GRAND MIRA
GRAND MIRA
The original settlers to Grand Mira were immigrants from Morar & South Uist, Scotland. They came to the area in the Fall of 1826.
MacDonald’s, MacEachern’s, MacIntyre’s, MacMillan’s, Gillis’, MacKinnon’s, and MacDougall’s as well as others comprised the early Scotch settlers and it was the descendants of those settlers who celebrated the 90th anniversary of the first settlers on September 3, 1916.
They were still coming to Grand Mira from Scotland up to and including 1841. They had a boat building business in Grand Mira where they built them and fished from them on the Mira River.
Capt. Joe Philips from Mira Gut started a small boat company and later several scows of which traveled up and down the river with stops at the wharf in front of the Glebe House in Grand Mira and also at Victoria Bridge.
The Grand Mira Mutual Telephone Co. Ltd. was the only public utility in the parish , it was organized in the Fall of 1910 and on November 22, 1910 the first telephone message from Grand Mira to Sydney was sent.
There were nine miles of metallic circuit built and connected at Marion Bridge to the Maritime Telegraph and Telephone Co. Ltd. A small log church was built by the first settlers in 1826 and named St. Peters located near the river below where the Glebe House is located today. The first Glebe was built in 1869 and in 1908 it was replaced by the Glebe house that is used today. Today, several descended families of the original settler are still living on the lands that their forefathers cleared and settled on.
St. Margaret’s Community HalL
The hall hosts community events and dinners. Tarabish happens every Thursday at 7:30pm
To inquire about booking the hall for a fundraiser, party or event, please contact Mary Lou MacKinnon at 902-727-2279. Mary will assist you with catering options, rental fees and anything us you should need!
CONTACT
2567 Grand Mira South Rd
Grand Mira South, NS
HALL PHONE: 902-727-2116
Francis Gillis, Phone: 902-727-3113
Barb MacKinnon, Phone: 902-727-2241
CHURCH SERVICE:
SUNDAY XXXXXX
The first church in Grand Mira was built around 1826 , it was a small log chapel named St. Peter’s.
It was located at the shore directly below the Glebe House of today.
In 1870, Fr. Archie Chisholm came to Grand Mira and built the present day church with the help of the parishioners. That church is still used today.
The outside of the church was finished and the ceiling was finished after Fr. Chisholm left in 1876.
After September 1883 the interior of the church was completed. A furnace was put under the church between 1905 and 1916.
During the time of Fr. J.A. M. Gillis (1901-1905) churches were built at French Rd. & Gabarus.
French Rd. had approximately 25 families. Oceanview also had their own church.
The lumber posts for the present day church came from Glengarry.
Fr. John Bryden and parishioners put in four altars-a main altar dedicated to St. Margaret of Scotland,
two side altars, and one altar located in the vestry.
The confessional was made of double oak.
The present day church is of the Gothic Tudor Style as are many of the wooden churches of the Diocese.
The inscription on the bell, which is hanging outside the church, has Henry McShane Baltimore, MD 1880 written on it.
The corpus hanging on the cross in the cemetery is made of 1″ -1 _” cast metal and weighs approximately 700-750 lbs