Here are 10 MORE unbelievable facts about Charlotte County that will blow your mind!
1: When Lonicera Hall, on 28 Union Street in St. Stephen, was constructed in 1841 – it originally faced the opposite direction! When Gilbert Ganong, co-founder of Ganong Bros. and his wife Maria purchased the house in 1903, the house at that time faced the river, wharfs and the backs of buildings on Water Street. Disliking the view, Ganong had the house turned around with the front façade facing Union Street.
2: This April marks the 170th year in operation for the St. Stephen Rural Cemetery, having opened in April 1856. It is also the largest cemetery in Charlotte County.
3: The railway system between St. Stephen and Saint John was only the second rail line built in New Brunswick. It was also designed by engineer Walter M. Buck, the same man who designed the St. Stephen Rural Cemetery.
4: According to the St. Croix Waterway Commission, over 10,000 people on average make their way down the river each year!
5: Did you know that Honeydale was originally called Green Meadows? A local storekeeper named George F. Beach started keeping honeybees, so the railroad men that worked on the tracks started calling it Honeydale. The name was made official in 1910.
6: The DeWolfe House at 64 Union Street in St. Stephen, with its recognizable conical tower, was built in 1856. The DeWolfe family were manufacturers of covered carriages, buggy wagons, truck wagons and stage coaches!
7: Most of the early settlers of St. George were British soldiers from the American Revolutionary War. After the evacuation of Fort George in Maine in 1783, around 150 soldiers and their families were granted plots of land in the Undisputed British Territory near the L’Etang River.
8: The Presbyterian Kirk Church in St. George, built in 1790, is one of the oldest surviving churches in Charlotte County. It’s also the oldest Presbyterian Church still in active use in all of Canada!
9: The Todd Mansion, on 45 Union Street in St. Stephen, was built between 1890 and 1895. Original owner William F. Todd was an industrialist in the lumber trade. He also raised thoroughbred horses. He represented Charlotte County in the House of Assembly from 1899-1903, the House of Commons from 1908-1911; and was Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick from 1923-1928.
10: The original Charlotte County Hospital (The Chipman Memorial Hospital) in St. Stephen was one of the very first in New Brunswick to use x-ray technology. An x-ray machine was purchased in 1920, with funds raised through community donations! That tradition continues today with our annual Charlotte FM Radiothon, held every October!
