Community History
 Topsail Chamberlains Manuels Long
Pond |
Foxtrap Kelligrews Upper
Guillies Seal
Cove Lawerence
Pond |
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Topsail
Topsail was probably named for nearby Topsail Head, which is
visible from the opposite side of the Bay. The Head is identified on
eighteenth-century maps of Conception Bay, but there is no record of settlement
until about 1820 (even though Topsail Beach was used as a
summer fishing station in 1815). The first settlers were from Portugal Cove:
Philip Churchill, Joseph Miller and the Allen brothers. They were soon joined by
families from Habour Grace such as the O' Briens, Geehans, and Nevilles. Other
traditional family names of Topsail include Barnes, Carter, Chaytor, Fowler,
Hibbs, Mercer, Metcalfe, Smith and Snow. By 1845 the population was 118. Being
some distance removed from headland fishing grounds, many residents earned their
living from farming or worked as carpenters to supplement the fishery. Most
dealt with merchants in St. John's, especially after Topsail Road was built in
1857. With the St. John's market for fresh produce 25 km away, the population
grew and farms were cleared along back roads. In 1860, Topsail Parish was made a
parish of the Church of England, and St. John's the Evangelist church (replaced
in 1977) was built. The population reached 229 by 1869 and in 1871 a new
Methodist church, "the church by the side of the road", was completed. In the
1880s the first schoolhouse was built, and a post office opened.
Early in its history Topsail was recognized for its beauty and its fine "bathing" beach. After 1857 the St. John's elite would visit the area on horseback and once the railway was built excursions to Topsail became a major feature of the service, with the first regular passenger trains in June of 1882. The Bulter Hotel opened in 1895. Later, the Seaview and Woodstock hotels were established. For the wealthy of St. John's, Topsail became a popular place for country homes, while permanent residents would often rent their spare rooms to summer tourists. Some fishing continued, especially for salmon and lobster, which was sold fresh to hotels or door-to-door. After 1893, there was also employment in the Bell Island mines.
In 1922, St. Thomas of Villa Nova Roman Catholic church opened. The population reached 400, where it stayed until after World War II. Thereafter there was much new home construction in Topsail, as improved roads made the area more accessible to commuters and many farmers sold their land as building lots. Topsail had a population of 888 in 1971, the year that the community was included as a part of the municipality of Conception Bay South and has since continued to increase in population.
The first school in Topsail was held in the Methodist church in 1841. The first school master was Mr. Thomas Darby. He later became a Methodist minister and graduated with a Dr. Degree. The first post office was owned by Mrs. Maria Moyse. It was taken over by her son Joseph after her death. The post office was not a building by itself, but just a room in the Moyse home. Mail would be delivered by boat, then by train then by road.
Entertainment mainly consisted of dances held in the two halls, S.U.F (Society of United Fisherman) and L.O.A (Loyal Orange Association) for the serviceman stationed in Topsail and the residents also. These halls became a central part of the social life of the community. The members would usually form their own bands and would provide a colorful parade on special days or events.
One special event that occurred in Topsail happened in August 11th , 1899 when H.M.S 'Renown' with H.R.H Edward, Prince of Wales and party arrived with the 'Dauntless' and 'Dragon' to lie for twenty-four hours in Topsail Bay. It was reported that the prince went ashore at Topsail in a small launch and walked around the village during the evening.
A once popular summer resort, Topsail was a summer residence for some famous Newfoundlanders such as the Tootons, Mr. C.A Pippy, Dr. Charles R. Bell, Mr. Hubert Herder, and Mr. Monroe. Sir Edgar Bowering also lived in Topsail and his remains are buried in the Anglican Cemetary.
Chamberlains
Chamberlains has been part of the incorporated town of CBS since
1971. The settlement of Chamberlains, situated between Topsail and Manuels was
first reported in the Census of 1845, as Chamberlain, with a population of 105.
Chamberlain is an English family name of Gloucestershire and other counties but
is rare in Newfoundland. It is certain that the area was settled from at least
1800. According to documents examined by Elaine Hyde (1973), among the first
settlers in Chamberlains were Nicholas and James Medcaff (1801), William
Williams (1803), Thomas Stickley (1804) and William Smith (1810), all planters.
The first known recorded land grant was given to Augustus Des Barres in 1840.
Lovell's Newfoundland Directory (1871) listed the family names of Fowler,
Hiscock, Mercer, Squires, Casey, Cheater, Dowden, Foster and Slade and by 1901
the community had grown to 288 people.
Fishing and farming were the early economic mainstays of Chamberlains and it was also, like Topsail and Manuels, much frequented by people of St. John's as a summer resort. By the 1850s Chamberlains was connected by road to St. John's, which provided a close market for produce. Other employment included mining at Bell Island and some saw milling. After 1945 the majority of the labour force commuted to St. John's, where many residents had found defense-related jobs during WWII. Some farming and service-industry jobs in the Chamberlains area provided other employment.
