Celebrating past anniversaries

The Town of Liverpool was founded in 1759. Are we willing to wait until 1999 to celebrate the 240th? I say it is too late; we will be joined to the Municipality of Queens by that time — perhaps we may still celebrate our identity as one of the oldest towns in Nova Scotia even then, that is if the new governing body will pay attention to this important landmark in the town's history. Why wait until 2009 to mark the town's 250th?

Fortunately, the Trinity Parish, which included Trinity church Liverpool, St. James church Hunts Point and Grace church, Western Head, have been spending the entire year 1995, celebrating their 175th Anniversary.

Recently Grace church celebrated its 131 years of existence and the following was prepared and presented during a special service in the recent past by church Warden Thelma Scobey, with assistance in compiling the record from Betty Richardson. "Our little church is really not so old if we go back to 1813. It was in that year that the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia granted 300 acres of land to George Hammett, Thomas Scott and Thomas Cute. The land was divided and changed hands after that several times. It is believed that German settlers moved up the coast from the Lunenburg area to the Western Head about 1828. Some of the settlers were the Wolfes, Hartmans, Colps, Crofts, Moshers, Feeners, Frelicks, Nauglers and Tarrs. Many of these families have descendants living here today.

On March 4, 1834, Peter Colp gave half an acre of land for a cemetery, his wife being the first buried there. The cemetery was concecrated July 26, 1844, and the minister officiating was Reverend Moody. (The plan of the cemetery was not prepared until September 1951. Before a church was constructed, services were held in the first schoolhouse in the community and in private homes.

In the middle 1800s it was decided that it was time to build a church. So on Jan. 25, 1858, residents met and pledged to build a church.

The land on which the church stands was donated By Phillip and his wife Catherine Anne Gerhardt in 1858. The cornerstone was laid that same year.

Pledges were made at the meeting in the form of money and labour. Framing and raising the church took eight-and-one-half days and in 35 ½ days the outside of the building was completed. The church was finished by May 31, 1863, and was consecrated May 26, 1864.

At that time the church collections were not entered in a ledger. The collected amount was jotted down on odds and ends of paper, those records we have today, in safekeeping. The collection in a month would amount to $1.75. Services were held every Sunday.

In March 1874, the organ from Trinity church Liverpool was sold to Grace church at the cost of $8. This beautiful organ remained in the church until 1962, when it was replaced by a Hammond organ costing $1,522.50.

The first heating system consisted of two wood-burning box stoves with miles of overhead pipes. Later, two space heaters were purchased and finally, electric heat was installed in 1982.

The chancel lights were donated in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Colp and Mr. and Mrs. Edward Tarr by their daughters Mrs. Bertha Colp and Mrs. Margaret White.

They have no record of the donor of the stained glass windows. We did have a bell for a short period that was given to us by Trinity church, which was installed there in 1821. It was removed from Grace in 1972 and given to St. Phillip church in Belchers Island, Hudson Bay. At that time, Clarence Nicol, stationmaster at Liverpool and church Warden Borden Frelick, with the assistance of his brother George, crated the bell for shipment.

Mr. William Hartman was the Superintendent of Sunday school from the 1920s to the 1960s. We had six different classes and around 30 pupils' Sunday school was held each Sunday prior to the church service.

Our horse-barn was a shelter for the minister's horse while he was holding service. This land was donated by Freeman and Abagail Croft on Oct. 3, 1905. The building stands today.

As we all remember, Nov. 11, 1991, was a disastrous day for our church. Victoria Lake, which is adjacent to church property overflowed its banks, covering the church floor with three feet of water. It rose to inundate some of the seats and reached the chancel floor. We lost garbage bags of prayer and hymn books, suffered extensive damage to the organ and the rug was beyond salvage. With a lot of volunteer work and a small government grant we were able to resume services in the church in the spring of 1992."

An interesting sidelight, at least to me, is the fact my antecedents, the Gerhardts, on my mother's side came from Darmsted, Hesse, Germany on the 9th of June 1752. They travelled on the ship Gale from Rotterdam and landed at Halifax, NS, in August 1752. They were granted Lot 360 in Lunenburg, South Division, on June 7, 1753. They were Johannes and Anna Catherina Gerhardt, who died that year. The widower Gerhardt later moved to Western Head. I won't attempt to produce the long lineage, but will say that my great-grandmother Letitia Ann Wolfe, a daughter Nicholas Wolfe and Regina Wagner, married James Benjamin Gerhardt. I am fortunate to have the priviledge of knowing my great- grandmother Letitia. (1846-1939). They produced six children; John who died in 1867, Annie, Ada, Hanah Catherine, Elizabeth and Ethel Maud. Annie, my grandmother married Leonard Winters, a Liverpool shipbuilder. Ada married Mark Farrell, Hanah Catherine became Mrs. John Wright, Ethel Maud married Joseph Wentzell and Elizabeth (Lizzie) became the belated bride of William Hartman. All lived in Liverpool except Elizabeth who resided in Western Head all her life.



LIVERPOOL CITIZENS CELEBRATED 200 YEARS



With the arrival of six ships of the Royal Canadian Navy in Liverpool on the afternoon of June 29, 1959, the celebration of Liverpool’s 200th birthday officially got underway.

In the evening the Town of Liverpool entertained the Navy officers of the squadron at a reception and dinner at White Point Beach Lodge. Following that event they were guests of the officers of the 133rd Field Battery, Royal Canadian Artillery at the Armouries (on the site of todays Queens County Museum.)

The next day, a softball tussle between the Navy and Liverpool was played. That evening a street dance was held in front of the Mersey Hotel. The Bicentennial Papermakers' Ball was also held that evening at White Point Beach Lodge.

The following day a parade featuring six bands was on the schedule. A total of 50 floats and entries participated. During the parade the Royal Canadian Air Force staged a fly-past. Later that morning, a para-rescue drop was made by airmen from RCAF Station Greenwood.

At 3 p.m. that afternoon, the Dartmouth Marine Workers provided the opposition for the Liverpool Cubs softball team at the Mersey Amateur Athletic Association grounds on Bristol Avenue. At 6:30 p.m. HMCS Stadacona and the Liverpool Black Hawks tangled in a soccer match on the M.A.A.A. grounds.

The evening schedule featured a dance in the fire hall on Main Street and a concert by the Bowater Mersey Paper Company band. At 10:30 p.m. a fireworks display took place on the riverfront.

Elliot's show played through the entire afternoon and Evening.

While all this activity was going on, there was a massive display of the Town and County's Civil Defence capability. Lloyd R. Crouse, MP, opened event with a few remarks. All the organized services; police, rescue (featuring a pole top rescue), Health, Transport, Welfare, which included emergency cooking procedures by woods guides Andy Moores and Clarence Oickle took place on the school grounds. Remember?

Of course things were different in those days. There were fewer attractions for young and old. However, I still think that we should all be proud of our heritage and celebrate appropriately. Just think - if we had a Town Council in those days who had even an inkling of pride - we would still have our old Post Office and beautiful Chestnut Hall instead of the blob we now have for a Post Office, and of all things the new Nova Scotia Liquor Commission outlet, on the site of beautiful Chestnut Hall.

Think about it!