Town of Burlington

Article Index
The Place
Past Locations
Current Locations
Current Locations Part 2
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History

Burlington, formally known as North West Arm, came into known existence around the early 1800s, when the White family settled in what they called White's Point. At the time, residents stuck "North West Arm" on the land, and it was called that from its beginning until the year 1914 or 1915, when other residents decided that the name must be changed. Government records lead us to think that the change took place in 1915, since this was the year "Burlington" is used on their writings, however some people still think it took place in 1914.

 

No one nows exactly why the name was changed, but several local residents have agreed on a basis that sounds reasonable. They suggest that in the early years, the community's mail kept being mixed up with another community with a similar name to North West Arm. This caused quite a stir in the community and led to three different suggestions for the name change. "Graniteville" was suggested by the Lush brothers, "Riverville" by the FPU Union, and "Burlington" by Mr. George Robbins, which ended up being the new name.

Burlington can be found in the Green Bay/White Bay region of the province of Newfoundland, nestled between the neighboring communities of Smith's Harbour and Middle Arm, located on the Baie Verte Peninsula. This Peninsula was originally known as the "Burlington Peninsula" due to the extensive amount of industry and population growth here. However, the name was changed after the population dwindled and the industry grew smaller and smaller. The year that the name of the peninsula was changed is unknown, but we believe it took place in the early 1900s. Geographically, Burlington is located at 45°45'06''N, 56°01'24''W.

There are roughly 410 residents currently (as of January 2006) residing in approximately 140 homes in the town. Burlington has been many times called a "picturesque place" by its residents and visitors. The White Hills are located at the South, rising up above the lush green spruces that cover the lower area. Many different coves and ponds (such as Perry's Cove and Waddies Pond) make the town an inspiration delight for ran artist, both in summer and fall seasons. Burlington harbour is a well known area in the town since it was the place where the fishermen once gathered and fished mostly for cod and squid. With time the harbour would become almost deserted due to the moratorium years ago. Peopel were forced to work elsewhere and the fishery never recovered. The harbour also was the place of tragedy in later years, when a few men died there.

Burlington has been through her share of both good times and bad. From fast, booming industries, to forest fires that destroyed millions of dollars in property, livestalk, lumber and more. From happy times such as Come Home Year celebrations that took place in 1995, to tragic dreaths of beloved resident.

 

 

 

Past Locations

Pool Halls

In 1991 a pool hall was opened in Burlington. It was a place where people of all ages could go and spend some time, play pool, arcade  games or just listen to some tunes on the good ole juke box.

This pool hall was first started by Dean Kelly, a former resident of Burlington, who is now currently residing in Bowmanville Ontario. He opened the pool hall shortly out of high school, but not long after, in 1993 moved to Ontario-leaving the pool hall in care of his brother Tony Kelly. The pool hall consisted of one pool table, two pinball machines, a juke box, and a couple other arcade games that were exchanged every few months for different ones. Tony ran the pool hall from 1993 to1995, when his daughter was born they closed it down for a summer, but re-opened again in 1996. This lasted five years
until Tony started working in PEI, with no one around to run the place, the pool hall closed down for good in 2001.

 

 

However, for a couple years, the Kelly’s pool hall was not the only one in town. Around 1995, during the first closure of the Kelly’s pool hall, Robert and Lori Green started a pool hall in Clayton Greens store, called Clayton Green and Sons. They ran the pool hall for about two years, when in 1997 they handed the management of the pool hall over to Bob Dawe He rented the place and kept it running for a year, until 1998 when it was shut down. This pool hall consisted of two pool tables, a pinball machine, a juke box, and several other arcade games.