Manuels
A community
in southeast Conception Bay at the mouth of the Manuels River, on the banks of
which is an important fossil bed. Since 1971, Manuels has been a part of the
Local Improvement District (later the town) of Conception Bay South. There are
several traditions concerning the origin of the name. One is that the name is a
corruption of man o' war - from a deserting sailor who took refuge in the area.
It has also been suggested that Manuels River was named by the explorer Gasper
Corte-Real, after his patron, King Manuel of Portugal. A third suggestion,
perhaps the most likely, is that the river takes its name from the English name
Manuel, a family name associated with Lower Island Cove.
Three planters were recorded at Manuels in the early 1800s: William and John Smith and William Williams. Other early family names in the community were Atkins, Neal and Squires. The Census of 1845 recorded 74 people in 10 families. Most of the people were engaged in the inshore fishery, but after a road was built to St. John's in the 1840's farming increased in importance. In 1882 the community was connected to St. John's by railway and in July of that year the first railway "outing" to Manuels was organized - by the Sons of St. Andrew, who were entertained at the Bellevue Hotel, owned by the Squires family. Railway excursions soon became popular among city residents and Manuels River a favorite summer "resort".
After the death of Mary Tobin Squires, proprietor of the Bellevue, a large tract of land - in 1991 the site of Villa Nova Plaza Shopping Centre - was sold to the Roman Catholic Church for the construction of an orphanage and industrial school and a deanery, Powers Court. Villa Nova orphanage opened in 1886, but was struck by a typhoid epidemic in 1889 which claimed the life of Father Michael Morris and some of the orphans. After the opening of Mount Cashel orphanage Villa Nova was closed. The 1891 Census recorded 194 residents at Manuels. After Confederation farming and tourism both decreased in importance; Manuels became a residential area for people working in St. John's or employed in local services. With the completion of an arterial road in 1985, Manuels became one of the fastest growing residential areas in Conception Bay South.
Long
Pond
Located in southeast
Conception Bay since 1971 Long Pond has been a part of the incorporated
community of Conception Bay South. It takes is name from a large salt-water
lagoon, separated from the waters of Conception Bay by a rocky beach. Long Pond
and the Gut leading into it have been dredged to form the only harbour in the
Conception Bay South area suitable for larger vessels.
The first recorded settlers were John Kennedy and Barney Janes, who were granted land in 1803 in the area known as Lookout (on the west side of the Pond, above what was in 1990 the harbour facility). Other family names in the community by 1840 included Eason, Greenslade, Porter, Rideout, Stanley and Taylor. When communities in the area were first recorded separately in the Census in 1845, Long Pond was the largest, with a population of 135. By 1857, after a road was built between Conception Bay communities and St. John's, the population of Long Pond had increased to 231. It was 374 by 1869.
Much of the expansion occurred as a result of the development of agriculture. Produce was marketed in St. John's. After the Harbour Grace Railway was completed in 1884 farming supplanted the fishery as the major source of employment in the community. Early in the twentieth century some residents also found employment in a quarry for the non-metallic mineral pyrophyllite (talc). The talc deposit was first identified in 1898 on a ridge near Johnnie's Pond, about 4 km inland from Long Pond. Quarrying began in 1903 and a tramway was constructed to connect "Talcville" to the railway line. Operations were suspended two years later.
In 1935 W.J Browne noted that, unlike the surrounding communities of Manuels and Kelligrews there was "nothing much of the summer resort about Long Pond, which is the most thickly inhabited section in the district." But in 1936 the Avalon Yacht Club (now the Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club) was built at the east end of Long Pond. In 1942, the Club was taken over by the government for civil defense purposes. On April 7, 1943 the premises were destroyed by a fire of unknown origin. After Confederation Long Pond became the center for the tuna sport fishery in Conception Bay. It is also the site of the Conception Bay South Swimming Pool and Recreational Complex, opened in 1988.
In 1937 the pyrophyllite quarry came back into production and the pond was dredged to provide aport facility. The quarry closed in 1947, but was re-opened in 1956 by Newfoundland Minerals Ltd. The harbour was developed further to handle other bulk shipments such as livestock feed and petroleum products. Since World War II the population of Lond Pond has grown rapidly, as part of a general boom in residential housing in Conception Bay South. In 1990, many of the people commuted to St. John's to work.
Foxtrap
Foxtrap is
located between Long Pond and Kelligrews and includes the area known as Middle
Bight (renamed Codner by proclamation on June 18, 1906, after Samuel Codner).
