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Ann and Mary Lou are great-grandchildren of John and Bridget Eldridge, who built the first cottage at Sauble Beach in 1905. Ann and Mary Lou live permanently at Sauble Beach and wrote this story to share and honour their great-grandparents’ legacy of preserving family bonds and traditions that have lasted decades.

The story has been gathered from a variety of sources: local history books, retelling of family stories from relatives, written memories from firsthand accounts from John Eldridge’s daughter, Lizzie, and John Jr. his son, our grandparents’ stories, family cookbooks, and general oral history passed down through generations. Texts include A Great Christian Layman, a Memoir of John Eldridge written by Rev. M.V Kelly, 1920, A History of Hepworth by Bruce Stewart, 2003, Green Meadows and Golden Sands, The History of Amabel Township, 1851-1982 and The History of the Women’s Institute of Hepworth, Ontario (Tweedsmuir Histories). Using these sources, Ann and Mary Lou have assembled a picture of their great-grandparents’ life in the late 19th century at Sauble Beach.

As they begin to tell their great-grandparents’ story, Ann and Mary Lou ponder over their family history. Why is there still a legacy of family at Sauble Beach? Why is the area a place of family gatherings, family connections, where generations have met and shared meals and music and conversations and laughter together? What keeps drawing the descendants back to this area time and time again? Even after decades and with families now living in all parts of the country, why does this particular area retain influence and importance in our lives? Why is there a deep connection to this land?

The Pines is the name of the first cottage built at Sauble Beach in 1905. Ann and Mary Lou’s great grandfather, John Eldridge, constructed the cottage on the highest sand dune at the north end of Sauble Beach. This story documents the early rural development and settlement in Bruce County, particularly the Amabel Township area in the late 1880s through the turn of the century. The story presents a factual account, but it extends beyond that, to consider the lasting threads of a family’s history and their commitment to rural life and to establishing a Catholic community there.

John Eldridge, a farmer, lived with his wife, Elizabeth Stevenson, in the early part of the nineteenth century in the village of Hurst, in Sussex, England. Of their three children, the third and youngest son, also named John, was born on March 13, 1837. His mother died when he was six years old and his father when he was thirteen. His two older siblings also died and from that time forward he had to find his way alone.

In the early 1850s he worked as a clerk in London, England. He resolved to seek his fortune across the Atlantic in Cleveland, Ohio hoping to find relatives who had preceded him. He booked passage on the Ocean Queen but cancelled after being advised that the captain was reckless. The Ocean Queen foundered in mid ocean. At age 19, with the attraction of a new life in America, he finally set off for America. In England Sussex County had been known for its skilled bell-makers for many centuries. In Kelly’s memoir of John Eldridge, he says that the name Eldridge was associated with the rare success of using silver in the process of manufacturing church bells. The family were famous as far back as the fifteenth century for the sweet tones of their church bells. Later the name Eldridge was also known in agriculture. This background would provide to be useful for John’s later life in Canada.

As many immigrants have done, John landed in New York, in 1856; a busy, noisy, rough, brawling city and the gateway to a continent. He boarded a train to the Hudson River Valley and on to Cleveland, Ohio on the shores of Lake Erie. He journeyed to Cleveland because he had addresses of some relatives who had immigrated before him from England. On arrival, he found the relatives had traveled west and nobody knew where. He found work at the firm of Hussey and McBride, copper smelters. Civil War was looming in the United States, and John Eldridge was of an age where he would have likely been drafted into the embroil. Canada was a land under British Domain. He left for a city called London on a river named the Thames, north of Lake Erie. This is how John Eldridge from London, England came to live in London, Ontario via the United States in 1859.

