Columns and Letters

Shining Waters  2017
    The Shining Waters  Bakery has opened its friendly doors for the season. Coffee and tea and good biscuits and pie and other items encourage people to stop and enjoy the refreshments and hospitality.
    Few of those enjoying the food and the surroundings are aware that parts of  the building were standing one hundred and fifty years ago at the time of Confederation. Hurrah for its survival! How many other structures in Mabou can lay claim to that heritage? Very few. No recognition of the enduring wooden frame building seems scheduled nor was it recognized by the now moribund Inverness County Heritage  Advisory Committee.
    Much conversation will take place within the building and on the deck (when the weather permits) – politics, concerts, the economy, old times, and new developments. As people from the area who return for a visit or who arrive as visitors on Route 19 from other places or who drop in from nearby share the news or tell a few jokes to one another, the Shining Waters takes on a happy atmosphere.
    In a moment of quiet, is it possible to hear the voices of those of long ago who conducted businesses in the building in other days? Some might hear the voice of Angus “Cu” MacDonald who managed a general store and amused his customers with many stories, some in English and some in Gaelic and some a little off colour... sometimes.
    But it might be very difficult to hear the voices of the members of the Pushie family of the 1860s as they used the building and another shed and the yard outside in the manufacturing of carriages to be drawn by horses. What would they be talking about beyond the directions given to form wheels and frame and attach the necessary shafts?  Who now even remembers that people of that name resided in Mabou area for a hundred years and had many connections?

The Pushie family
    The carriage maker, Alexander Pushie(1832-1899), was born in Antigonish County, the son of John and Theresa (Clarke) Pushie. He married in Mabou Rachel Smith of Smithville, daughter of “Black” David and Mahala (Clarke) Smith, his first cousin. She was a sister of the noted Dave “Colorado” Smith. They were the parents of 11 children.
    In addition to being a nephew of Mahala (Clarke) Smith, Alexander could also call by the name “aunt” Mrs Rachel (Clarke)Potter, wife of  Captain Richard Potter, a sea captain  employed by Hon. William McKeen. The Potters lived at Lot no. 2 on the present Rankinville Road. In the days before the first bridge across the river was built, Potter could tie up his boat at the foot of the hill below his house. It is believed that the Potters encouraged Alexander to settle in Mabou Village and establish a carriage building business.
    Alexander Pushie was a grandson of Nathan Pushie, one of the first permanent settlers in Antigonish. Born in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, in 1758, according to the “Dictionary of Canadian Biography,” Nathan served in the British forces and was at the Battle of Bunker Hill at the start of the American Revolution.
    Likely, one of the stories heard around the carriage shop was the account of how Nathan was captured by the American forces and freed from prison on the promise to serve in the  U. S. Army. He was rumoured to have served in the regiment which served as life guards to General Washington as well as having been trumpet major for a time. But he received land at Antigonish for his service in the British forces.
    Without doubt, in addition to talking about events in the life of his forebears, Alexander would have been engaged in conversation with his brother-in-law John MacAulay of Whycocomagh who started a carriage making shop after his marriage in 1867 to Elizabeth Pushie, Alexander’s sister. No doubt, they talked about how best to build strong carriages to withstand the constant stress on the wheels and frame on the rough roads.
    Perhaps, in 1867, during dinner break, Pushie discussed the events in Charlottetown and Ontario resulting in the formation of a new nation with his four apprentices/employees Roderick McLeod, David and Thomas Shaw, and Patrick Burton. Likely involved as well with the sharing of developments and the expectation of better business following the establishment of the new country was Alexander Hawley, a young harness maker who had a small shop next to the carriage building. On the 1871 census, Hawley is listed as living in the boarding house of the Finn family along with Hezekiah Murray, a young merchant in his twenties from Hillsborough. Hawley was a noted resident of Mabou for many years and operated his harness making activity at the location of the carriage making shop after Alexander Pushie ceased to create the buggies.
    Voices from the time of the enthusiasm and uncertainty following the events of 1867! Would that we could actually hear them as we enjoy a cup of tea at the Shining Waters Bakery. Would that we could see at least one of the Pushie carriages preserved in some barn nearby! How many horses often stood patiently at the hitching post near the active business venture?!

Later Pushies
    Among the young children of Alexander and Rachel, born several years after the formation of the new nation, was John Henry Pushie who lived all of his adult life on the farm on the Rankinville Road which the Pushies inherited from Rachel (Clarke) Potter, the widow of Capt. Richard, at the time of her death in 1879. John Henry Pushie’s voice might be remembered by some still living in the area in 2017 for he lived until 1958. Others of his brothers and sisters came and went through the years from their homes in United States and Sydney area and visited with John Henry and his wife Charlotte Huntington, formerly of Mira.
    So many voices of the past, so much recollection of historical activity, so many observed changes in life styles and transportation may be encouraged while enjoying refreshment provided by the present operators of Shining Waters Bakery at the old carriage shop!