According to E.R Seary, Middle Bight was named "after the slight indentaion in
the coastline between Foxtrap and Kelligrews." Seary states that Foxtrap was so
called from as local tradition that "the settlement grew up in a previously
unnamed district where only foxes were caught in the rabbitsnares".
In the time from 1774 to 1845, which was characterized by a "diffusion of planters into more marginal coves and sites where fish-rooms could be built, including the virtually harbourless stretch on the south-eastern side of the bay." A lack of land and a growing population necessitated this movement in the early 19th century by small groups of people.
Until the 1940s and 1950s Foxtrap was primarily a fishing-farming settlement dependent upon the small-boat inshore cod fishery and some endeavours in vegetable farming and livestock raising for the St. Johns market. Sawmilling and work in the nearby Bell Island mines also provided employment. The oubreak of World War II provided many defense-related jobs in St. Johns and Argentia and many residents of Foxtrap began commuting to service-industry jobs outside Foxtrap, a practice which continued in 1982. In 1982 one small fish-processing facility was operation in Foxtrap.
Foxtrap, a Church of England settlement from its earlier days, was a mission of the Society for the Propagtion of the Gospel by 1848 and had been served by a resident priest since 1846. The 1st clergyman, Rev. Benjamin Fleetwas instrumental in the building of the first church in the area. Of this first church it was said that Fleet ordered "the men to sit on one side of the Nave and and the women on the other". By 1928, the Foxtrap Mission was elevated to Parish status and a large new church, All Saints' Church, was erected in the community by 1932 and consecrated on All SaintsEve, October 31, 1937.
By 1854 there were two schools in operation in Middle Bight. In 1982 Foxtrap students attended modern regional schools in their own community, including the Queen Elizabeth Regional High School. Foxtrap is famous for the so-called "Battle Of Foxtrap". Newpaper accounts the series of civil disturbances which greeted the building of the railway around Conception Bay from 1880 to 1882. In 1881 the inhabitants of Foxtrap, believing that all unutterable evils would happen to them if the line went throught their lands, stonded the engineers took away their instruments and drove them from their work. The inspector of police, Mr. Carty, and the police magistrate, with only eleven men were left to contend with a mad excited crowd of about five hundred men and women armed with guns and every variety of weapon. The arrest of the ringleader at the point of bayonet, and firm action of the police authority restored order. All this unseemly, dangerous disturbance was directly caused by the unscrupulous fabrication of falsehoods to stir up these poor, ignorant people to oppose the railway."
In Prowse's view the Foxtrap incident was sparked by a vicious rumour, spread by railway opponents, that a toll gate was to be erected to tax all pedestrains and vehicles; furthermore, it was claimed, valuable farm land and horses would be subject to taxation and some other parcels of land would be annexed. Despite assurances from thier member in the House of Assembly, Joesph Little, and others that this would not happen the local residents, believing people to be in the paid employ of the interests of the railway, continued their rioting for five days, beginning on July 26, 1881.
The battle of Foxtrap was waged mainly by men and women wielding a variety of such weapons as pitch forks, knives, broomsticks, hatchets, and in the case of women aprons laden with sharp stones. Futher incidents occurred in October 1881, when a manifesto was nailed to the bridge calling on all residents to withstand the railway invasion, and on May 12, 1882, when railway engineers were reportedly attacked and driven off by women wielding "blubber and pickled water". Despite the resistance from Foxtrap the line was eventually completed to Harbour Grace.
Lawrence Pond
A small community scattered around a
pond between Seal Cove and Upper Gullies.In 1986 Lawrence Pond joined the town
of Conception Bay South, after refusingto join the Local Improvement District
when it was incorporated in 1971. Most of the early resisdents of Lawrence Pond
were summer inhabitants, normally living in St. John's. The first permanent
population, 11 people, was recorded in the Census of 1966. In 1990 only 13 of
approximately 60 residences were occupied year round.
Kelligrews
Since
1971, Kelligrews has been part of the town of CBS. Local tradition associates
the name with a seventeenth-century pirate, Captain Kelly, surmising that it is
a corruption of Kelly's Grove. However, some scholars have suggested that the
community takes its name from Kelligrews Point, after a Conception Bay merchant
family.
Although a few fishing families settled around 1800, the area did not have a substantial permanent population from older fishing communities. Among the first settlers of Kelligrews were named Anthony, Dawe, Dwyer, Hibbs, LeDrew, Nugent, Tilley and Walsh. The community was first recorded in the Census in 1845, with a population of 78. The relatively late date of settlement is accounted for by the fact that southeast Conception Bay was remote from most inshore fishing grounds and did not have a good harbour. By the late 1840's, however, Kelligrews was connected by road with St. John's and between 1845 and 1857 the population nearly doubled. From 1884 there was also a rail connection with St. John's and Harbour Grace.
