McCully's New Brunswick: Historic Aerial Photographs, 1931–1939

Richard Wilbur is the author of The Rise of French New Brunswick and
H.H. Stevens, 1878–1973 and co-author of Silver Harvest. His latest
book is Horse-Drawn Carriages and Sleighs: Elegant Vehicles from New
England and New Brunswick.

McCully’s New Brunswick gives a visual and written history of the
Depression years in Moncton and its coastal surroundings. Dan Soucoup,
the Halifax-based author of a weekly history column that appears in the
Moncton Times & Transcript, contributes well-researched essays—usually
half a page but sometimes longer—that provide the historical
background for the book’s aerial photographs.

The photos were taken by a local photographer named Harold Reid, who
leaned out of a small plane owned by Dick McCully, one of the region’s
pioneer pilots. In several flights over Moncton and the surrounding area
of the province’s two southeastern counties (Westmorland and Kent),
they snapped shots of the rapidly developing commercial area plus the
mansions of several local entrepreneurs, with the clear intent, as
Soucoup notes, to sell the prints to the relevant property owners.

The author makes skilful use of existing local histories, especially
those on Moncton and the surrounding area, to produce an illustrated
history of southeastern New Brunswick circa 1931–39. My only criticism
is his tendency to repeat material. I found only two errors: my
grandfather, William F. Humphrey, owner of the J.A. Humphrey Woolen
Mills, died in 1929, not 1934, and I doubt there was any Acadian family
named LaBlanc; rather it was LeBlanc. Otherwise, McCully’s New
Brunswick is a vivid historical and visual treasure, especially for
those of us fortunate enough to have our roots in the hub city of
Moncton.