A View from the Bridge: Montague, P.E.I.

Les Harding is author of The Voyages of Lesser Men: Thumbnail Sketches
in Canadian Exploration.

This little volume is the result of a federally funded project of historical research known as the “Montague Heritage Project.” The author, a resident of the area, was appointed project manager and writer. The book traces the history of Montague and eastern Prince Edward Island from 1765 to the 1930s. Information was culled from published sources, from interviews with town residents, and from hours of sifting through photograph albums, scrapbooks, and old trunks. The book is a brightly written, lively account, a cut above average for works of local history. The anecdotes in the text are always appropriate and interesting, even for someone, like this reviewer, who has never been to Montague. Subjects high-lighted include the first explorers and surveyors, the waves of settlement, churches, schools, road building, bridges, business and commerce, industries (especially shipbuilding), Confederation, medicine, politics, crime, the temperance movement, newspapers, fines and disasters, and the Depression. Unfortunately, there is no index.

Appendices contain a chronology of historic events, mayors of Montague, historic sites, Montague churches, and Montague vessels. The footnotes are thorough. A couple of old maps are reproduced as well as a dozen black-and-white photographs of bygone days.