New exhibit aims to unveil mystery of Sable Island

Sable Island is shown in an undated file photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO

Sable Island once inspired terror in the hearts of sailors, with its tales of storms and shipwrecks, but now the mysterious island is a source of fascination.

Most Maritimers will never set foot on the carefully protected piece of land, located 300 kilometres southeast of Halifax. But the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History is aiming to unveil the mystery of Sable Island in a new exhibit that opens Wednesday evening.

“There’s been a lot of interest, a lot of new, renewed interest in Sable Island, with its transition to a national park,” says Jeff Gray, communications curator for the museum.

The exhibit - Sable Island: Over the Dunes, Beyond Wild Horses - explores the rich diversity of plants and animals that thrive on the sandbar island despite the winds, waves and isolation.

The island is famous for its wild horses, and photographer Debra Garside recollects a special moment photographing a herd of young bachelor stallions.

“The fog pulled back and the morning sun came through,” describes Garside, who has visited the island three times. “They were down on the beach and they started to fight and play.”

The 2,000-square-foot exhibit includes a recreated research station and a sandbox that allows visitors to change the island's topography by moving the sand. The exhibit also includes a rearing horse skeleton that rotates so visitors can see it against a backdrop of a window mural of two full-sized stallions.

“Don’t think of an island with a bunch of sand and horses running around, but a system that’s self-sustaining and refreshing itself,” says museum zoologist Andrew Hebda.

The museum has also amassed one of the largest Maritime walrus collections in the world, complete with skull, jawbone and tusk specimens, despite the fact that living walruses haven’t been seen on Sable Island in 250 years.

Museum designer David Carter says it is has been a challenge to decide which Sable Island stories should be shared in the exhibit.

“There’s so many stories to tell and not enough room to tell them all,” he says.

Sable Island: Over the Dunes, Beyond Wild Horses opens with a public reception Wednesday at  7:30 p.m. at the Museum of Natural history in Halifax.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ron Shaw