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the House of Assembly Journals. Entries for 7 May, 1851, read: “Prince Co. District No. 8 — Freetown Road to Johnson’s Mill -— 10 pounds; Road from Philip Baker’s to Robert Schurman’s, Freetown — 10 poundsi’ The road “to Johnson’s Mill” would be the current Mill Valley Road. The road from “Philip Baker’s to Robert Schurman’s would be from North Bedeque toward Freetown on the Freetown Back Road, or the North Freetown Road.

The Johnson’s Mills Road (Mill Valley Road) from the Freetown Road to the line between Lots 19 and 25 (Blueshank Road), was probably completed around 1855. The bridge over the Wilmot River at Mill Valley, known previously as the bridge near Johnson’s Mill, was constructed in 1852 for the sum of 9 pounds. This bridge must have been of wooden construction as it burnt in the summer of 1854 and had to be rebuilt.

The North Freetown Road from North Bedeque to the intersection of the Johnson’s Mill Road (Mill Valley Road) was completed in 1856. In 1859, a new portion of this road was commenced eastward toward the County Line. Also of interest at the same time was a “New Road from Mrs. Barrett’s toward Freetownf’ This refers to the road from Kensington to Kelvin past the Kensington rink. The North Freetown Road from Mill Valley Road to the county line was completed around 1865.

The first reference of the Nod Road in South Freetown is found in the appropriations of the House of Assembly for 1863. The same source gives the first reference to the Dunk River Road between the Freetown Road and the Nod Road. This reads: “Towards opening a new road from Freetown Road to Back Settlement Road by the Loyalist Lands — 10 pounds? This road has been called the “Kinlay” Road in some early records. The opening of these two roads was probably a result of an influx of settlers into this area of South Freetown around this time. Lake’s map of 1863 shows few settlers in the area up to this date.

In 1864, the Drummond Road was provided for in the Colonial Government’s accounts. The Drummond Road and the Nod Road were under construction until 1870, when they were discontinued in the annual road building allotments. The Dunk River Road was extended to Newton and completed in 1873. This section

of road has since been abandoned due to the creation of the large headpond at Scales’ Pond.

The Wall’s Bridge Road between the Drummond Road and the Newton Road may have been started in 1872, according to the Assembly Journals for that year. The Bridge at Wall’s Mill on the Dunk River was built prior to 1880, according to the same records. The Wall’s Bridge Road was completed around 1880. The Deighan Road between the Freetown Road and the Nod Road was commenced in 1882, and probably completed in 1884. The Campbell Road between the North Freetown Road and the Freetown Road was constructed in 1889. This was a short section of road and probably took only a year to build.

The road from the North Freetown Road to Norboro via the David J ardine farm line and Andrew J ardine farm line was built several years later, ca 1912. It joined up with the MacDonald Road and passed Warren’s Mills and then made a right turn to the Charlottetown Highway (Malpeque Road).

One of Freetown’s older residents, J. Ambrose Curley, relates that when he was a young man, he and his father turned, with a team of horses and plough, the first furrow for the Frizzell Road joining the Warren’s Mills Road to the Charlottetown Highway just east of Norboro School.

As a result of this road building, Freetown is connected to the communities of Bedeque, Wilmot, Kensington, Summerfield, Emerald and Kinkora.

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