1

Prelude

1952 began much like any other New Year in Queens County, New Brunswick. On the Frank McKinney farm at Headline there was stock to feed, roads to clear and firewood to cut. It was much the same at a dozen other farms located in such places as Clones, Coote Hill, Armstrongs Corner, Summer Hill and Enniskillen. A year later, everything changed. A giant axe had fallen.

Some fifty years ago the Government of Canada constructed a large military training area to meet its responsibilities to the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The first choice for this training area was somewhere in Eastern Canada, close to an all-weather port. After considerable deliberation, the area that now makes up Canadian Forces Base Gagetown was chosen as the prime location in the summer of 1952. The 1400 square kilometer area included over twenty communities with 750 families in Queens and Sunbury Counties. As one can imagine, the government decision came as a great blow to the people whose ancestors had settled the area in the early 19th century. Understandably, many of the residents were extremely troubled and did not want to leave. Compensation arrangements were made however, and by 1953 most families left their homes, few to ever return.

2

Places of Our Hearts
17 November 2004
Places of Our Hearts

3

The Camp Gagetown Song
Composed by Doug Woods for the 30th Reunion in 1983

The year was 1953, some 30 years ago
The word came down from Ottawa, that all of us must go
The news was hard to understand - all the reasons why,
That these rolling hills and fertile land, the Feds would want to buy.

We sing this song to celebrate our Heritage so fine
The living of a people who touched your life and mine
They farmed the land so beautiful, they cut the woods so green
Today we all remember them, just like a special dream.

Our family roots are special, they taught us how to care,
From the Nerepis River to Gagetown, a lot of memories there.
From Jerusalem Hills to Clones, the winding roads unfold,
The life's adventures of a special group, that really must be told.

The homes that rimmed the countryside so fair and oh so strong,
Those white churches of spirits high, their warmth helped you belong.
The sewing bees, the threshing crews, the picnics and the dance
Tell a story of a little world filled with hope and old romance.

These families now are scattered all across the land
But never too far away, my friend, if you need a hand
Whenever there's an anniversary due, or loved one gone above,
These circle of friends from all around, come to share their love.

This song is a memorial to a faithful kind of folk
Who had a vision of God and man, and to this task did yoke.
The youth today are called to mind their family trees' creation
And the remembrance of a land and people with pride and adoration.

4

"Places of Our Hearts" tells the story of these vanished communities and their people. The place names of Inchby, Armstrong Corner, Jerusalem, Coote Hill, Clones, Olinville, Hibernia, Lawfield, and Petersville are fondly recalled by the Inches, the Shorts, the McKinneys, the Corbetts, the Woods, the Armstrongs, the Machums and hundreds of others. Their farms, churches, schools and businesses are gone now, but the memories of what was left behind, and thoughts of a simpler time and place, continue to live on in their hearts.