Rails-to-Trails – celebrating 30 years

Guest Opinion by Ian Scott as published in The Guardian, June 10, 2019

- 123RF Stock Photo

 It was great to read the "Trail blazers" coverage on June 3, and Bryson Guptill's, "A walk around PEI? The next big thing?" on June 6 which both brought back rich memories of the early efforts to secure the abandoned rail lands in public hands for trail conversion. 

It was August 3, 1989 - 30 years ago that Rails-to-Trails was born at a meeting Gordon MacQueen and I organized with Ron Hately as primary guest speaker. 

Gordon knew Ron, a cyclist, who had travelled the Cape Cod Rail Trail. I knew Don & Florence Deacon who were international hikers.

Gordon and I were keen to do the leg work but knew we needed someone with Deacon's seasoned ability within the political realm. 

Retired from municipal and provincial politics in Ontario but full of energy, he was careful about which new causes he would embrace. I pitched the idea to him and after talking with Florence he agreed to a plan where I would volunteer as secretary and Gordon as treasurer if he would accept nomination as chairman. 

We asked him to also speak about their recent hiking tour in England. 

Ernie Morello had just completed a major plan for government called Charlottetown Routes for Health & Nature which included rail lands in Charlottetown; he agreed to be our third speaker.

Gordon was action oriented and arrived at the meeting with a cash box and receipt book declaring that "we better sign people up when they arrive." 

He deposited his own $10 bill into the cash box to become the founding member of an organization that didn't yet exist, and continued signing up members arriving at the public meeting. 

With the three speakers and election of an interim board the evening was a huge success although we eventually learned that a number of the people at the meeting would make their own case for private ownership of the rail land by adjacent land owners.

Harry Holman joined the board and as an historian knew the historical significance of the PEI Railway. He developed the slide show that guest speakers would take across the Island to make a case for preservation of the railway lands and creating a new resource. Dean Shaw likewise joined the first board and provided his office boardroom for meetings, drafted documents to register the organization, and with Gordon MacQueen was a keen salesperson for memberships. Within 19 days memberships in the fledgling organization reached 140.

A presentation by Harry Holman called PEI Railway Past & Present in Sept. raised membership to 200 and the show was on the road - Summerside - Kensington - Montague.  A newsletter kept people informed and meetings with government led to the desired response where the Province bought the land for a linear park which they administered while continuing to work with volunteer organizations and municipalities. Doug Murray, a civil servant led the process taking it from a tangled mess of old spikes and rough gravel into a smooth trail bed with interpretative panels and services at the various trail heads across the province. Even retirement has not stopped him from continuing to expand the system into spur lines that connected Stratford to Murray River in recent years. A project that has included many levels of government and many volunteers, the Confederation Trail remains an example of the importance of cooperation to realize a dream. Similar resources elsewhere that remain undeveloped are evidence our model works well.

Congratulations to everyone who continues to dream of new trails and kudos to Bryson Guptill for his vision of a 700 km trail around the Island, placing us in the league of other international hiking and cycling destinations.

As we approach the 30^th anniversary date this summer I recall Don Deacon's towering stature with his helmet rising above any vehicular traffic as he biked around the city from his Water St. home, and the ever jovial Gordon MacQueen in his final years telling me how his morning walk on the Confederation Trail before the city awoke, was a wonderful tonic to start each day. 

Not only were they each believers in building dreams for others they both knew the personal value of making use of these trails. 

To all the dreamers, and to those continuing to advance the cause, 
Happy Trails.

Ian Scott is a trails advocate and craftsperson in Charlottetown.

Bears on Prince Edward Island

While viewing today's pastoral landscape across PEI we often forget a time when large wild mammals were part of that landscape. The bear is one that did survive into modern times and thus stories exist of encounters with bears and of the "last bear" on PEI.

Two articles are great sources for research on bears including:

• Bear Facts the History and Folklore of Island Bears – Pt I –  Jim Hornby including The Black Bear on Prince Edward Island: A Natural History –  Stan Vass
• Bear Facts the History and Folklore of Island Bears – Pt II –  Jim Hornby

This "dancing bear" appeared in Charlottetown in 1890s. PARO PEI Photo.

100 Bells – in Remembrance

by Ian Scott

Bell ringers will gather this Remembrance Day in their respective places of worship across the country and around the world to remember the sacrifice of those who served and died in WWI. This will take place at the going down of the sun which locally is 4:44 pm. Peace finally arrived at the 11^th hour, of the 11^th day of the 11^th month - 100 years ago and the bells of remembrance will recognize the loss to both those who served and civilians. 

