There have been three school buildings at North Lake; the first was used as a salt house at Fraser’s Store, the second one was built by Sewell Robertson and was hauled to North Lake Harbour to be used as a trap house, the new school which is now known as North Lake Place, was built the spring and summer of 1956 and opened its doors to the first students in the fall of 1956. The new school was built by Harry MacLauchlin and serviced students from the East Lake bridge to Kenny Frasers’ house at the North Lake/Elmira road. In the spring the school also served the children of the families who came to North Lake Harbour to fish lobsters. The school, like most one room schools taught grades one to eight where students studied Math, History, Geography, Health, Science, Reading, Spelling and Writing.

Most students walked to school each morning and many that lived close to the school would walk home for their lunch and come back for classes in the afternoon, while those that lived further away would bring their lunches (usually a jam sandwich, cookies and milk) with them. For those students who went home for lunch in the winter if the weather was really bad, they would bring their lunches with them, which was a real treat since they would be able to have their lunch with their friends.

Students had a ten minute break for recess in the morning and in the afternoon and on their lunch hour they would have time to play as well. In the fall and spring students would often be found playing tag, Red Rover, baseball or skipping rope. The new school at North Lake had a coal furnace in the basement which meant that it was up on posts and on the colder days students would play tag in the basement using the posts as bases. In the winter students would have snowball fights, or go sledding outside on the nice days and on the stormy days students would play games like tic-tac-toe, pin the tail on the donkey, checkers and string games inside the school.

To keep the school clean and running smoothly students were responsible for a number of chores. Water needed to be taken into the school from the well next door and the boys would take turns taking in the water and there was a pump that could be used for cold water at recess time. The boys were also responsible for lighting the fire in the school in the morning. Since the furnace in the North Lake school burnt coal, the coal would have to be put in the fire each morning and added throughout the day to keep the school warm enough for the students to work. The girls were responsible for cleaning the chalkboards each day and for sweeping the floors. The local Women’s Institute was responsible for the major cleaning duties of the school, every so often ladies from the community would come into the school and some of the girls would stay after school and help them scrub the floors and do a good cleaning of the school.

Throughout the year, students’ academic records would be kept and every three or four months a report card would go home from the teacher. The report card was a simple cardboard paper that would have the marks recorded on it. The report card would be taken home and signed by the parents and then it would be returned to the teacher so it could be used again the next time reports were sent home.

In the spring the school would receive a visit from the Superintendent of the school, Mr. Harold Hynes. Mr Hynes would usually come to the school around noontime and stay for the rest of the day. He came to observe the school, students and the teacher. Mr. Hynes would often ask the students questions about their school work to see what they had learned and would also watch the teacher teach their class. It was often a stressful time for both the teacher and the students and everyone was on their best behaviour for this visit.

Through the years there were a number of teachers who taught at the school at North Lake. Some of the teachers include: Jean(MacGregor) Hender (1955-56), Joan (Murphy) Duffy (1956-57), Eileen (MacEachern) MacDonald, Martha (Garrett) Bruce, Catherine Stevenson and Linda Rose.

People who held an important role in the operation of the school were the school trustees. The trustees were members of the community who would take turns helping manage the school. They would also be responsible for the furnaces of the school and would have to sign the cheques on behalf of the school for supplies and such. The trustee would receive a supplement from the community for their work as a trustee for the school. James D. MacDonald and Wesley Fraser held this position for a few years at the North Lake school, as their children attended this school.

History

North Lake appears as Rivers Tronchemontegne on maps from 1721 and 1744. Surveyor Samuel Holland named the area Surveyais Inlet and Surveyais Creek in 1765. It appears as North Lake on maps after 1843.

North Lake was originally a fresh water lake but a severe storm on December 7, 1917 broke through the dunes and created a salt water inlet. It became a natural harbour for local fishermen.

Channel piers were established in 1920 and the first bridge was built to span the channel in 1922. This bridge was not satisfactory so a new bridge was constructed by Joseph Campbell of Fairfield. This bridge was replaced by the present structure in the late 1960's.

A number of lobster processing factories operated at North Lake from 1880 on. They were operated by C.C. Carleton, MacLean & Heartz, Matthew & MacLean, Eastern Packing, E.C. Johnston, and National Sea Foods.

North Lake was first settled by the French. The first English settlers to North Lake included Rose’s, Morrow’s, MacDonald’s, MacEachern’s, MacInnis’, Fraser’s, Baker’s, and Dingwell’s.

The post office at North Lake was at the home of Elisha Morrows. In 1896 Ezra D. Fraser opened and operated a general store at North Lake. It was operated by members of his family until the 1980's.

There were two grist mills at North Lake. They were located near North Lake School. They were owned by John Morrow and Mr. Anderson.

Copyright
Waldron H. Leard