Monday, January 20, 2014

Baltic, Lot 18

     Thanks to my brother my collection of old Island community histories continues to grow.  Yesterday he brought me a copy of "|History of Baltic Lot 18" by the Baltic Lot 18 Women's Institute.  Wow, the Women's Institute of Prince Edward Island surely compiled and saved alot of our community history for Islanders.  This book was published around 1975-76
     Here's the book cover along with a few interesting photos from within.  As I always say, these community histories are a great source of vernacular and other architecture.
     Page 13. The school in Baltic was established in 1848 .  In 1872 the school shown above here was built.  They were No. 99.
     Page 16.  Reminiscences of the Baltic School and Community 1915-1916 by Jean MacFadgen
     At the beginning of the school term, the middle of August, after I received my First Class Certificate from Prince of Wales College in 1915, I went to the pretty undulating countryside, sparsely wooded, of Baltic, Lot 18.  The one-room school was similar to all on P.E.I. at the time, rectangular in shape and one door, opening into an entry, before the main portion was reached.  The seating was double and an elevation of possibly ten inches was across one end, upon which was the teacher's desk and chair.  Behind this were the blackboards and maps which could be rolled, as needed.  The long pointed rested on the sill with the chalk and brushes.  The top of the ot-bellied stove be used for heating water.  The coal was kept  in a building adjoining "the boy" and "the girls", outhouses behind the school.
Page 20.  Above.

     Page 24-25.  Mill Dam Baltic, above.  Baltic once had one of the first six grist mills on P.E.I.  This was around 1825.  Others were at Hamilton, Long River, Rustico.  An added feature at the Baltic mill was an outhouse with twenty holes, which gives some knowledge of the number of folk who did business there, and whose every need was considered.  George Bearisto built and operated the first grist mill in the Baltic area...  There were many owners over the life of this mill - they were George Riley, James Bernard, Charles Burt, George Burns, Frank Hillman, V.L.A., Alexander MacKenzie, Bruce MacKenzie, and William Hunter.
     In 1965 the mill site and house were sold to L.D.C. ( PEI Land Development Cooperation), a year later the buildings were demolished and the pond became a public area for fishing.
     Page 47.  The Champion House above is a simple gable style house with a shed roofed back porch.  The front entry /door bay is unusual.  It is built in a bay shape with five sides, the door in the middle and long narrow single-hung windows on each side, just like a bay complete with hip roof.  It appears the front door has narrow shutters on each side.  The roofs are cedar shingles and you can see a ladder leading to the chimney on the left side. 

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