He first worked as a foreman in a grain elevator as well as looking after construction operations, which stood him in good stead in the more important undertakings of later life. His experience in construction operations helped him later in building churches and other structures in rural Ontario. In London, Ontario, he met Bridget Costello from Tipperary, Ireland. They married in 1866. It was a time of fresh hopes for the young couple as a year later a new country, Canada, came into being. After eleven years in London, the historical records show that they were blessed with good health, prosperity, happiness and a family of four young children: John, George, William and Mary. They came to realize that the city was not the place for them because of John’s ill health due to working in the grain elevators. They wanted their children to be breathing the pure country air. Being poor they were unable to purchase a farm near London, but affordable land was being offered north of the city. In 1876 the Eldridges bought a bush lot in Amabel Township, Bruce County. They purchased Lot 12, Concession 9 and six years later, they bought the adjacent Lot 13. The farm was situated between the village of Hepworth and Sauble Beach. This became the basis of a good farm and after much hard work of clearing the land and building a home, Grove Farm was established. Our grandparents told us that it was a happy home, and two more children were born there, Elizabeth and Bridget Ann, known as Lizzy and Annie.

The farmhouse was unique in that a live tree grew out of the back room. The kitchen had an earth floor and a wood stove. Visitors met in the front parlour and a narrow staircase led to the bedrooms on the second floor. There was a life-size statue of Jesus Christ in one of the rooms on the main floor and an altar for the celebration of Mass on Sundays. Prior to the building of the Catholic Church in Hepworth, the Eldridges welcomed the priest to conduct Sunday Mass in their parlour. Catholic and Indigenous neighbours were invited to attend weekly Mass at Grove Farm. As the population of Catholics slowly grew in the area John Eldridge identified the need to build a local Church. Michael J Mungovan, a Basilian father who once had a congregation in Owen Sound, entered in his diary for December 11, 1889, “Til the last year or two, Mr. Eldridge was the only Catholic living around Hepworth, now there are about a dozen families. I think they will be able to have a church there within a year. They are nearly all Germans from the neighbourhood of Formosa and Carlsruhe”.

In 1906 there were fourteen Roman Catholics in the area, among them Mr. And Mrs. John Eldridge Sr., Mr. and Mrs. John Eldridge Jr., Mia and Ares Joseph Goetz, and Mr. and Mrs. John Downs. The families continued to meet in private homes for religious services or travelled to Wiarton or Owen Sound until 1906 when St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church was built at a cost of about $1800. John Eldridge wrote to the bishop with a proposal to build a Catholic Church in Hepworth, a few miles from his farm. The church was opened on November 14, served by priests from Owen Sound. An original letter by John Eldridge details his plan to build the church including the cost of local men, including Indigenous, to work on the construction.

Unfortunately, the Eldridges’ farmhouse was destroyed by a suspicious fire, but the original barn remains to this day. As the years went by, the Eldridges encouraged their children to cultivate music, read good books and take part in any activity which made for improvement and culture. They prospered, made friends and grew in the esteem of Orangemen, Ojibway and other neighbours. Kelly writes in his memoir of John Eldridge “No one ever paid a visit there, however short, without a desire to return. Their friends were legion: there was welcome for all. At any time, any day, any hour, that same bright smile greeted the caller, that atmosphere of ease and contentment and cheer prolonged his stay”. … “Let us hope and pray that they and their children and their children’s children may preserve in their homes those beautiful Christian traditions which through generations in the past, even in the face of an unsparing opposition, inspired a fearless and a generous devotion to the cause of God”.

The Eldridge home became known as a grand place to have a party with much music and good fun. This included sugaring off gatherings in their maple bush in the spring and often having neighbours in for a taffy pull. They worked hard on the farm but found time to venture out to the sandy beach at Sauble. The roads were mere wagon trails; from the Eldridge farm to Sauble the road was constructed of logs. The horse and buggy would start out from the family farm and travel to the beach via the old Hepworth Road, over the one lane Jewels Bridge, around a bend towards the lake. The road followed an old logging trail to the northern end of the beach where the mouth of the Sauble River meets Lake Huron. They came with family and friends to enjoy the warmth and the sand of the beach. A picnic lunch was always a part of the adventure.

