QUARRYING ISLAND STONE Dressed island stone was used in the early days to build foundations under houses, other farm buildings,

and chimneys. The stones were squared in various sizes to suit the need. The stones could then be placed in tier’s or layers until the desired heights were reached.

These square stones were made from large stones found on farm fields or from stone that was blasted out of rock beds that were found in quarry fields.

Quarry fields were located on the Nodd Road, and Lower Freetown, near the Dunk River. There were also fields located in Kelvin Grove, Middleton and Coles Wharf.

Stone masons used chisels, hammers, adzes and picks to square the stones. These chisel, adzes, and picks had to be tempered for the purpose. They were heated to a cherry red then cooled in water to pigeon purple blue before being put out to cool, some blacksmiths were efficient at tempering tools for this purpose.

Stewart Cairns, Freetown squared and dressed the stone that he used to put the foundation under his house.

David Reeves and John Cann were stone masons in the Freetown area. John Cann was probably the best known stone mason and was always on call to pursue this trade. Stanley and Hillard Murray of Bedeque

do some stone mason work at the present time.

WHEELWRIGHTS Gustavus Dammerell is thought to have been the first wheelright in Freetown Village (code 72). Another

wheelright in the Village was John Smith. He had his shop on the north side of the road. A third purveyor of this trade was J. Henry Crossman whose business was located at (code 73). (A wheelright is one who builds and repairs wheels, wheeled carriages and wagons).

This was a busy trade in the days when wagons were used by everyone to move themselves and their produce from place to place.

Some men were both blacksmiths and wheelrights.

BRICKMAKING A brickyard was located in Lower Freetown (code 54), directly west of the Freetown Road before it bears north to Ross’ Corner. It was operated in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s by Joseph ‘Big Joe’ Reeves.

The clay for making the brick mixture (pug) was hauled from Egmont Bay and Cole’s Wharf in Lower Bedeque. Most of the sand used in the pug was hauled from Chelton Beach, with Charles Arsenault of Bedeque in charge of the trucking. The clay, sand and water were mixed in the pug mill. This was a large, tank-like structure with holes around the bottom. John MacLeod of Lower Freetown fed the pug mill using his horse to haul the mixer around. As the mill went around, the mixture, on reaching the proper consistency, would be pushed out the holes for the men who were putting it in the brick moulds. These men were Octave Arsenault and Joe “Dan” Arsenault. “Big Joe”, and his two grandsons, Seaman and Lorne Reeves, would take fresh bricks away by wheelbarrow and set them carefully on edge to dry on flakes.

Joseph Reeves (Big Joe) making bricks.

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