In 1891, there were about 300 people at Kelligrews, most of whom were farmers. A factor which contributed to the growth of the community was the beginning of iron mining on Bell Island in 1894.By 1907, Kelligrews station served as the railhead for Conception Bay residents who worked in the mines, and there were two steamers on the crossing to Bell Island.
Kelligrews is probably best known to many Newfoundlanders for the song "The Kelligrews Soiree". The song is about a fall festival that has been held annually in the community since the early days of settlement. With a few exceptions most of the local characters mentioned in the song were residents of St. John's. Although the nearby resorts of Topsail and Manuels were considered somewhat more fashionable, after the rail connection with St. John's was established Kelligrews became a popular area for summer recreation for city resistants.
After Confederation Kelligrews became less a farming community than a residential area for people commuting to St. John's. By 1961 there were more than 1000 people, with growth occurring mainly along the Conception Bay Highway in housing developments situated on former farmland or in previously undeveloped areas south of the Highway.
Upper Gullies
Since
1971 the community of Upper Gullies has been part of the municipality of
Conception Bay South. It lies between Seal Cove and Riverdale (formerly Lower
Guillies) and has historically been essentially an agricultural area, with the
shore and Labrador fisheries playing a smaller role in the local economy. In the
latter half of the twentieth century many of Upper Gullies' residents have
worked in service industries or commuted to work in St. John's. Upper Gullies
has not been enumerated separately in the Census since 1971, since which time it
has more than doubled in size. In 1994 there were a few small farms and many
small businesses in Upper Gullies.
Among the first settlers was Garland Andrews, probably from Port de Grave, who was living at Upper Gullies in 1832. At about the same time, the family of Charles and Suzanna Coates moved to the settlement via Brigus and Kelligrews. Charles Coates was orginally from Dorset, England, and had been an employee of Charles Cozens at Brigus. He later became a teacher, and in 1850 had a schoolhouse built in Upper Gullies, while he also ran a branch store for Cozens at Kelligrews. Avoters' list of 1835 notes the adult male settlers in Upper Gullies as Garland, Alfred and John Andrews, Charles Cootes and Charles and William Scott. At the time of the 1845 Census, the community had a population of 84. Fishing and farming were the primary activities, with fish being sold to merchants at Brigus and Port de Grave and, in later years, St. John's. But a decline in Conception Bay fish stocks in the latter part of the 1800s led to an increased reliance on farming.(After 1900 the Bell Island iron mines were also a major source of employment). By 1891, there were184 people in Upper Gullies, most of whom belonged to St. Peter's church of England. Since 1983the community has had a Seventh-Day Adventist chruch.
Seal
Cove
A part of the town of
Conception Bay South since 1986, Seal Cove is situated between Upper Gullies and
Holyrood. The western limit of CBS, in 1994 Seal Cove was generally considered
to include nearby Lance Cove and Indian Pond. Tradition has it that the earliest
settlers came to Seal Cove from the older communities on the north side of
Conception Bay. The community first appears in the census in 1857, with a
population of 61. By 1884 it had a population of 117, and this number has
continued to grow steadily.
Orginally a fishing community, by the 1880's there were also some full-time farmers at Seal Cove. Work was also available in the granite quarry that opened in 1882 to supply construction materials to the railway. Quarrying remained important to the local economy; throughout the twentieth century many gravel pits were excavated. In 1903 a pyrophyllite quarry was opened at Long Pond and Seal Cove was chosen as the site for the orginial loading pier. In 1923, Seal Cove River became the site of the United Towns Electric Company's first major hydro-electric project. Because of the wide variety of native flowers growing there, the Seal Cove River River valley - which runs from White Hill Pond to Seal Cove Pond - has been recognized by botanists as a valuable ecological site. Starting in the 1920s, people from St. John's began to build summer homes and cottages in SealCove, and the place became a popular site for trouting expeditions. In the 1980's seasonal campgrounds and tourist cabins were built.
Traditionally, Seal Cove has been a Church of England community. A church was built by 1874, but starting in the 1880s most people attended church in Upper Gullies. There were a number of Salvantionists in Seal Cove at the start at the start of the 1900s, but by the 1930s it seems most of them had converted to Pentecostalism. In 1986 a new Pentecostal church was built to replace the one opened in the 1930s. Seal Cove had its own school from 1884 to 1974, after which all students began to attend larger schools in Conception Bay South. In 1963, a vocational school was built, which in 1992 became the Seal Cove Campus of Cabot College. The community continued to grow in the 1980s, as several subdivisons were constructed. In 1994 Seal Cove was primarily a dormitory community for people working elsewhere on the Avalon Peninsula, although it did have a number of service, retail and construction-related businesses. Predominant family names include Anthony, Butler, Dawe, Dowden, Lear, and Morgan.
