Purcell Family Archives
Written by Carole-Anne Mosher - History Committee Chair, 2021
My first introduction to Mr. John Newton was when he reached out to our website of the KCA when I asked if anyone had pictures of the fish stores on Kingsburg Beach to share with our history committee. I was given the email he sent and responded to him directly.
I was told by Mr. Newton that he was the son-in-law of my good friends, the world renowned artists from the Lunenburg area, Joseph and Tela Purcell. Many many years ago when I walked the Kingsburg Beach on a regular basis, I would see the Purcells drawing or taking pictures and always stopped to chat with them. They knew our family as we belonged to the same church in Lunenburg of St. Norbert’s where we were all regular Sunday participants. I have very fond memories of Tela’s artistic talents, for on special occasions she would decorate our church for Thanksgiving, Easter, and Christmas etc.
A Purcell family storefront on Lincoln Street in Lunenburg still exists today.
I continued reaching out to John Newton and he provided me with the Purcell Family collection of early Kingsburg vintage pictures of which we are forever grateful for permission to use on our website.
Before going further, the geography of the area where this photograph was taken should be explained, as many of the photographs were taken here. Kingsburg Beach runs east from Kingsburg Village. It terminates at its east end where Hell Point stretches further east. Here the coastline veers northeast, the coast along this stretch being very rocky. It continues in a northeast direction until, at a spot called Zinck’s Point, it veers dramatically southeast towards a spot called Dry Spitz. For the sake of simplicity the stretch of coastline between the east end of Kingsburg Beach and Zinck’s Point will be referred to as Hell Point’s west coast. In this photograph, the walkers are walking along this coast in a southwest direction towards the east end of Kingsburg Beach. Kingsburg Wharf extends into the water of King’s Bay, just ahead of them. The wharf projected from land that is now part of the property owned by Terry and Tracy Hartford. The buildings to the left, probably a mixture of barns and fish stores, were located where Rod Bulgar and Susan Spence’s ‘Church house’ property is now located. Beach Hill can be seen rising in the distance. (See Row 5 No. 1)
Before going further, the geography of the area where this photograph was taken should be explained, as many of the photographs were taken here. Kingsburg Beach runs east from Kingsburg Village. It terminates at its east end where Hell Point stretches further east. Here the coastline veers northeast, the coast along this stretch being very rocky. It continues in a northeast direction until, at a spot called Zinck’s Point, it veers dramatically southeast towards a spot called Dry Spitz. For the sake of simplicity the stretch of coastline between the east end of Kingsburg Beach and Zinck’s Point will be referred to as Hell Point’s west coast. In this photograph, the walkers are walking along this coast in a southwest direction towards the east end of Kingsburg Beach. Kingsburg Wharf extends into the water of King’s Bay, just ahead of them. The wharf projected from land that is now part of the property owned by Terry and Tracy Hartford. The buildings to the left, probably a mixture of barns and fish stores, were located where Rod Bulgar and Susan Spence’s ‘Church house’ property is now located. Beach Hill can be seen rising in the distance. (See Row 5 No. 1)