Jubilee Guild House

The Jubilee Guild House was a women’s organization that was founded in 1935 at St. John’s, NL. It provided a chance for the women of the town to gather together and learn instructions on how to do different tasks such as knitting, sowing, etc. The Jubilee Guild House came to Burlington in the late 1930’s – early 1940’s. Different nonresidents would come into Burlington from other outports around Newfoundland and instructed the women present how to knit scarves, socks, sweaters and more. Another very enjoyable and popular teaching was weaving on looms. Ladies would spend time each week learning how to weave mats, table cloths, scarves, blankets and more. After the projects were done the women could sell their work or keep it for themselves. The ‘teacher’ (instructor) would come into Burlington at different times and would be paid to show the women her skills. One teacher for the Jubilee Guild House was Iris Jones of Little Bay Island. This practice would eventually fade away and change its name to Women’s Institute.

Current Locations

Cemeteries

There are four cemeteries in the Town of Burlington. One located in Perry’s Cove, (formally known as Winter House Cove) and three located on the opposite side of town.

There is little known history of cemeteries due to contradictory knowledge, but one thing most agreed on was the rank of oldest to youngest. The United Church cemetery, located in Mills Cove, is the first cemetery with the eldest headstone being over 125 years old. Joseph Henry Mills died at the age of 7 on December 27th 1879. We were unable to relate the child with its parents or find if there is any relation to the current Mills family-but we suggest that there is some relation.

The First Methodist Cemetery is the second cemetery that was built in Burlington. It is located in Perry’s Cove, a small distance from the ocean. The oldest headstone was found to be 94 years old. Annie May Belle, daughter of James and Bessie Robbins (a common last name during this time period) died on September 18th 1912. She was five month old. This cemetery was most often thought as the first cemetery in Burlington due to the name of the cemetery-‘First Methodist’. Some residents suggest that the ‘first’ in the name was talking about the Methodist church in the town. It was the first church.

The confusion of these two cemeteries is based around the name. The ‘First Methodist’ gives us the feeling it was the first cemetery while the United Church cemetery was the first – even though the church wasn’t renamed to ‘United’ until a later date. Community residents explain that the first real cemetery was left unattended and it ‘growed in’ with shrubs, bushes and small trees. After the second cemetery was built and started being used, residents felt the need to fix up the first cemetery and make it usable again-thus naming it the United Church cemetery.

The third cemetery (which is split between the United Church and the Pentecostal Church) is located on the east side of town in an area known today as ‘the bog’. A small and barely usable path leads into the cemetery from the road. The oldest headstone found there belongs to Mrs. Fanny Mills, wife of Lloyd Mills. Ms. Mills died on September 3rd 1959 at the age of 67. Within the past 10 years, the Faith Pentecostal Church felt the need to open a new cemetery. Located fairly close to the side of the second cemetery the ground was fixed up, cleaned up and a fence was build around the land to be used. Leander Lush was the first resident to be buried at this site. Mr. Lush passed away on April 24, 2001, at the age of 81. Some 5 years later, Mr. Lush remains the only person buried at this cemetery.

Indian Well

The ‘Indian Well’ area served many years as one of the main attractions in the town. Located in Mills Cove, just before Smith’s Harbour, the site still serves as an attraction. The history behind the Indian Well is hard to gather since it wasn’t a ‘big thing’ to the residents in the past. The well served as a place to wash clothes in the older days when indoor plumbing wasn’t available. The area has been painted and repaired many times in its day by different
groups of workers and/or volunteers. The site has three sitting areas along with the well, where people still, to this day, toss a penny in and make a wish. With the Indian Well, a trail also located that leads to ‘the lookout’ area-a great spot where you can see most of Burlington clearly. This area served as the inspirational spot for Billy Squires who wrote the Come Home Year song.

The Town Hall

The town hall was built in 1978 by the residents of Burlington. The town hall was built as a place to hold council meetings and celebrations. At the time that the town hall was built, Roland Kelly was mayor. When Mayor Kelly built the town hall, it was much smaller then it is today. The top and bottom floors were built but with little ‘floor space’. In 1987, Mayor Stanley Dwyer accepted a cheque for $4,000 from the Department of Fisheries for the construction of an extension to the hall. Bathrooms and a kitchen area was added with this extra money, thus giving the ‘floor’ (auditorium) more room, which meant larger crowds could be seated.

