Articles

Since about the 1870s, the inhabitants of this area, some twenty kilometres northeast of Richmond, were aware of the strange substance which veined the rocks on a hillside known as "Webb's Ledge." It was a Welsh miner named Evan Williams, who, visiting his parents in 1881, first identified the substance as the mineral asbestos, and recognized its commercial value.

In its infancy, hydroelectric power in the Eastern Townships was in the hands of a variety of small, local companies.

Beginning in the 1850s, the Eastern Townships were the centre of a massive "copper rush". One of the first copper mines in the area was in Leeds Township. Immense deposits were soon discovered in Acton, Bolton, and most important of all, Ascot, where rich concentrations of copper ore (and sulphur) were discovered in 1859.

Stanstead’s local indigenous stone, and the mainstay of the local economy, is a variety of granite most often referred to as “Stanstead grey.” Stanstead grey has been quarried and worked in and around Beebe (which is now a part of Stanstead) for generations. But what exactly is this durable stone?

In the early years of settlement, farmers had to make their own shoes, harnesses, and other leather necessities. When a cow died, the farmer and his wife would scrape, cure, and stretch the hide. The leather could then be used for making everything from patches for mending clothing to door hinges. When tanneries began to appear in villages, the nasty chore of curing cowhides was not one that was widely missed by many people.

An animal that was essential to the settlers was the sheep, whose fleece could be used to produce wool. On the farms each spring, sheep would be sheared and the wool washed of its natural grease and dirt, combed, and finally carded. Carding was the untangling of the fibres. Hand cards were used.

The first settlers who were granted land in the Eastern Townships promised to build grist mills and roads within the first two years of settlement. There were few people more important to a settlement than the miller. The village mill was the link between farm and industry.

While workers elsewhere were suffering the work shortages and poverty of the worst part of the Great Depression, the "Three Villages" in the early 1930s were enjoying full employment.

Hunter’s Mills is situated on a side-road about mid-way between Stanbridge East and Frelighsburg, along Route 237. Built up around a small waterfall on the Pike (Brochets) River, Hunter's Mills takes its name from the Hunter family, who ran a woollen mill at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Route 247, between Beebe Plain and the Fitch Bay Narrows, is an undulating, winding stretch of road with some lovely unspoiled scenery, picturesque farms, and splendid views of Owl’s Head, across Lake Memphremagog. It’s a beautiful drive.

Although Massawippi is by no means a ghost town, the village is a long way from the vibrant little community it once was. Situated at the junction of Routes 208 and 143, about midway between Stanstead and Lennoxville, the village’s origins date back to the beginning of the 1800s.

A hamlet in Potton Township, Vale Perkins, or East Potton, as it was once known, was named after Samuel Perkins who settled in this vicinity in the 1790s.

Built in 1875, Potton Springs Hotel and its famous sulphur springs attracted thousands of guests from all over eastern North America. The most important local attraction in its day, the spa had its own railway station and post office.

PRESERVING MEAT

Canada is often called the land of the maple. Indeed, the maple leaf is our national emblem. The Eastern Townships is one of the areas in Canada best suited for maple syrup production. In fact, over half of the North American crop was, and still is, produced in the Province of Quebec.

The 19th century saw the growth of agricultural societies all over the Eastern Townships.

Cows were milked in the morning and evening. Before the advent of electricity and milking machines, the chore had to be done by hand. It took about an hour for two or three people to milk twenty cows.

During the winter, when the ground was frozen and covered with snow, the men and boys of the farm would take their axes and cross cut saws and drive their teams of horses into the woods. Since the foliage was all gone, the underbrush was not thick, so the teams could move about with relative ease in the forest.

Apples have been cultivated for the past four thousand years. They were introduced to North America from Europe by the early colonists in both New England and Canada. It has been recorded that the first apples in North America were grown in Acadia in 1635.

Before the invention of modern refrigeration techniques, cutting blocks of ice from frozen lakes and streams was an important wintertime task for local farmers.