The morning mists of Digby County clung to the lowlands like breath on glass. Sunlight filtered through tall spruce and birch that framed the Sissiboo River, and in the stillness, only the crows dared cry. Somewhere beyond the cedar-scented fog, in a clearing that had once been wild forest, a cabin of hand-hewn timber sat with its windows glowing faintly from within. There, in the spring of 1796, a boy named William Cromwell drew his first breath.