
Young Charlie
Charles Macdonald was born on April 4, 1874, in Steam Mill, Nova Scotia, the second of six children born to apple-grower Nathaniel Macdonald and his wife, Catherine. In 1889, at the age of 15, Charlie left school and spent the next three years working in Kentville. He apprenticed at Woodman's Coffin Factory and the Nova Scotia Carriage Company, an ironic beginning for a man who would later champion the benefits of concrete over wood.
After completing his apprenticeship, Charlie spent two years visiting the docks, dreaming of a life at sea. In 1898, this dream became a reality. Between 1898 and 1902, Charlie sailed the world as a ship’s carpenter at the end of the Age of Sail. His travels took him to New York City, the Caribbean, Mexico, South America, the Mediterranean, Russia, England, Holland, and through the Suez Canal to India. On these voyages he encountered new architectural styles and building materials, including Mediterranean flat-roof concrete structures.
Following a brief return to the Annapolis Valley, Charlie headed west to Vancouver in 1908. There, he worked as a carpenter and sign painter, joined the Socialist Party of Canada, and gained his first hands-on experience with concrete. In 1911, following a mountaineering trip to Loch Lomond, he moved north to Alaska to work on the railway.