Canadian bells will be tolled 100 times, in a manner similar to a funeral with a 5 sec. period of silence between each tolling. Some counties have chosen other times during the day to ring their bells, and in the UK bell ringers will both toll their bells, but change over half way through to full ringing (like wedding bells, to celebrate the long-awaited peace). The tradition of using bells as a way of communications is longstanding and many stories are told of how people in England first learned of peace 100 years ago through the ringing of the local church bell as news travelled across the countryside bell ringer to bell ringer in a time when alternate means of communication were limited but joyful bell ringing was a sign recognized by all, at work in fields or in villages.

Charlottetown residents recall the end of WW II which likewise was communicated with the ringing of church bells. Allan C. McLeod, of Prince Charles Drive recalled the day as a boy well. In 1945 he and a friend were at the Charlottetown Driving Park. The memory remains fresh, “I’ll never forget it, the bells ringing across the city and everyone looking around and wondered what it meant.”  The arrival of peace was a moment in time that became a demarcation in the flow of events for families, communities and entire countries, as the dread of awaiting sad personal news from war zones would gradually pass away. For Allan McLeod the bells announcing the end of war permanently established a clear memory of where he was, and who he was with.

Various local churches have been contacted by the Royal Canadian Legion and have agreed to participate in this historic event to mark the 100^th anniversary of the Armistice of Nov. 11, 1918. Bells will commence at 4:44 pm, as an appropriate way to mark this occasion. Allan McLeod will be among the bell ringers at the Kirk of St. James on Sunday.

Historic Irving Oil "Tower" Stations

While a designated heritage resource stands unused for many years now, the gas station known as Euston Street Irving served Charlottetown residents for many years as a local station at a time when there were often gas stations on many corners. It had been a survivor when many others closed but it was finally shuttered and remains in an unused state at the corner of Queen and Euston.

85 Euston Street -
photo City of Charlottetown, Natalie Munn, 2009

The design is one that was familiar to Maritimes as the architecture of Acadian architect, Samuel Roy
and the description on Canada's Historic Places indicates:

The heritage value of 85 Euston Street lies in its role as the only remaining gas station of its type on Prince Edward Island and its association with Acadian architect, Samuel Roy. 85 Euston Street is an example of a small turreted gas station designed by Samuel Roy. He designed a limited number of these particular little gas stations for founder of Irving Oil and fellow Bouctouche, New Brunswick resident, Kenneth Colin Irving, in the 1930s. A number of Maritime cities and communities had them including Halifax, Bridgewater, and Truro in Nova Scotia and Sackville, New Brunswick but few examples remain. It is likely that this gas station was constructed in the early 1930s. It remained a popular filling station until 2008 when it closed. A rental car business now operates from the building. 85 Euston Street is the only gas station building of its type left standing on Prince Edward Island.

Traditionally, these stations were white with red trim, featured the Irving logo and contained two service bays, a gable roof and a distinctive corner tower. Influenced by the Queen Anne Revival or Chateauesque style, they were seen as a new type of station for a new kind of business. 85 Euston Street's structure has remained intact but the trim has been changed to green and the Irving logo is no longer visible. The pumps were removed in 2008.

Acadian architect, Samuel Roy began designing filling stations for KC Irving in 1931 and continued to do so until 1974. Roy was born in Sainte-Marie-de-Kent, New Brunswick on 8 May 1895. He completed his primary education in Bouctouche, New Brunswick and then went on to Boston, Massachusetts where he began to study architecture. Roy joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1918, but returned to his studies, eventually going on to work with the Irving Oil Company designing stations as well as the Irving manor. He died in 1978.

Sources: Heritage Office, City of Charlottetown Planning Department, PO Box 98, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7K2

CHARACTER-DEFINING ELEMENTS
The heritage value of 85 Euston Street is shown in the following character-defining elements:
- the overall single storey massing of the building
- the size shape and placement of the distinctive corner tower
- the gable roof with gable dormer
- the two service bays with flat roof
- the three lights illuminating the sign above the two bays
- the size and placement of the windows
- the style and placement of the doors
- the decorative weathervane with the letter "N" atop the tower
- the decorative band running across the tower and the dormer painted to match the trim of the gable
- the brick chimney 

Examples of similar stations include the Sackville NB station which was acquired by the Village Historique Acadien in 2005 and restored to it's initial condition.

The station in Grand Pre, NS has had some sympathetic restoration and remains in operation.

