In the early 1750's, Britain encouraged people from Germany and surrounding countries to emigrate to Nova Scotia to increase the population of this British colonial Province. These immigrants were initially landed in Halifax (... actually across the harbour in Dartmouth) where they stayed until 1753, at which time they were transported to Lunenburg. Six British Military Officers accompanied them to help organize this new settlement of Lunenburg. These British Officers were subsequently granted parcels of land as well as islands near Lunenburg. These land grants were formally registered in Halifax in the early 1760's with the introductory wording “... by and with the Advice and Consent of his Majesty's Council under the Seal of said Province of Nova Scotia ...”. Two of these Officers; namely, John Creighton and Sebastian Zouberbhuler, were granted land on Heckman's Island as shown in two land grants “... dated at Halifax this eighteenth day of August in the first year of His Majesty's Reign in the Year of our Lord 1761”. Officer John Creighton was granted land on the island “... containing by estimation Two hundred Acres more or less” in his own name. In addition, Officer John Creighton and Officer Sebastian Zouberbhuler were jointly granted the rest of the island containing “... by estimation one thousand acres” (for a total of 1,200 acres covering all of the island). (As a side note, Creighton and Zouberbhuler were also given land grants on several other islands nearby.) Original copies of these British land grants are currently stored in a vault at the Department of Natural Resources in Halifax in “Old Book 4” on Pages 116 and 117.

These two British Provincial land grants explain why Heckman's Island was originally known as “Creighton & Zouberbhuler Island”. During the ten years following these initial land grants of 1761, Creighton acquired Zouberbhuler's share of the island and people then referred to it as “Creighton's Island”.

Awe yes, but the chronology of land ownership on this island continued when “... registered at ten of the clock on the forenoon of February 15th, 1775 ...” Officer John Creighton sold half of the island to Casper Heckman, Jr., as per the deed filed at the Registry of Deeds in Bridgewater in Book #1 Page 435. In addition, Officer Creighton sold one quarter of the island to the Hebb family and another two separate quarters of the island to two other families – which completed his sale of the entire island. Thereafter the island was known as “Heckman's Island”. This article digs back into 250+ years of land ownership and sheds light on the mystery about how land ownership actually began on this lovely island and why it is now called “Heckman's Island”.

One of Donald's ancestors who lived on Heckman's Island was a gentleman called Peter Heckman. When he settled on the island back in the early-1800's, much of the island was already divided into “12 acre lots” and he acquired multiple parcels including the land where the Heckman farm sits today, the parcel of land to the west across the road, the parcel to the north now owned by David Ernst, and several other 12 acre parcels.

Descendents of Peter Heckman include Jeffery Heckman who was the father of Herbert Heckman (1865 – 1946), who was the father of Harry (sadly lost at sea on a fishing schooner), Stanley, and Aubrey (1899 - 1982). Aubrey had two sons, Donald and Harry, and two daughters, Madelyn and Charlotte. It is Donald Heckman who owns the Heckman farm today and who continues to enjoy the many pleasures of living on Heckman's Island. (The farm house was originally built by his great-grandfather, Herbert.)

Donald was born in 1945 and grew up on Heckman's Island. His three older siblings attended the little school house that used to be located at the corner of the road just below the Heckman farm – which eliminated any excuses for them not attending school in the middle of winter. In fact, the school teacher often stayed at the Heckman's farm house. Unfortunately, that elementary school was closed the year before Donald was old enough to start school, and so he and some other kids on the island had the privilege of being chauffered by taxi on a daily basis to/from the Lunenburg Academy … yes, a truly sophisticated way to begin one's schooling!

Donald remembers Heckman's Island during his childhood as being quite isolated, tranquil and peaceful. Everyone knew everyone on the island and all were very helpful. But there were not many kids living on the island, so Donald had to entertain himself … which was a challenge without computers, iPods, TV, etc. Nevertheless he kept himself busy by roaming the island, doing quite a bit of hunting, and helping out with daily farming chores.

As a side note, the Knickle property (across from Monk Point looking East) used to have fish huts lined up along the shore for drying fish.

Aubrey, Donald's father, invested a lot of time with oxen and horses to plow and cut the fields to make hay. He not only grew hay on his own farm but also worked out a deal with neighbors; such as the Hebb's and Kaulback's, to maintain their fields and harvest hay on their land and share the resulting crops. There were also lots of chickens clucking and running around the yard back in those days … at least 500 of them! And there were weekly trips by horse and wagon into Blue Rocks and Lunenburg to sell locally grown vegetables and chickens.

Aubrey often talked about how tough the winters were back in the old days when snow storms were much bigger and more frequent than they are today. There were no plows available for removing snow (because horses cannot “back up” to push a plow) and therefore, the entire road had to be shoveled by hand all the way across the island and from the island out to the main road. So neighbors got together after each snow storm to do the shoveling by hand – which sometimes took several days to complete. After one especially vicious snow storm, the neighborhood shoveling team were approaching the hill up to the main road, when they realized that the last 150 feet was covered by a snow drift over 15 feet deep, and it would be easier to dig a tunnel through it rather than try to remove it all. Apparently, this theory worked like a charm and that became the one and only time when there has ever been a real “tunnel” to / from Heckman's Island.

