Page 65 - "Catherine McPherson's Inn" on a Richmond County Road

ISSUE : Issue 60

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1992/6/1

Catherine McPherson's Inn on a Richmond County Road From Journey Through a Cape Breton County: Pioneer Roads in Richmond County by Arthur J Stone The Cove Settlers In the early 1800s, a number of settlers from the highlands and islands of Scotland took up lots on or near the shores of Grand Anse (Cape Breton). Among these was Alexander McPherson, who had first settled on Prince Edward Island with his parents, John and Isabella, about 1808. As was tlie case with many settlers on that island, he soon left after encountering delays in acquiring land. About 1812, Alexander found a lot at Grand Anse and so settled there with his wife Catherine,! to be followed in 1813 by his parents and brother Farquhar. John and Alexander selected lots, which the families immediately set about to im? prove. But death soon overtook these two men. Catherine had now to fend for herself and her seven children. Only sheer courage and endu? rance, so typical of pioneer women, carried her through. Both widows, in fact, stayed on at Grand Anse, where they and Farquhar were granted the lands they had al? ready improved. Couriers and Candlelight In the summer of 1827, the widows' hearts were gladdened by news that a new road was about to be built between the Grandigue ferry on the Lennox Passage and the Ship Hartxjur road at John McLeod's Bridge. John Munro arrived on the scene in the spring of that year to blaze the right of way for the road diagonally through Catherine's lot and through the northwest corner of Farquhar's. Travel to Arichat, the Gut of Canso and points west would soon become more tolerable. In '*'>%, -r'''''A''x' ''%-''' RICHMOND COUNTY (WEST) ''>' Iw'-"" Bras d'Or Lake -'V Plaister Cove Ship Harbour 3 John McLeod's bridge 4 Catherine McPherson's ir 5 Black River 6 Balmoral 7 Grandigue 8 Arichat 9 D'Escousse 10 Hugh McLean's mill 11 River Bourgeois 12 StPeter's 13 George Handley's yard 14 Malagawatch 15 Grand Narrows 16 Cape George Site of Catherine McPherson's Inn, Grand Anse, Richmond County a little while, too, this new road would be linked to St. Peter's and on? ward to Sydney itself. Increased travel on these roads, as well as be? tween Grand Anse and the little settlements springing up on the south shore of St. George's Channel, was about to begin. Catherine McPherson's house would soon occupy a strategic tocation on an is? land which outsiders sometimes regarded as "Vvild and rough" or "re? mote or inhospitable." Her house was about to become one of Cape Breton's earliest inns on the long road from the Gut of Canso to Syd? ney. A weary traveller would there find a resting place for himself and his horse. Couriers mnning between the Gut of Canso and Sydney or Arichat were among the first wayfarers to recognize the convenience of Catherine McPherson's inn. Arichat once could boast its own courier but roads improved and this came to an end when the Arichat and Sydney couriers were required to transfer mails at a suitable place near the junction. The inn was the obvious choice. Now an additional burden was thrown on the widowed innkeeper, for the couriers ad? hered to no fixed schedules. Often, as she put it, they an-ived "at all hours both of the day and of the night," forcing her to provide heat and candlelight. She did this quite cheerfully for upwards of five years without receiving a penny of reward, but finally, in 1842, Catherine asked the House of Assembly at Halifax to recognize her contribution by allowing "a remuneration of five pounds currency a year commenc? ing in April, 1837." The reaction was not encouraging, for her pleas of that and subsequent years went without any apparent response. When it became clear to the Halifax postal authorities that Catherine might shut her doors against the couriers, they decided to intervene. Postal sun/eyor H. M. Watson, dispatched to Grand Anse to investi? gate the matter, soon brought in a sympathetic report. Catherine, he noted, had extended accommodation to the couriers "during the long and dreary winters to which Cape Breton is subject, at all hours of the night, when fuel and light have been at their service." He recom? mended that she be paid an annual stipend of ??5, and coupled it with the suggestion "that a small box be furnished with a lock and two keys...for depositing the mails on arrival of the couriers at this place, as being the only house on the line of road for travellers to resort to, it is very objectional that the present practice of leaving mails ex? posed should be avoided." This was soon afterward acted upon. "My horse! my horse..." A truly colourful character of his day was Matthew Maddock of Ari? chat, the original courier between Arichat and Plaister Cove, a posi? tion he held for many years commencing about 1823. The job must have presented many challenges in the early years when no decent roads existed either across Isle Madame or between the ferry at Grandigue and the Ship Harbour road at John McLeod's Bridge. In Map from UCCB Press's new book Journey Througfi a Cape Breton County

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