The first school at South Lake was built west of South Lake Christian Church. The second one was built on the corner across from the church in 1934. It was built by members of the community. The school housed Grades 1 - 10 and the district covered a distance of about three miles.

Teachers received their monthly salary from the government but also received a supplement from the community twice a year.

Subjects taught included Arithmetic, Grammar, Reading, Spelling, Health, History, Geography, Writing, Nature Study and later French, Geometry and Latin.

School started mid August and students had a two week break in October to help with the potato harvesting.

The school day went from 9:30 - 3:30. All pupils walked to school. Some went home for lunch, but many carried their lunch.

The school was heated by a wood stove. Families had to supply half cord of wood to the school as a credit to their taxes.

Outdoor toilets were used, one for girls and another one for boys. Water was taken from the neighbours in buckets for drinking.

Students had daily chores, which included sweeping the floor, taking in the wood and getting the water.

South Lake School has a Junior Red Cross organization and held Red Cross meetings on Friday afternoons.

Report Cards on the students progress were given out each month. The superintendent, Mr. Harold Hynes, visited twice a year.

The South Lake Women’s Institute provided supplies for the school such as chalk, cleaning supplies, water buckets or fountains, maps and other teacher aids. They also cleaned and scrubbed the school.

Some teachers that taught at South Lake included: E. James MacDonald, Donald J. MacDonald, Adele (MacDonald) Cheverie, Eileen MacDonald, Margaret (Rose) MacAulay, Mr. Des Roches, and Frances (Cheverie) Rose.

After consolidation South Lake School was sold and is presently used as a summer home.

History

South Lake appears on a map of 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 East Lake. It was known locally as Crossroads. It later became South Lake because of the lake near the crossroads. The early Scottish settlers referred to it as French Marsh.

The first settlers of South Lake included Stewart’s, Cameron’s, Fraser’s, and MacDonald’s. The Stewarts and Frasers came from Perthshire, Scotland in 1818.

Early settlers used to travel by water in canoes from East Point to Basin Head using the water ways of South Lake, North River (Bothwell), West River (Kingsboro) and Basin Head.

A harbour broke out at South Lake and was known as Fraser’s Harbour. Fishermen used their boats to land their catch. This harbour has since moved and become only a small stream. There was a bridge that spanned South Lake and farmers used to haul kelp for fertilizing their land and seaweed for banking their houses.

The Cross-Roads at South Lake had South Lake school on one corner, South Lake Christian church on another, Stewart’s Service Station and the telephone office at Helen Stewart’s across the road.

Copyright
Waldron H. Leard