FROM THE SCRAPBOOK
July 1994
By Dr. Bill Randall
Cottages on Harvey Lake
I made a count of the cottages on the east side of Harvey Lake beginning at Taylor Field and I was surprised to count seventy-seven. Some of these are used as year round homes now but still the number surprised me. In the early days of Harvey history only a few well-to-do persons could afford the luxury of a cottage or camp.
II try to outline a bit of the history of some of the buildings. I’ll start with the one presently occupied and recently renovated by the Caissiers. In 1948 Inez Davis bought the house in which Ellen McCullough died at age 101, and she had it moved to that site and used as a summer home.
Robert Wilson occupies the cottage once built by Purdy Cougle. Milton Moffitt recently built a new year round house where once Norman Gass had a cottage. Curtis Little has the cottage once belonging to his father-in-law Lester Murphy, built by Wesley Murray of McAdam. Roy Messer built the next cottage which most recently was occupied by Elwood Swan owned by Levurn Swan and his mother. Levurn and family occupy the cottage next which his mother Olive and Aunt Doris bought in 1956 from Marvin Smith of McAdam. Murray Grieve began building his cottage in 1964 and in 1976 made it into a year round home. Alden Wishart and his wife Evelyn live year round in the home they just recently built. Jack Hamilton’s cottage is next. Bill Randall’s cottage was built in 1960 for Willis Swan, in the same year Earl Thompson’s was built, now owned by Chris Painter of Saint John; built also that year was Alton Corey’s cottage and John Jenson’s. Joe Thompson owns the next one built by a Murray; Mrs. Nason’s cottage built by Pem Little; Jamieson’s cottage built by Holyoke, sold to Dr. Haviland, then sold to Raymond Jamieson. Ken & Jocelean Hall owns a cottage established by Clarence Swan in 1956.
Peter Annis has a cottage which was once a house situated on the Fred Grieve farm. Carl Sawyer purchased a cottage which had been built for Mabel Wilson and converted it to a year round home.
I would like to determine positively the oldest cottage on the Lake, but have not been able to do so with certainty. It might be the next one. Fred Grieve’s wife’s sister was a Moffitt whose daughter married Herbert Charles Bull, they built a cottage in 1915. The cottage called Pepin Haven was built by Fred Grieve, passed on to daughter Hazel, passed on to nephew Levurn, sold to Pepin, next Blunstons and back to Pepins. Next, a red cottage built by the brother-in-law of George and Ethel Tracey, Mr. Whiting. Next a grey cottage owned by Terry Christie built by Herb Swan. Next a full season home, built by Vaughn Fraser on the lot where Earl Dow once had a camp. Mr. & Mrs. Kia Stairs have the next cottage which like so many have changed ownerships many times. I’m not sure who the builder was, possibly the Vaughns of Fredericton, at least they shared a well with the next cottage which was a Vaughn cottage and then a Garvie, and then Carson McGlinchey built a new cottage on the site. Edwin Robison has always owned the next red cottage. Rodney Black has the full-time home which he bought from Dick Corey. Dick bought the property from Jimmy Craig and moved the cottage which had been built by Harry Corey, to another lot. Travis Williams owns the next cottage. Al Knowlton the next one. He and Joyce built it in 1950. John & Brenda Little own a cottage which was built for Wallace Coburn, sold to Carmen Little and then to John, Mrs. Arthur Craig has a cottage which Arthur built, on land he purchased from Mrs. McAuliffe. Mrs. McAuliffe owns the cottage built by her father, George Swan. Mrs. Brewer owns the cottage by Sucker Brook which was built for Dora Hunter. Wallace Coburn moved a small house on to the lot across the brook, now owned by Mr. Pollock. Mrs. Murray Pollock owns the next cottage which belonged to her late husband’s father Ralph, who bought it from Wallace Coburn, who got it from Bowman McGee, built by Lewis Grieve in the late 20’s. Doug & Gert Delaney own the cottage built by Gert’s father, Robert Dorcas.. Family descendants of Waldo H. Swan make summer visits to the cottage built by Waldo in 1937. Elmer Bryenton McAdam built the next cottage now owned by Paul Burgess. John Thompson owns the octagonal shaped cottage built on land once owned by Ersel Corey who had torn down a camp on the lot owned by Jim Piercy of McAdam. Harry Gass built the next cottage owned now by daughter Bernice. The next cottage is owned by the Lanes. It was originally the Harry Corey cottage mentioned earlier which had been moved by Dick Corey. This is on part of a lot once owned by Alex Hay, then Burt Hurd of McAdam, to his daughter Vera Ryder who later married Fred little, who sold the property to Peter Gillis, who then sold it to a Swazey couple, who divided the lot, selling part to the Lane’s and eventually the other part to Matthews.
The next structure is a year round home owned by Roy Bridges. It was once a store at Thomaston’s Corner owned by Billy Gillespie. Billy Gillespie’s wife Janie had a brother Amos Moffitt who moved the building to its present site. It became the property of Eugene, son of Amos, and was sold to Fred Vaughn, Benny McGee, Earl Grieve and the Bridges. Ernest and Margaret Moffitt own the next green cottage which was a building brought in two sections from the construction site of the Tobique Dam by the Gillespie brothers in 1955. Jack Moffitt owns the next cottage formerly owned by his father Vincent built for Grandfather Lewis Moffitt by Hughie Little and Sandy Rosborough of McAdam. Willard Wilson built the next cottage in 1929, remodeled in 1953 and now owned by son Arleigh and Ruby. Frank & Evelyn Piercy built the next cottage in 1958. In 1937 Lorne Coffey built the next cottage, now owned by Helen Coburn. Wes Coburn built the next cottage, owned now by Raymond & Shirley Mersereau, Wesley’s niece. The next cottage might be the oldest, built by Norman Smith now owned by Arthur. Three smaller cottages are adjacent, built for Arthur’s daughters Marilyn, Barbara and Nancy. The one built for Barbara is now owned by Bill Gould. The Bunker cottage was a building moved there by Eugene Hanselpacker. Eugene’s father, Fred and mother Bessie owned the next cottage which is presently owned by John Hanselpacker. Roy Lister built the next cottage now owned by Paul. Lyman Greene’s cottage is next, and then Mr. & Mrs. Claude Cyre have renovated into a full time home a camp built by the Rev. Bert Lyons. Jack Wiggins installed a mobile home on land which was once owned by Fred Weeks. The Weeks cottage was burned and was never replaced. The late Gordon Armstrong owned the next three buildings, his widow Cecilia sold most of the property to Mr. Feisst keeping one cottage which she sold to a McKay family. Mr. Feisst sold another camp and maintains his home in the main house. Dr. George Fletcher had a cottage lot and camp in the next space but when the camp burned it was not replaced, Steven Fletcher has built a cottage on that lot. The next cottage belongs to Phillip Christie; the next one Maxine Young; the next one Maxine Young; the next one Graham & Dorothy Clarke; the next one Stan Melanson; the next one Guy & Vi Coburn. Herb Swan built an A frame cottage now owned by Butlers. The next two cottages belong to Fred and Eleanor Bartlett. The small A frame was built by Hayward Jewett John & Cheryl Kirk own the next cottage built originally by Mr. Harris, and Gordon & Ann Stinson the next cottage. At the northern end of the lake are the last three cottages. Ronald Corey, Ernest Swan and the Roberts of Presque Isle Maine. The site of this cottage was on land belonging to the Glendenning family.
Source: Rev. Bill Randall’s “From The Scrapbook Vol. One.”
