Hantsport Stories

Originally printed in "The Graduate" - Hantsport High School Yearbook, 1974   HISTORY OF HANTSPORT MEMORIAL COMMUNITY CENTRE PREFACE In preparing this report we were greatly aided by Mr. Ben Alexander. We would like to express our thanks to him for the kind use of his records and his memory. After this report had been printed, we discovered an omission: the fact that Mr. Jerry McElhiney served as Sports Director in 1967. Now we are afraid that there may be others we have not noticed and possibly there are errors in events and dates. If you find one, count yourself lucky that you can remember. So often we have heard, “I didn't know that”, as someone read a portion of our report and surprisingly, many of the younger and newer townspeople do not know the history and development of our Community Centre. This is our reason for writing this report and we proudly present it here. Leland Harive '74 Karen McDonald '74 Lorraine Smith '74 Karen Wilcox '74 PRESIDENTS OF HANTSPORT MEMORIAL COMMUNITY CENTRE J. J. Jodrey 1948-1956 R....

Published in the "Hantsport Advance" - 1904 Tribute to the Valor and Worth of Wm. Hall, Who Won the V. C. in Crimean War _____ During the early part of last month the death of Wm. Hall, a brave colored hero, who won the Victoria Cross in the Crimean War, occurred at his home in Avonport. On Sunday, Sept. 25th, a memorial service for this brave man was held in the Brooklyn Baptist Church, where a large number was present to listen to Rev. Mr. Knott's tribute to the valor and worth of the Nova Scotian negro. An unexpected element of sadness was added to the occasion by the death of Mary Hall, sister of the late William Hall, V.C., the pastor coming from the grave of the sister to preach the memorial sermon of the brother. Mr. Knott chose as his text, II Tim. ch. 4, verse 7, and spoke as follows: There passed away to his rest on August 25th, 1904, a man whose history...

Although Riverbank Cemetery was established in 1835 it did not become the main burying ground until 1840. Up to that time there had been burial grounds in Mt. Denson, Lockhartville and also a couple of private burying grounds. The first portion of land, which is now the Riverbank Cemetery, originally belonged to Edward Barker and James Mitchner. The late Ezra Churchill purchased this land and as time went on the land changed hands several times. Dr. E. L. Brown of Wolfville bought the land and found he had bought a cemetery! In 1885 the Cemetery officially became a part of the town when the Townspeople were able to subscribe enough money to purchase the land from Dr. Brown with a right of way and a road there to . In 1886 an additional piece of land was added as a gift from Messer’s George and J. W. Churchill. The first burial in the cemetery was when Ezra Mitchner,  son of Capt. Michael Mitchner was buried there March 2, 1835 . The second...

Editor's Note: The following essay appears to have been written about 1980. Author unknown. A copy was recently contributed to the Hantsport & Area Historical Society by Daryl Langille. FRANCIS SILVER Francis Silver, from Portugal, came to Hantsport, Nova Scotia, while still in his teens on board one of the sailing ships belonging to the Churchill ship-yards of Hantsport. He was to spend the rest of his working life with the Senator Ezra Churchill family as their handyman and gardener. It was probably due to the fact that the Churchills were active members of the Baptist Church that encouraged Francis to become a member also, as his name is recorded on the list of church members for 1861. His name was put down as Francis Greenwood but the Greenwood has been marked out and Silver written above it. The church had been organized for thirty-one years by this time and this date 1861 marked the beginning of the third minute book. The second...

Jessie (1899-1994) and Elmira (1896-1976) Borden were daughters of J. Edward Borden, the town undertaker,  and his wife Alberta Newcombe. In 1949, after a twenty-five year career as a hospital dietician in the United States, Jessie Borden returned to live with her father and sister in Hantsport. It was about this time that she began to learn weaving as a hobby. Jessie and Elmira started producing place-mats, handbags, aprons and scarves. They turned their hobby into a small business, at one time having two looms set up in the front room and selling items from their home on Main Street.   They enjoyed travelling, posing here together in 1973 for a souvenir photo taken in Lucerne, Switzerland. In October 1980 Jessie Borden was featured in a CBC Halifax Television production about Hantsport and shared her wealth of knowledge about the town's history. References: Hantsport & Area Historical Society collections The Hants Journal - 17 Dec 1980 CBC Archives - Toronto 2018...