafte is a writer and photographer whose latest book, This Creek Was Once a Street details abandoned roads around the province. Here’s a little about Steve, and about his Abandoned Roads Facebook group, in his own words:

I was born and raised in Nova Scotia, by a spying eye and an overhearing ear. I grew up an ardent explorer of misplaced memories, photographer of dereliction, scribbler of words, spending my days wandering/wondering through the wilds of the eastern world. I’ve learned every road in Annapolis County, and hiked what I couldn’t drive. I’ve shot and shared an uninterrupted photo-journal every day since 2007, everything is remembered. I’ve self-published 5 books of poetry and 6 of photography/prose, available in my Etsy shop.

Abandoned Roads of Nova Scotia is attempting to create a complete record of every single unmaintained county road in the province! We share public right-of-ways only, anywhere from the 2,500km of derelict K-Class roads still owned by the Department of Transportation.

These are often headed by signs like “No Exit”, “Dead End”, “Road Closed”, or “No Road Maintenance, Proceed at Own Risk”. They are all historic right-of-ways, left to grow over, but still public access. They may be found on an old county map, Google Maps, and property lines confirmed by searching on ViewPoint.

Get out there and make your own discoveries! The best part of exploring is feeling like you’ve found something for yourself. I’ve uncovered the places I post by driving and hiking all the old back roads and trails, keeping an eye out when the leaves are down and the branches bare. It’s the best time to find something hiding in the forest.

– Steve Skafte

For more about Steve and his work, join his Facebook pages: Abandoned Nova Scotia and Abandoned Roads of Nova Scotia