Grand Pre, NS  - Google Street View Aug 2018

Architect Isaac Smith, of Prince Edward Island

Isaac Smith (1795-1871)

We share a family connection to Isaac Smith (my wife's great-great-great grandfather) and thus over the years various family items and the interest of descendants has been of assistance to others who are researching the work and life of an important Island architect. Included is a link to genealogical resources related to Smith through my family history website Homeport. 




Parks Canada undertook the research and writing of a history of Province House in 1977 through Island-born, staff historian Mary Cullen. Published as a report it is now available online in .pdf format. Server connections can be slow but patience produces the full 450 pages of this valuable research. It was great to see that Dr. Alan MacEachern and the team at ParksCanadaHistory.com created a site where older reports such as this are now widely available.

The full title is: A history of the structure and use of Province House, Prince Edward Island, 1837-1977 / by Mary K. Cullen.

Province House at centre - from 1880 Meacham's Atlas

Daphne's aunt, Marianne (Rogers) Morrow researched Isaac Smith in the 1970's and 1980's. Marianne's research  produced the excellent magazine article published in the Island Magazine. It is entitled:  The Builder: Isaac Smith and Early Island Architecture, The Island Magazine, No. 18, Fall/Winter 1985: 17-23. The digital form of the article is available thanks to the Robertson Library at UPEI.

Isaac Smith (1795-1871)
Daguerreotype original photographed by Ian Scott

Marianne and her siblings decided to donate Isaac Smith's day books and other original documents in family hands to the PEI Public Archives and Records Office where they formed part of the Smith, Alley Collection Acc2702, which includes over 1168 textual items, plus 235 images collected by Judge George Alley and Henry Smith pertaining largely to the early history of Prince Edward Island.

The Biographical  Dictionary of Architects in Canada's entry on Isaac Smith includes a listing of 16 known building that he designed, and the website Historic Places Prince Edward Island has an illustrated biography of Smith. The website Canada's Historic Places has entries for both Province House, Government House, Barton Lodge, and Point Prim Lighthouse. A house associated with the family on land Isaac had owned at
92-94 Hillsborough Street, Charlottetown is also included in their listing.

In 2001 Maplewood Books, Charlottetown published Isaac Smith and the Building of Province House by C.W.J. Eliot as part of a series called Prince Edward Island Architects: A series from the Institute of Island Architectural Studies and Conservation. The eight page illustrated document is an excellent introduction to Smith and his work.

Isaac Smith (1795-1871)
Ambrotype original photographed by Ian Scott

Daphne and I have some original Isaac Smith items including, a previously unknown image of Isaac taken when he was younger (above). The image is damaged but still is recognizable  and was an exciting discovery when it was located in 2009.  The original ambrotype (on glass) that all previously known images of him were derived from remains in its original case and the younger image is a daugerrotype (on a silver plate).

Family Firm -- Smith Brothers & Wright

Also located in 2009 were originals of Isaac's brother and business partner Henry Smith and an unidentified image next to it with a similar case which we speculate to be Henry's bride Ann "Nancy" Bovyer. That branch of the family moved as an almost intact family unit in 1858 to Auckland, New Zealand on the Prince Edward, a ship built in Summerside for the voyage. That voyage and the emigration of Islanders to New Zealand is told in an article called, The Prince Edward Settlers,  the passenger list is also available.

Henry Smith (1797-1880)
Daguerreotype original photographed by Ian Scott.

Presumed to be Ann "Nancy" (Bovyer) Smith (1802-1862).
Found next to a matching image of her husband in 2009.
Daguerreotype original photographed by Ian Scott.

The two Smith brothers and Nathan Wright (of the firm Smith Brothers & Wright) lived close to the job site when working on Province House as all three families lived on the Prince Street block across from St. Paul's Hall. Isaac in a wooden house on the Richmond corner (where the current brick, Houle House now stands) with brother Henry next door at 100 Prince St. in the blue wooden house, and Nathan Wright up the street at 112-114 Prince.

Isaac Smith's house at left - located at 98 Prince St. Charlottetown, PEI

Government House

Government House  - from 1880 Meacham's Atlas

As the architect for Government House as well as Province House, Isaac Smith's role is documented in the collection of known source records related to Government House and related visual material that was produced as a two volumes set available in pdf format. The books were digitially published in 2015.

• Government House Research Manual Volume I -Historical Images: 1839 to 1967- Compiled & Annotated for the Friends of the Gatehouse Cooperative by Dr. Richard Campanaro,
• Government Houseand the Fanningbank Estate:A Guidebook by Reginald Porter for the Friends of the Gatehouse Cooperative

The two documents are an invaluable resource to current and future researchers as well as those making decisions about Fanningbank.