South Lake lies ajacent to Northumberland Strait in
Lot 47. It appears on a map in 1752 as Havre de l'Echourie and in 1760 as Havre de l'Escoussier. Surveyor-General Samuel Holland acknowledged it as Riviere de l'Escoussier in 1765 but named it as East Lake. It was first known locally as Crossroads. The area later became South Lake and appears that way in 1880 in the Meacham's Atlas. Locally the area was also known by the early Scottish settlers as French Marsh.
A brief history . . .
The first settlers of British descent included Cameron's, Fraser's and MacDonald's.
The Fire Hall for the Eastern Kings Fire Department, is built on the corner in May 1966. There have been extensions and renovations since then.
Interesting individuals associated with the community . .
.Mary Ellen Phoenix (MacDonald) Fisher 1882-1951, homemaker, was safely delivered here by the ship's surgeon of the H.M.S. Phoenix, shortly after the British warship was wrecked at East Point.
Emmanuel MacEachern 1816-1875, Farmer, Member of the Legislative Assembly and Member of the P.E.I. Cabinet resided here. His life story can be found in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
Henry W. O'Brien 1919-1982, long serving and legendary Bus Driver of the route from Elmira to Charlottetown, resided here.
Screenwriter Jim Taylor, writer and Academy award nominee for the movies Election and Sideways, has his ancestry here among the MacEacherns.
Today . . .
Red Cliff CottageSouth Lake Church of Christ & Cemetery
South Lake Farms Ltd.
South Lake Garage
Images from the Past & Present . . .
Souris residents up fishing for the day in 1922 | |
Copyright
Waldron H. Leard
