Inside the Moore's Mills Book

During the eighteenth century, all the land around Moore’s Mills was a wilderness of sleepy lakes, babbling brooks, rushing rivers and dense forest filled with wildlife that roamed through the pathless woods.

The first settlement in Charlotte County began in May 1784 by people of His Britannic Majesty’s 71st Regiment united in a corporate body called the Cape Ann Association. They obtained a large grant of land in the parish of St. David. Among its members was William Moore, who came to New Brunswick from New Boston, New Hampshire with his wife, Hannah Livingstone, and their family of 12 children. In 1785 he secured for himself and his sons water rights on the stream and built the first mill in the area. He gave the name “Moore’s Mills” to the settlement.

This mill was to prove of great value to the settlers in building their permanent homes, most of which were one-story Cape Cod style. The farms yielded bountiful harvests; the stream was alive with fish and the forests were filled with game. The industrious women wove all the cloth needed for garments, their homes were comfortable and there were no taxes to pay. We can gather from this picture a colony of people living in utmost peace and contentment amid the wilderness.

The text of this book, written by the Moore’s Mills correspondents for the local newspaper, depicts the events of everyday life and achievements of the individuals who lived in this small enterprising village during the 1890’s. The photographs, gleaned mostly from personal collections, provide a window on the past.