Located in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains, the village of Inverness is remarkable for its rolling landscapes and its roads that wind through valleys and around green hills offering a unique sight on the grounds, the pastures, the brooks and the forests.
Early Steps in Cowansville's Development
Located at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains, the township of Dudswell was first inhabited around 1800, in the area of Bishopton. About 1824, the area surrounding Marbleton, nestled around a small lake in a luscious green valley, expanded with the mining of calcium deposits, which drew an influx of Francophones.
About 100 kilometres southeast of Montreal, on the shores of a magnificent five-kilometre wide lake, Knowlton is at once a blooming, shady and festive village, especially during the summer and weekends.
FOUR-SEASON RESORT
Any outing to the northeastern part of the Townships (the Hautes-Appalaches region) would be incomplete without a visit to Kinnear's Mills. Off the beaten track about 20 km northeast of Thetford Mines, this little hamlet is located at the heart of a hilly region in the Osgood River valley.
Il fut un temps où les Cantons-de-l'Est étaient parsemés d'écoles rurales. Sur les anciennes cartes de la région, on pouvait facilement remarquer que chaque hameau possédait son école.
On December 26th, 1871, Daniel Way appears with wife Keziah before the notary public and sells to son Lorenzo almost all the land he owns by the Niger River, including the family dwelling, for twelve hundred dollars. On the same day Daniel sells to his other son Asa the remainder of the land for eight hundred dollars. In addition, Asa and Lorenzo each get an undivided half of the the woolen mill and the machinery used for carding wool and dressing cloth.
Having paid tribute to the Hollister and Truell families, let’s go back to Way’s Mills in the 1860s. A post route from Barnston to Way’s Mills is established on July 1st, 1863. Ebenezer Southmayd Senior, the Ways’ neighbour, is Way’s Mills first postmaster.
One of the earliest settlers of Way’s Mills, Harry Hollister, owned over 100 acres in the Fifth Range on which he operated a grist mill and a saw mill. He died in 1857 (see Part 8, 10 and 11). The following year, his widow Mary Ann Yemans sold the farm and the mills to Valorous Truell for 100$ on condition that (the following is an extract from the 1858 deed of sale):