Scottish Interpretive
Centre
by Kellie Underhill

The Wilson Point Restoration Project will move into Phase Two this summer, says Winston Curtis, Vice Chairman of the Scottish Heritage Association.

Wilson's Point occupies almost nine acres of the Enclosure Park.

In 1765, William Davidson and John Cort arrived at Wilson's Point, where the Nor'west and Sou'west Miramichi meet to form the main river.

Davidson and Cort had received a grant of 100,000 acres of land, including Beaubear's Island. Although their main priority was to set up a fishery, they helped settle the area.

Davidson brought men with him to work in the fishery, cut lumber, build ships and settle along the river.

"That was the first English speaking settlement on the Miramichi River," Winston says.

They built St. James Presbyterian Church at Wilson's Point in the early 1790's. This was the first Protestant church in Miramichi area. Scottish settlers made up most of the congregation. Many of the earliest Miramichi settlers were buried in the cemetery between the church and the shore.

"There is a Presbyterian Church graveyard there still," Winston says. "When Newcastle became the town site, a church was built down there and this one was used for Sunday school services up until about 1838 when they sold it."

In 1947, Lord Beaverbrook restored the graveyard at Wilson's Point. His father was the minister of St. James Presbyterian Church in Newcastle.

It took three years to clear the Point and 17 headstones were recovered. They were repaired and the whole place became a natural garden of winding paths, wild flowers and trees.

After the restoration, Lord Beaverbrook gave it to the Province to be preserved as a historic site, part of the beautiful Enclosure, in memory of Miramichi's early Scottish pioneers.

Nothing more was done with the site until last summer when the Scottish Heritage Association began their project.

"We cleaned it all up around there and redid the pathways," Winston says.

Provincial and Federal grants allowed them to hire three students who cleaned up the cemetery and trails and then labelled the gravesites with identification signs.

"These stones have deteriorated more since they were cleaned up in 1946 than they did the previous hundred and fifty years," Winston says. "There are some old stones there dating back to the 1700's. So, the writing is starting to fade too much to read. But there were pictures taken of them in 1945-46 when they were still good. We made signs with the exact writing from the gravestones and put a sign beside the grave so you'll be able to read who was buried there."

The names of those buried at this cemetery whose headstones still remain are:

Donald Munro ( -1804)
George Hubbard (1768-1800)
Elizabeth More (1709-1805)
Rodah Peabody (1804-1805)
William Martin (1741-1814) & Mary Qanne (1737-1810)
Stipen Estes (Estey) ( -1813)
John Newman (1734-1797)
Hanna Newman (1749-1807)
Ichabod Beckwith (1762-1812)
Ebnezer Whitney Sr. (1745-1810)
James Anderson (1742-1779)
Thomas Gillish (1770-1791)
John Stuart (1718-1805)
William Fraser ( -1781)
Ann Forsythe ( -1791)
Nelly Reid (1745-1810)
William Davidson (1740-1790)

Phase Two of the project begins this spring.

"Our next step is to build a museum in the form of that old church that was there," Winston says. "Not to be a church, but to be an Interpretative Centre of what has gone on at Wilson's Point."

An archaeological dig to determine information about the church will be done as soon as the snow has gone. Construction will begin on the replica church in June.

But the project doesn't end with the Interpretative Centre. In Phase Three, monuments to Scottish settlers will be erected and a wharf to accommodate boat tours will be built.

"We're in the process right now of getting some money to do that," Winston says.

The Scottish Heritage Association was formed in October 2001 as a subcommittee of the Miramichi Highland Society.

Their mission is to preserve and promote the Scottish Heritage of Wilson's Point and Beaubear's Island.

There are about 15 people on the committee.

"It's a very active committee," Winston says. "We're hoping we're going to have a great site there."

If you have early pictures and information about Wilson's Point, St. James Presbyterian Church in particular, or if you would like to learn more about or donate toward this project, please contact the Scottish Heritage Association in Miramichi.

The Chairman, Frank Menzies, can be reached at 622-7721. Telephone 622-0357 or email pmossman@nbnet.nb.ca for Phyllis Mossman, Secretary/Treasurer. Vice Chairman, Winston Curtis, can be reached by phone at 843-7757.

Send letters, pictures and donations to:

Scottish Heritage Association (Miramichi)
P.O. Box 303
Miramichi, NB
E1N 3A8

Kellie Underhill is the editor of Bread 'n Molasses. Her writing credits include The Moncton Times-Transcript, The Brunswick Business Journal, The Atlantic Chamber Journal and The Reader magazine. Send comments about this article to editor@breadnmolasses.com.