old white iron or wooden Island-made beds 0n fine nights we took our ticks, blankets, ground sheets, etc., and slept out on the front lawn, surrounded by its rose bushes, with overhead the twinkling stars and the flashing Northern Lights, while we were lulled to sleep by the roar of the sea and the pounding surf .. Sometimes we kept each other awake by telling spine-tingling ghost stories, or tales of local boot- leggers and their escapades. Helen remembers that they were quite scared of the Stanhope bootleggers and rumrunners, particularly of one who sported a black piratical patch over one eye, which it was said had been lost in a gun fight.

Vivid memories of past summers remain, but Rosebud Cottage is, alas, no more. Aunt Em died in 1948 and the property was willed to Mrs. John Warren (Hazel MacMillan) and later sold to John, Anne and Christine MacDonald of Kilmuir, P.E.I., when the farmhouse was divided into three parts and moved apart. After the land was bought by Stan and Elinor Vass in 1977, two of the buildings were removed and the third converted into a summer cottage.

Summer Residents

To gather information on our summer residents, in 1979 the Stanhope History Committee sent out letters to almost 200 cottage owners and tourist operators, asking them what brought them to Stanhope in the first place, from whom they bought their land, and when, details of the construction of their cottage, and of their life here, what changes they had witnessed since coming here, their likes and dislikes: in short, any and all memories and facts concerning their relationship with Stanhope. Marjorie MacLauchlan was in charge of this investigation, and she received a most encouraging number of replies, from Islanders, from people all over Canada and the United States, and from as far away as Hawaii, giving a fascinating composite picture of Stanhope as seen through the eyes of its summer residents. We are most grateful to all those who took the trouble to answer our enquiry, and who gave us a host of extremely interesting pieces of information.

Reasons for coming here varied from memories of visits to the beaches as children, to glowing accounts of Stanhope from friends or neighbours who had been here, to a Montreal paediatrician (raised here) recommending Stanhope as a great place for small children. Some cottagers had camped at the National Park or at other camp- grounds, some were Charlottetown natives who had come by the day to swim and picnic, some had stayed as young girls at Aunt Em MacMillan’s Rosebud Cottage. Moonlight on the Bay, the beauty of the countryside, the relaxed atmosphere, the friendliness of the people, and the overall spirit of good-will were some reasons for coming here, and for continuing to come. The most beautiful beaches in the

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