In an article in the Toronto Telegram dated May 23, 1959, Lizzie, daughter of John Eldridge, recollected that they tented on the beach in a large rectangular tent divided off into bedrooms. For beds they used soft boughs from trees with straw spread over the branches for mattresses. She recalled the rough fishing shanties and large quantities of herring which the fishermen and Indigenous people would sell to the farmers or trade for produce. The Hepworth Women’s Institute History notes that the Indigenous people lived in huts along the lakeshore, making their living by selling fish in the fall, trapping during the winter and making baskets, and in the spring making maple syrup and sugar. James Atchison recalled how plentiful the game and fishing were at Sauble Beach in the early days. The farmers would bring butter, potatoes, meat and all kinds of vegetable and trade with them for fish. A barrel of salt fish sold for $1.00 and one time when fish were very plentiful, a whole wagon load was sold for $1.00. When the nets were set in the lake, they would be so full of herring it was difficult to pull them to shore. A group of men were employed to clean, salt and pack the fish and would work all day and night in order to get them finished.

The rivers teemed with fish, wild animals roamed, and it was quite common for the farmers to find a pig or sheep had been carried away during the night by a bear. Deer were plentiful and would help themselves from the haystacks the farmer had built in the barnyard. There weren’t many wolves, but wildcats could be heard screeching through the night.

There was a path parallel to the lake at the northern end of the beach. A lane led from the water’s edge to the high point of land where The Pines was built on the highest point of land, a large sand dune. The horse and buggy carrying the family and friends from the farm meandered through a narrow lane to the cottage. The lane continued around the left side of the cottage to the back porch and a circular driveway to leave the horses and wagon. Leaving the Pines, the lane continued in the backyard to connect to King Edward Road.

Ann writes: My father bought the Pines in the 1980s after the last of the children of John Eldridge had passed away. He built his retirement home on the site of the original cottage. I remember walking through the cottage as a young adult. I remember The Pines was a two-story cottage with front and back

porches that spanned the entire width of the cottage. The first floor was open with a fireplace to the right side and seating areas in front of it. The dining table was beside the seating area and faced the kitchen. The kitchen had an outside pump to bring water below the ground to the surface to be used for various needs. On either side of the fireplace were two bedrooms. A small narrow staircase beside the dining area led to the second story. There was a door to separate the sleeping area above from the rooms below. On the second floor were two additional bedrooms, each containing multiple beds for family and company. From the top step one entered an open room with an open ceiling and dormer windows. This room contained multiple beds and was able to accommodate many people. The floors were bare with a few rag rugs. The family would sit on the front veranda and see the lake and the beach from the chairs and horsehair seats on the porch. The view was unobstructed, and they could see the beautiful water and waves and the glorious sunsets of Sauble Beach.

As we read the historical documents and look at photographs taken over many seasons, it’s clear to us that in our great grandparents’ cottage was the same loving atmosphere, a place where the mother and father never seemed to grow old and to the end they continued to join in the amusements their sons and daughters and their families enjoyed. No one ever paid a visit without a desire to return. Their friends were legion; there was welcome for all. This is the legacy we hold dear. Generations of descendants of John and Bridget still hold Sauble as a very special place and continue to cottage here, live here and enjoy the most wonderful get-togethers here with family and friends.

The significance of this pioneer family was recognized when a celebration of The Pines was held at Earthbound, a local garden in Red Bay, on July 30, 2005. Family, friends and others were invited to hear dignitaries and family speak of their memory of The Pines and their times at Sauble Beach. The mayor of South Bruce Peninsula presented a certificate in recognition of the 100th Anniversary of the first cottage at Sauble Beach, The Pines. A chair built by John Eldridge, with his initials engraved in the back, was displayed. It was a reminder of his skills and talents. The chair was on the front veranda of the Pines and likely sat on by its maker as he enjoyed the view with his family at Sauble.

For us and our immediate and extended families, the legacy of Grove Farm and The Pines established by the pioneer Eldridges lives on with love and appreciation of cottage life, the beach and the great outdoors. As living descendants of Grove Farm, the home established by John and Bridget bore abundant fruit: happiness, friends, children, grandchildren and more to this date, in an ever-widening circle. Good cheer, good health, good food… it has been a family tradition and proof that the pioneer spirit proudly lives on in their descendants to this day.

Authors

In 1899, the eldest daughter, Mary, married Harry McClarty of Owen Sound. Their youngest daughter, Ethel, is Mary Lou’s mother. In 1911 daughter Annie married Ed Downs of Hepworth. Their son, Patrick, is Ann’s father. The families have remained close over the decades.