Althouse: A woman has lived alone for more than 40 years on a small island off the coast of Prince Edward Island.

July 26, 2017

A woman has lived alone for more than 40 years on a small island off the coast of Prince Edward Island.

There are about 400 horses on Sable Island, which is 26 miles long and less than a mile across. When Zoe Lucas was 21, "I squawked and squawked, I wanted to come so bad. I originally came out here for the horses."

She has a small house there, built by National Parks Canada, and she works on projects with them (so she does have some contact with people — parks staff — on the island). The link goes to The Daily Mail, where the woman is portrayed as a respected naturalist and doesn't seem to be weird or anti-social, just someone who loves the island and the horses.

15 comments:

rehajm said...: It doesn't seem as odd when you see the beauty of the horses.; 7/26/17, 6:22 AM
Original Mike said...: ...where the woman is portrayed as a respected naturalist and doesn't seem to be weird or anti-social, ...

We introverts prefer the term non-social.; 7/26/17, 6:39 AM
D 2 said...: It is off Nova Scotia. PEI is the tourist trap to the north, Sable is the shipwreck bank to the south. It is not entirely "remote" - Parks staff and scientists go over to study this and that. Other folk, not so. I think the government restricts access to the chosen few.

Second story involving NS in last five posts. Hmm. Well, if ya got nothing better to do (Thats the province's tourism branding) and you plan on visiting, it will take you no more than two hours to go through the main Art Gallery - No fancy NYC photos, more like Maud Lewis. Our apples in September/October are 1000x better than anywhere else. (Not likely true)

It's probably a good 2,000km drive from Wisconsin. The Baseball HOF is likely halfway. Hey, that may be an even better tourism hook to middle Americans who like the idea of visiting a less expensive Maine.; 7/26/17, 7:30 AM
David said...: It takes all kinds.

I am so unkind that I wonder who pays for it all.

My resentment over the fact that she might be subsidized is low but I am curious.; 7/26/17, 8:16 AM
cacimbo said...: A homeless woman who collects garbage to eke by. She is fortunate that the government has permitted and romanticized her squatting. This same behavior in urban areas is viewed negatively.; 7/26/17, 9:00 AM
JimT said...: The area of that small island, population 1, is comparable to a 13-mile-long island a few hundred miles south: Manhattan; 7/26/17, 10:15 AM
rhhardin said...: I ride my horse in the wind and rain / I go out crazy and I come home sane

- Tiffany Eckhardt "Horse"; 7/26/17, 11:04 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "It is off Nova Scotia. PEI is the tourist trap to the north..."

I checked Google maps before making my statement. I stand by it.; 7/26/17, 11:31 AM
Bill Kinnon said...: Check again, Ann. Please. https://goo.gl/maps/pNFdTkodbUw; 7/26/17, 11:46 AM
theo said...: Ann, Sable Island is SE of Halifax NS it is definitely not off the coast of PEI.

Interesting fact about the place is that the coal mine companies in Cape Breton NS used to send ships to Sable Island to capture horses to be trained and become "pit ponies" hauling the coal to the surface of their mines before mechanization.

I met a guide at the Oceans Deep Mining Museum in Glace Bay CB NS that as a young boy started as a "curtain boy" then became a pony driver. He left for WW2 where he served on a Corvette escorting supply ships to Great Britain. When he left the navy he went right back into the mine until he retired.

He was a tough old bird.; 7/26/17, 12:12 PM
D 2 said...: Ok, I'm not a big stickler demanding geographic orthodoxy. Just my two cents. Perhaps some people describe England as an island off the coast of Corsica. The France part may be considered irrelevant to the statement. In these crazy times, might as well Live and let live.

If you do plan to ever take a boat from PEI to Sable, I would say be prepared to portage. 100km or so from Pictou to Sheet.; 7/26/17, 12:36 PM
Christopher said...: Seems almost as beautiful as the Apostle Islands off the coast of Michigan.; 7/26/17, 2:40 PM
Michael said...: PEI is north of NS. Sable Island is south of NS.; 7/26/17, 5:36 PM
Michael said...: I have been to PEI. You go to nS and turn left, north.; 7/26/17, 5:38 PM
Michael said...: Fogo Island is off the north coast of Newfoundland upon which a really cool community has developed around a hotel and art center sponsored by a woman who grew up on the island and returned after making a bundle all the way in California with Google. Google Fogo Island to see the hotel and read the story: Sit in the lounge and watch the icebergs float by. Fishing community. Very low literacy rate.; 7/26/17, 5:43 PM