Station Beach boardwalk in Kincardine is a real gem, says Davidson

To the Editor:

So, we were back home to Kincardine on the weekend (July 6-8) for the Scottish Festival and, Sunday morning, before heading off to Knox Presbyterian Church to get my Davidson tartan blessed at the Kirkin' of the Tartan ceremony, Lola and I took a walk on the Station Beach boardwalk. 

I am still in awe of the boardwalk - it’s a gem - it’s one of Kincardine's crown jewels along with the lighthouse, Victoria Park and the Paddy Walker House. Heck, I think our prime minister should declare it a national treasure! The volunteers who beautify their garden plots with flowers, shrubs and garden art at the boardwalk, deserve a big “BRAVO!”

It’s now 30 years since the boardwalk was built at the beach (south of Kincardine Harbour). I loved it so much I used to walk home every day at noon to our house, just over the river on the south side, make a quick brown-bag sandwich, then head up to Alice Street, down to the beach and on to the boardwalk, then to the post office for the mail and back to my office at the Davidson Centre (I walked briskly) where I read the mail while eating my lunch. 

One day on the boardwalk, I met the Hammond sisters, Jean and Marian (now deceased), and stopped to chat with them. Both were handicapped - they wore cumbersome braces on their legs their whole lives which really restricted their walking. I well remember the big smiles on their faces that day when they said, “Mr. Davidson, the boardwalk is the best thing that has ever happened to us in Kincardine. For our whole lives, we could never come and walk on the beach - we could not walk in the sand. But now we can walk on these boards on top of the sand!” 

It was a heartfelt moment! I told the sisters that I would deliver that message to the five Kincardine businessmen whose vision for the boardwalk became reality when they raised money for it from the downtown business community and from town council. Not only did they spearhead the fund-raising, they even put their backs into the project, with their hammers and shovels, and the help of some of their friends, and built the boardwalk. 

I told Don Turcotte, Mike Walsh, Doug Storrey, Bryan and Dale Walden, what Marian and Jean had said about the boardwalk changing their lifestyles. And today, I think it would be nice if boardwalkers happen to see the aforementioned five, they would thank them for what they did many moons ago down at Station Beach. Maybe even give them a pat on the back too - they deserve it!

And how about the return of the magnificent sand dunes and the tall native grasses at Station Beach, west of the boardwalk? Somewhere up in the heavens, my old friend, the late Wray Moulton, has that big smile of his smeared all over his face as he looks down on the boardwalk. 

Many years ago, somebody took a big dislike to the hundreds and hundreds of aspens/poplar trees that were in the vicinity of the present boardwalk, and cut them all down. Almost immediately, the eco-system changed dramatically and the beach took on a new look. The grasses and dunes began to disappear. 

When the boardwalk was built, there was a big problem with sand blowing onto the walkway. Wray, was a maintainer at the Davidson Centre during the fall/winter and the parks supervisor (a hands on, working position) in the spring/summer. It darn near wore Wray out trying to keep the sand off the boardwalk, removing it by hand and sometimes by machine. 

For years, Wray told the town that it should install a snow fence along the length of the boardwalk to gradually trap the blowing sand and eventually bring back the sand dunes. The town finally listened to him - a snow fence was installed and, voila, within a few years, the sand dunes returned. Native sand grasses were planted, they proliferated and we now have our old Kincardine beach back.

Wray Moulton was a peach of a guy - he always gave the town a good, full day’s work. We can’t thank him in person for what he did at Station Beach because he has passed on, but we can cherish his memory in our hearts. Thanks, Wray!
Slainte Mhath!

R. Keith Davidson,
Kemble Shore and Kincardine