Mapping memories of an invisible town: imagination, empathy, and temporality in a community-engaged storymap of clementsport, NS

The Hidden Village of Clementsport is a community-engaged StoryMap designed to recreate the lived experience of a rural Nova Scotian town characterized by “invisible” or decaying heritage. Moving beyond topographical mapping, this project employs a humanistic, phenomenological approach to center nonexistent structures as vital loci of social meaning. By integrating oral histories, archival photographs, and 3D virtual tours, the map fosters an “imagined space” that invites multisensory empathy and counters cartographic myopia. Embracing “curated decay,” the project presents a landscape that is temporally appropriate rather than abandoned. To ensure ethical collaboration and long-term agency, the platform will be returned to community stewards, allowing for continuous updates as new memories emerge. It serves as a digital palimpsest that reflects the values and memories of a changing, aging, and evolving community, and invites reflection on creative methods for conserving heritage, memory, and space alongside one another.