A native family’s seasonal home at Antigonish Landing, Victoria Day weekend, 1924. Photographer: Violet Cunningham. Courtesy of Antigonish Heritage Museum. Restoration: Anne Louise MacDonald
Violet Cunningham’s son, Roy, remembers his mother taking this photo when he was a child. A memorable day because he got to have “pop” on this holiday. Jocelyn Gillis, Curator, Antigonish Heritage Museum, on the basis of her conversation with Roy Cunningham, challenges records of this photo as the Tom Young family (who crafted hockey sticks). Also, the Tom Young family lived in a frame house by 1924, and were not part of the seasonal encampment to Antigonish Landing.
Violet Cunningham was the daughter of Samuel Turnbull, a baker. Violet married Peary Mortimer Cunningham, a foreman merchant (not Wilkie & Cunningham store). Their home on Church Street was built in the 1890s and known as Spruce Cottage. It exists today as apartments.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/thenovascotian/1257003-stickhandling-first-nations-played-big-role-in-carving-out-hockey-history
This article in the Herald does not specifically mention the Young family of Antigonish, in the history of First Nations . Love the conclusion to this article: The Mi’kmaq invented hockey
In the early 1950’s Joe or Jos Stevens lived on back road Brierly Brook and made a living selling axe handles as well as wooden handles for other tools. He had in his little one room home a bench similar to the one on the left of the photo where the man is seated. On another point; he used ash as the wood for his products. He would harvest any tree he thought would suit his purposes and take of it only as much as he needed. I never heard of any of the property owners complaining about Jos cutting the trees. In later life I wondered if he had a treaty right to harvest the wood.