Eastern Shore, Halifax County

The original Saint Anselm's church was a chapel built in 1740 in Grand Desert. In 1814 a wooden building was erected on the same location as the present brick building in West Chezzetcook. This brick version was built in 1894 and the local families were asked to each pay for 400 bricks, which came from the local brickyards. St. Anselm's is the centre of the Acadian communities of Grand Desert and West Chezzetcook which were settled as early as 1748 with a greater influx of families in 1764. While the French language was lost by many of these families over the generations, in recent years the community has successfully established a Francophone elementary school and has made great efforts to strengthen their Acadian roots. The bus pictured in front of the church belongs either to Walter Manette of Porters Lake or Alfred Wolfe of Grand Desert. Both buses brought residents to church on Sundays as well as providing transportation to the market in Halifax on Fridays, where produce from the area such as clams, eggs, cream, butter and knitted items were sold to the city folk.

Date: [ca. 1955]

Reference:  Eastern Shore Archives D0126P013

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