A Change to Remember – Seaview Memorial Park Playground

This weekend marks the change of a street name in commemoration of a vibrant community that was shut down four decades ago. Africville lived and breathed in the place now known as Seaview Memorial Park. As of July 31, Africville Road is Halifax’s newest street. Skirting part of The Narrows and bending around a headland to Bedford Basin it’s a road to a past cherished by the former residents of this place. This permanent posting of Africville’s name bears witness to an inexcusable injustice for which people are still seeking redress.

The playground (photos) is at the south end of Seaview Memorial Park, next to a parking lot and almost under the shadow of the MacKay bridge (map). Last summer the equipment was old, tired and not terribly exciting. It has had a major makeover in the past year. Now, with the exception of the swings, all the equipment has been replaced.

This is the first playground where we’ve encountered a climb-on-me dragon – perhaps it’s a seahorse, or sea monster. The climbing possibilities here are varied with steps, platform levels, metal rings and a climbing wall. There are a few kids running about today. They’re here for the annual Africville picnic. They hear Noah and Nellie speaking French and let me know that they parlent français aussi. Christian tells me he lives in Iqaluit and that he’s here for a visit. He goes to a French language school up north, not immersion.

Swings are still a big time favourite. For nearly 15 minutes Nellie is rocking back and forth doing her forward lean, upper torso nearly parallel with the ground trick. Noah waits patiently for a turn. The girl sitting in the only other swing is getting me to push her and I give her a series of ten counts. I alternate my pushing between Nellie-Rose and the girl. She jumps off when her mom comes by and calls her back to the picnic. Noah hops on and asks me to do the count.

There’s a lot of giggling going on as Nellie and Noah clamber up to the top level of the platforms and slide themselves down. Even before Nellie’s feet touch ground, she smiles out an ‘again’, jumps off and runs back to the steps to start over. There’s another little boy a few months younger than Nellie but already bigger than her who’s lumbering about. They don’t take much notice of each other, just the occasional sideways glance. They’re in the parallel play universe.

There is a panging about this place and a reverence. The ground is impregnated with dreams and daily life. This one weekend per year focuses energies on remembering the Africville that was and gathering strength to build the lasting memorial of Africville to be. I hope that the encounters of children, their laughter, play, scraped knees and tears are steady travelling companions for the old memories still resident in this former community.

Bright, freshly painted and with lots of pebble infill this playground has a new lease on life. The fence that runs around the perimeter with two gates ensures that unleashed dogs can’t just bound up to children. The parking lot has enough room for 20 to 30 cars and car is really the only practical means of getting here. Come on down to the edge of the basin, enjoy the children playing and pause for a moment to think of what was here and of what we can do to make sure that this part of Halifax’s history is never repeated.

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