Among the many treasures inherited by the Mount Hanley and District One-room Schoolhouse Museum Society, is a beautiful hand-written book on the history of Mount Hanley. The author, Ora Blossom Elliott, was a 19 year-old resident of the North Mountain community in 1909.

The hand writing is exquisite and is accompanied by hand-drawn maps and sketches of buildings and activities of the village.

Ora starts with a description of the original Native people and how they lived along the Bay of Fundy and the brooks and rivers that flowed into the bay. The Miller Brook, featured heavily in the book, was an important landmark. She sketches the housing and tools of these first people.

Early in the 1700's settlers arrived, divided the land and built themselves crude log houses warmed by large fireplaces where the women did the cooking and baked in brick ovens. These early families raised grain, corn and potatoes. Before there were any roads built, they travelled long distances on foot and on horseback to do their trading. Early family names in Mount Hanley were: Miller, Durland, Slocumb, Armstrong and Elliott, along with Hawkesworth, Daniels and Brown. After the Rev. Thomas Hanley Chipman arrived in the settlement in 1776 it came to be known as Hanley Mountain, a part of Wilmot Township.

All farm work was carried out by hand in those early days. The same was true of harvesting. Mowing by scythes and the use of wooden hand rakes brought in the grain and hay. There were large wooden rakes drawn by horse or oxen that needed to be heaved up by the driver when the tines were full. The hay was loaded onto wagons and brought to the homestead. Grain was hand beaten with a flail. Everyone helped in the harvesting. Milk was processed by pouring it into shallow pans and letting it sit in a cool place until the cream rose and congealed. Then it was skimmed off and made into butter in a dash churn before being sold or traded to the local store.

In the winter months girls and women spun and wove wool and made the family clothing. Ora tells us, "In 1909 in the Village of Mount Hanley, two of the old ladies still weave wool into cloth, which they sell."

A local store was most important from the earliest days. The first one was started by John Bent in 1780. The maps show the Miller Brook and  the schoolhouse at the end of the Brown Road. Other roads, long since abandoned, are identified.

Industries in the area were farming, sheep raising, wood cutting and orchard fruits. The soil was fertile and large crops were harvested. The families had many children in the early days, all busily employed in contributing to the family upkeep. Potatoes were shipped to Saint John and grain for livestock and wheat for flour were raised. Men cut wood in winter and hauled it out in early spring. Then it was sold for firewood in Middleton. Sheep were very profitable as wool was essential for clothing and lambs brought large prices for meat.

Education was not neglected as settlement increased and large families grew. The first schoolhouse was built on the Brown Road, halfway between Outram and Mount Hanley around 1805. Itinerant teachers had gone from home to home before this. In 1849 the early schoolhouse was moved to the top of Slocumb Hill and ten years later a new school was built on the present site on land "comprised of one quarter acre." This is the school attended by Ora, and earlier by Joshua Slocum, the first man to sail alone around the world.

In 1892, when Ora was just two years old the schoolhouse was repaired by A. H. Barteaux and a woodshed was added to the back. Ora's sketches include the schools.

The earliest settlers had to ride on horseback to Nictaux to attend the Baptist Church, but in 1829 the first church was built, one mile from the top of Hanley Mountain to service the Baptist population. In 1861 it was rebuilt and nicely finished, with a choir gallery added. A Methodist Church was also built in the early 1800's but it had disappeared by 1900. Several graveyards in the area are still identified. The earliest have headstones made from local rocks. These cemeteries gave rise to ghost stories of bygone days.

The Miller Brook was important to the village. It makes its way down to the bay and had great powers. Around 1800 Jacob Miller dammed the brook near the corner of the Brown Road, and there he erected a grist mill which was still in use in 1900. People took their grain to be ground into animal feed. A short distance below on the brook another dam was built to power a sawmill, erected by William Healy in 1830. Logs were sawn into lumber and after this people could build their homes from boards instead of logs. This saw mill was in use until 1894. Further down the stream a distillery was built where Anthony Wilkins made medicinal essences from materials such as peppermint and spruce. The latter was used to cure colds and make plasters to soothe lame backs. In 1909, Ora reports, "The Village is still making progress. She provides sketches of the grist mill and the old saw mill.

Over the years more stores were built, "One by Caleb Miller was later replaced by a two-storey business at the top of Crab Hill, where it now stands (1909) This store also contains the Post Office." 

This fascinating look at Mount Hanley's history was written by 19 year-old Ora Blossom Elliott who grew up in the house beside the Baptist Church, and who graduated from Acadia University at the age of 16. Like many others of her day she died at an early age of galloping consumption, but she left a great legacy in this history of her home village. Authentic reproductions of her book are available from the Mount Hanley and District One-room Schoolhouse Museum Society with the hope that it will help keep her memory alive.