Mahone Bay Old School_A Life and Times_Bob Sayer

The Langille building (above) has been well preserved.
The old photo below shows a typical Sunday Parade as ‘The Orders,’ led by the
town band, march to church. The roads are unpaved and there are no sidewalks.
The church would be full. The upstairs meeting room is now an apartment.
Back to the other side of Main Street…‘Above the Grays was Mrs. Boehner’s
Store’ [now Law Offices and Real Estate, no. 596]. The building has the ornate
Italianate arches. This was a gift store. Mariah Boehner, widowed when
her husband John was killed in a lumber accident in Maine, and her daughter,
Florrie, specialized in quality glassware and china and other special
gifts. Magistrate Francis Holloway’s [now the Pottery Studio, at street no.
590] home and office was next.
• ‘..then the home of Magistrate Francis Holloway whose office was in his home..
He had two daughters…Minerva who was in my class…she married a good hockey
player from Chester, Cyril Houghton…the other sister was Dorothy.’
• Francis Holloway was the paid justice of the peace. He was also the Inspector
of the Municipality of Lunenburg, responsible for bringing charges under
the Temperance Act. Very interested in school matters, he was elected as
a member of the new school planning committee in 1913, and as one of the
three Mahone school trustees by the annual meeting of ratepayers in March
1915. In 1919 he swore into office the members of the first town council.
• The Lunenburg Progress Enterprise announced on Wednesday, March 3rd
1915, page 4: ‘ Mahone Bay…The annual school meeting was held in the Parish Hall
on Monday evening. Francis Holloway was elected trustee in place of retiring trustee
C.A. Lohnes.’
Charles Begin’s Home
[Now The Settlers Museum at street no. 578]
• ‘….Then the Sailmaker’s home, Mr. Charles Begin whose home is now a museum…Charlie
Begin had a daughter, Nora, who married Fred Penney, one of the two
brothers who owned the Aberdeen Hotel….also another daughter, and two sons,
Willoughby and Guerney.’
• [Charles Begin is one of the ‘heroes’ of this book. He was one of the school’s
‘founding fathers’-see chapter 2: one of the three trustees who worked
so hard throughout 1912, 1913 and 1914 to ensure that the new school got
planned, financed and built. He also worked on the rigging of the Bluenose.]
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Photo above: Courtesy Settlers Museum
Mrs. MacDonald/Westhaver’s Home and The Bank of Montreal
• ‘Then Mrs. MacDonald’s home [now the art gallery at street no. 572] high on the
bank. Then she married Bob Westhaver’s brother…. Then the Bank of Montreal.’ [In
1914, the Bank, now no. 562, was a fine newly [1911] renovated and reconstructed
building, with its neo-classical features-pedimented portico, columns, and
all].