The town hall is known as the J. A. Bartlett Community Center and was named after the first mayor to be elected to Burlington. Before the Community Center (town hall) was built, the council would hold meetings in the Orange Hall, and record their minutes. Today, the Community Center consists of an upstairs, with bathrooms and a kitchen. This area of the Community Center is used for things such as dances, parties, weddings, suppers, new year’s celebrations etc... There is also a downstairs which consists of a council office, where the town clerk spends her hours at work, and a CAP site which is a non profit organization run by local residents who volunteer The Burlington CAP Site was founded in 1996 and has grown greatly in the past decade.

The basement of the town hall also includes a gym, which was also run by volunteers. There is also a nurse’s clinic, and a family resource center where parents can bring their children for some time of fun. (Pictured: renovations that took place) During the past year, renovations have been made to the town hall. The CAP site is now in a new location, still in the basement of the town hall, but instead of being joined with the gym, it now has a room of its own. This offers a great amount of space-both for each designated computer and shelf/cupboard space. We now have a very beautiful CAP area.

The town hall has come a long way since it was first built. It has been renovated a couple times, and it’s just getting better and better. A lot of money and time has gone in to maintaining the Community Center but it was well worth the hassle.

Fire Hall

The fire department was first started in 1983 by Walter Matthews and Bob Dawe. Before the fire truck could be purchased and the dept could be officially considered “open” much fund-raising had to be done. Velma Young was the head of the fund raising committee; the town was responsible for collecting 25% of the cost of the fire truck. Pictured to the right is a photograph of Mrs. Young presenting a check for the 25% to mayor Stanley Dwyer. The truck was finally purchased in February 1984.

(Pictured: Tom Rideout handing over the keys to the fire truck to fire chief-Walter Matthews)

Before the Fire Department was established, there was no one in the town that had anything to do with house fires, or any fire for that matter. If a house fire occurred the owner and whoever was kind enough to help was responsible for putting out the flames, or else the house would be left to burn.

Pictured are those that were amongst the first members of the Volunteer Fire Department: 

 

• Loomis Saunders
• Morris Kelly
• Jerry Perry
• Navin Young
• Sterling Lush
• Bob Dawe
• Mark Goudie
• Chester Young
• Brian Perry
• Morris Colbourne
• Guy Kelly
• Walter Matthews
• Neil Norman
• Roy Bartlett
• Harry Perry
• Rex Goudie Sr.
• Arch Antle
• Clayton Dawe

The first fire that these men responded to was when the town hall in Middle Arm caught fire in 1984. The town of Middle Arm had no Fire Department of their own, and so the department of Burlington was contacted.

Up through the years some men have left the Department, and some men have joined, but I’m sure the town appreciates them all, as they have helped so many people and volunteered some time in their lives, to maybe save someone else’s.

Garbage Dump

The local garbage dump is used not only by Burlington, but neighboring communities Smith’s Harbour and Middle Arm. The three communities use this site to put their trash and waste items. In Burlington, a weekly garbage collection takes place normally on Friday. Resident David Perry currently holds the tender to collect the weekly garbage. The garbage site is located between the town of Middle Arm and Burlington.

 

Government Wharf

The first wharf to be built in Burlington was over one hundred feet long. This wharf was in use when thistles had the saw mill operating. The wharf was used for the transportation of goods. Large steam boats would come in to this wharf, bringing groceries coal and flower for the towns local stores. hese
groceries were carried from the boat to the other end of the wharf by the means of trolleys. There were tracks on the wharf which these trolleys would travel by, and once the ships had unloaded all the groceries, the lumber from the mill was placed on the trolleys to be carried back out to the boat to be shipped elsewhere.

Over the years the wharf was being used less and less, and eventually it was torn down by a contractor.

