The History and Stories of Clyde River

This entry is made by Emily Bryant. Perhaps you remember the Bryants who used to live at the end of the Baltic Road.(ha)

This weekend I got an email from a lady who had read part of the history of Clyde River via internet. The Clyde River history has been entered online by the University of Prince Edward Island. This woman is tracing her ancestry and found connections to the Newman and Dixon families. She wants to purchase a copy of both the history book and a copy of last year’s beautiful photo book “Landscapes of Memories”.

I contacted Sandra Cameron who has the last of the history books and, with that one sold, Sandra has only ONE book left. What a success story this is ! We thought we were overly optimistic when we had 500 copies printed in 2009. Close to 200 were sold at the launch and another 50 before Christmas that year. More slowly, but surely, the other copies were sold. With the publishing costs paid, the History Committee was able to help the Clyde River Committee Council by paying for the story board about the Pioneer Cemetery and for the repair of a few of the headstones in the cemetery.

This history was prepared without any grant although we had a student from the Jobs for Youth program in both the summer of 2008 (Sara Richard) and 2009 (Erica Ross). The rest of the researching and writing was done with dedication and time by the history committee consisting of Sandra Cameron, Hilda Dixon, Nancy FltzGerald, Carol Murray and myself, The insights of seniors in the community were very valuable. Alex Dixon, representing farmers, was a big help as well. Pictures were provided by several sources. They appear in the book and/or are displayed at the Community Centre.

Like any community history, nobody could ever count the hours a committee puts into a community history book. We met almost every week for two years and always had homework in between meetings. It is amazing but we never had one disagreement during all of this time together and became and remain good friends !  We read and proofed and thought we had perfected but despite that we made a few mistakes – a few serious ones and a few that were pointed out to us since by readers (like the spelling of a name). We decided to include a section on the founding families of Clyde River and in this section, it was most difficult to get the details all accurate. Nonetheless, like this recent request, this section is what sold this history to descendents who are now doing an ancestry search that traces back to Clyde River.

Both the history book and last year’s photo book are books that I take out regularly to look up something or view the beautiful scenery. Both books bring back fond memories of the process and of the great community of Clyde River.

A reminder, there are copies of the Landscapes of Memories books left and this lovely “coffee table” book will make a wonderful Christmas present for those who were missed last Christmas. To purchase, contact either Vivian Beer (vivian@eastlink.ca) or any member of the Clyde River Women’s Institute. Remember, there is something very comforting and heart warming on a winter’s day to look at one of the wonderful summer scenes photographed by Vivian Beer.

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  1. Audrey on October 7, 2013 at 9:35 am

    Thanks, Emily, for this update and a reminder of this community of beautiful scenery and people. Emily and Vans may have left Clyde River literally but not in heart and we are happy about that!!

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