Back When ... 1941 Alfred Vail is 34 years old here. His oldest son Arnie (left) was born in 1936. Lots of freckles and red hair. Second son, Wesley (right) was born in 1937. Auburn hair and freckles. First daughter Margaret (centre) as cute as cute can be, was born in 1939. (Photo & caption sent in by Mona Vail) If you have an old photo of family or the area from 'Back When' send it along to us by mail, email or place in the drop box at the drug store or bowling alley.
It was just sixty years ago when a young thirty year old took my family and myself for a fairly long walk out the Backland Road at Westfield. The young man was Snooks (Glendon) Caulfield and his beautiful young wife Eloise was also with us. His purpose was to show us the large lake which was a few miles back of Westfield called Loch Alva. My father wasn’t able to walk too far as he had fallen arches (which kept him out of the army in the war) so Snooks took us to the top of a high hill where we could see the lake in the distance. This was a tremendous thrill for me as we had lived our lives until 1948 in the city and like all young boys had fantasies of deep woods, deer, bears and secluded lakes. Such was my impression of Loch Alva. I would become the Great White Hunter!! Well, I never became the Great White Hunter but in the years that followed I spent many happy days tramping the backlands of Westfield and Grand Bay.
If you follow the Westfield Backland Road it now goes under the new highway through a concrete underpass, which certainly wasn’t there sixty years ago. Continuing on, you will eventually come to a large field which, at that time, was completely devoid of trees, although some alders and small bushes were scattered about. This must be close to a mile from the Nerepis Road. I was curious as to who had once taken the time and effort to clear this area which must have been about two acres. Nosing around the perimeter of the field I found the remains of a house foundation made of stones. In later years a very comfortable camp or cottage was built on this same foundation by Gerald Spencer who had bought a lot of the land and was also planting trees.
While meandering around the perimeter of the field I discovered the faint impression of a road that appeared to be heading to Grand Bay. There was also a more prominent one heading in the direction of Loch Alva. I made a mental note to follow both of these roads when I had lots of time. The first one that I started to follow some time later was at the northwest corner of the field and seemed to have been used to get to the lake. As I started down, I noticed some apple trees off to my left, so I left the road to investigate as this meant that there had probably been a house or farm near there. I hadn’t gone far into the woods when I saw another foundation, only this one also had the remains of some walls and roof lying about. It was beginning to become clear to me that there had once been a settlement a mile or two back from the present one by the river. Later, I found the remains of a log house on the side of the road just before it reached the field. I mentioned this to Snooks Caulfield who told me that his father had lived out there before moving to the front. This must have been over a hundred years ago as Snooks will soon be ninety himself. He also told me that there had been at least six families living there when his father was there.
I used to have my meals at Mrs. Crawford’s house when my parents were away on trips. She was George and Edith’s mother and a widow who lived just across from the Golf Course Road. She told me that there was a little girl who came to her door in the summer and fall selling vegetables by the sweet name of Primrose Jones in years gone by. She became very fond of Primrose so followed her progress with interest and admiration as Primrose lived out in the settlement back in the woods and had to walk several miles to the store and school. Perhaps some of the residents in the backlands had horses who could give her a ride on occasion. Most of the commerce in those days was done by riverboat, so anyone living out back had to follow the backland road and then walk to the Westfield wharf to catch the boat to go to the city. Primrose married a man named Allan White who worked at the port and they had a house in Ingleside and I believe one of their daughters still lives there. They had many children, nine or so, and Mrs. White was right in her glory when the children were all at home. We at Gault’s Food Market had the pleasure of delivering their groceries which were always bought in large quantities. Flour in a 98 lb. bag, sugar in a 100 lb. bag, oatmeal in a 20 lb. bag, potatoes in a 75 lb. bag, etc. It became a bit of a contest between Art Bell and myself as to who could carry the most to the White house in one load. We were both in great shape at that time due to loading all the pulpwood on boxcars and trucks. Another of Primrose Whites daughters, Wanda Gallant, lives at Pamdenec and she tells me that her mother once took her to see where she had been born and they went to the large cleared field where I had first found the old foundation. Also, my father-in-law, Byron Greer, had a log camp near the field which was the one that I had seen on my first visit.
It was some years later, probably about 1957, when I decided to follow the faint trace of a road heading towards Grand Bay. I suppose it was a shorter route by horse to Grand Bay than going out the Westfield backland road. I was able to follow it all the way passing over the back end of the 400 acres that I had just sold and to the rear of Harvey Trusdell’s property, the man we found dead in his house. This was in one of my previous stories. Eventually, I came to a junction with the Grand Bay backland road (Highland Road) and carried on to a farm known as the “Belgian Place”. I suppose that the original settlers on this place were from Belgium however there didn’t seem to be anyone living there at that time, although the house was still standing and in fair repair.
It is doubtful if many of the present residents of Grand Bay-Westfield were aware that a small community once existed just beyond the boundaries of their present town limits and that a breed of hardy and enterprising people made a life for themselves there and prospered.