As time went on, another wharf was constructed by the Rural Development Association in Baie Verte. This is the wharf that is now standing today. However, unfortunately it was no good for the larger ships, because it was not long, and the water was too shallow. As time went on, with little use, this wharf has also deteriorated and is now considered unsafe. A sign has been put up by the community council stating that the wharf is closed, and to use only at your own risk.

No funding is going to be rewarded for the maintenance or renovation of this wharf, and it probably won’t be long before the wharf will no longer be usable at all.

Rink & Playground

The Hockey Rink always served as a major area in the town for mostly the men and youth. In the ‘not so distant’ past, crowds of men and youth would take over the rink and spend hours playing their favorite sport-hockey. We are unsure of the date when the rink was placed in its location. The playground idea was introduced at the Come Home Year Celebrations in 1995 and it seemed that a few donations poured in to support the cause. In the next few years’ swings, slides, monkey bars, zip line; tire swings and seesaws were placed on the grounds, next to the hockey rink. Uncle Claude Lush built a lot of the items himself with a major project of a ‘copy house’ for the kids to play in. A plaque, which was a poem written by Billy Squires was embedded into a brick frame at the entrance of the playground. Sadly, the playground area in the past years was left unsupervised and was abused by vandalizers. No attempt was made to fix up the remains of the playground but the slide, swings and monkey bars are still intact.

The Green

‘The Green’, located in Perry’s Cove, served many years as a place for families and friends to have picnics. The beautiful scenery and the closeness to the ocean made the ‘Green’ a favorite spot for many. The area is formally known as ‘Goudie’s Field’ since it is along side ‘Goudie’s Brook’. The Green also served as an area for softball, football and other outdoor sports. The town has yet to build anything in the area due to the uncertainty of the ownership of the land. A bridge is needed to cross the small brook that flows by the Green and is placed and maintained by residents in the area.

Salmon Trail

The Salmon Trail was cut a few years back in two different phases. The first and second phases consisted of groups of workers who ‘opened’ the path by cutting out the trees and shrubs that were grown in the way. They built bridges for hikers to cross over when the path met with water and/or a lot of mud.

The trail leads into a well known site in Burlington-Two Mile Falls and the trail follows along the North West Brook. The beauty of the area is a favorite to visitors and residents of the town.

Back in Time Musuem

The Back In Time Museum was started by Burlington resident Alonzo Saunders. Alonzo is committed to bringing the people who visit his museum on a journey to the past. He does this by showing some of the rarest and interesting historic artifacts you've ever seen. Relating mostly to Newfoundland culture, the Back in Time Museum will bring you on a journey only the greatest of novels can carry you on. Things only dreamt of in books and fairy tales, now becoming reality, as the moment you step inside you literally feel yourself travel through the realms of time, into yesteryear and entering the days of your grandfather, great-grandfather, and beyond.

Some of the oldest and most interesting objects lie just inside the doorway of this museum. Those who enter leave with a great knowledge and understanding of how life was like before faucets, electricity, and all the luxuries we enjoy today. Owner Alonzo Saunders has also built a great knowledge for the artifacts he carries, and is happy to explain anything you may have questions about or don't understand. Students have visited from schools searching information on history projects. Senior citizens have visited just to bring back memories of childhood days, and even to learn what it was like before their day. Teenagers and young adults have dropped by out of curiosity and have been amazed by all the things they saw.
The Back in Time Museum is a result of a lot of hard work and a passion to see History come to life once more. If you would like to learn more about the Back in Time Museum, please visit http://backintimemuseum.tripod.com.

Park

The park area in the town of Burlington is somewhat a new attraction for the town. Built about some five years ago, it still serves as a main attraction and hangout to the town’s youth and residents. Like the Salmon Trail, the park was built at the same time under the same phases. The first part of the park area consisted of one walkway and the gazebo, with the addition of more walkways and a fire pit. Picnic tables were added to make the visit more enjoyable. The park area serves as a main attraction for visitors of the town, this is where they come and have a lunch and sit back to enjoy their surroundings. Located at the intersection of the town, many people, young and old enjoy the area and what it offers.