The arrival of “electricity in the mid-1950's changed things a lot. And soon after that, amazingly, “TV” became available with one station and test patterns to watch!

Since the 1970's, the island has changed a lot because it has slowly become inhabited with more cottages and homes. Nevertheless, the joys of living on an island surrounded by the many beauties of nature still remain. About 10 years ago, Donald remembers seeing a big bull moose wandering slowly across the field behind his house and looking content but a little bit lost. Perhaps that moose was quite happy to have found a lovely island, but nevertheless, looking for how to get back to his home in Cape Breton

Charlotte and Madelyn Heckman grew up in the farm house at the junction of Monk Point Road and Kaulback Road on Heckman's Island (where their brother Donald lives today). The Heckman farm house hosted the Canadian “Post Office” for many years for residents of the island. This was a convenient service that brought members of the local community together on a regular basis to pick up their mail … and tell stories and jokes, and exchange gossip, and keep in touch with each other.

Along with brother Donald, and their other brother Harry, there were about 10 kids from other families that also lived on the island at that time. Two of those other families were Heckman relatives who lived in houses fairly nearby. Examples of kids a bit further away on the North end of the island were the children of Harvey and Violet Langille, namely, Roy, Sinclair, Harvey Jr., Sterling, Melbourne, and Joyce. Everybody knew everybody in such a closely knit community. Back in those days, all the kids on the island went to the one room school house located on Heckman’s Island just down the hill from where Charlotte and Madelyn Lived. The school teacher usually boarded up the hill at their Heckman’s farm house. Daily commuting for a teacher doesn’t get any easier than that!

The school house also served as the local church and Sunday School. Dr. Strothard from the United Church in Lunenburg traveled to Heckman’s Island to serve as their Minister for Sunday Church services.

School homework and reading in the evenings was all done by kerosene lamp light because there was no electricity until the l950’s. After their local school closed in 1945, the kids were chauffeured daily by taxi to the Lunenburg Academy.

Charlotte and Madelyn cleaned the house and baked cookies and cakes every Saturday. During the summer they picked berries on the Commons (I.e. the land between Heckman’s Island and the main road from Lunenburg to Blue Rocks). One time the sisters were off in a different direction out in the forest at Kaulback Head where Charlotte climbed up a tree to pick apples and Madelyn was down below putting the apples into a basket. All of a sudden they heard a loud noise in the bushes crashing towards them nearby! The sisters were terrified! Charlotte quickly slid down the tree and the two of them ran like mad all the way back to the farm house, not looking back, while calling out for help…..only to discover that it was their own pet dog chasing them…as their mother pointed out as they ran up to the house!

Among many daily chores, their Mom looked after feeding the chickens, collecting the eggs, and cleaning them ready for sale. Their Dad looked after feeding the cattle and milking the cows. Madelyn remembers one time when she got curious about how cows are milked and this lead to her discovering that it’s not only kids who can pull pranks. Her Dad invited her to step closer for a better look at how to milk a cow, and when she did, he quickly re-aimed the “udder” directly at her face and with one brisk squeeze gave her a great big quirt of milk….all over her face!

The family once had a handsome riding horse named “King”, but unfortunately one evening King was standing in front of a closed trap door (on the floor of the barn) during a fierce thunder storm. This really scared King. He jumped ferociously up and down so hard that the trap door collapsed and he fell through the hole and broke his leg. That was rather sad because there was no way to repair his leg….and so King had to be put down.

Everybody helped out during “haying season”. It was a lot of work. Hay was gathered up into a big wagon pulled by oxen and then carried over to the barn and uplifted “loose” into the loft of the barn. There was no automated machinery back in those days.

Before electricity came to the island, there was no indoor toilet. The outhouse was the place to go, so to speak. It had two toilet seats. Old Eatons’ catalogues were used to paper the walls. For cold winter days, nice glass potties were (whew!) placed in the bedrooms.

In the winter months, you could see your breath when you got up in the morning. Mom and Dad were always up early and when the kids rushed down stairs in their pyjamas, the fire was on and coffee was already brewing on the stove. Oh what a wonderful aroma!

There were so many joys of country living on a lovely island surrounded by the beauties of nature. Growing up on Heckman’s Island was truly relaxing and peaceful back in those days - and so very different from the world that kids grow up in today!

Ed & Lanie Porter bought their property in 1971 from Harvey & Violet Langille. They saw it listed as an advertisement in the Progress Enterprise and when they came to take a look at it, quickly decided that Heckman's Island would be a marvelous place to live surrounded by nature's beauty. In their first 10 years on Heckman's Island, Ed & Lanie spent most of the summer months doing extensive gardening and raising animals. As an example of their dedication to farm-related activities, their Volkswagon van broke down one day as they drove up the hill on Hebb Point Road. Instead of repairing the vehicle, they converted it into a little shed for raising piglets. The piglets were delighted with their new shed and stomped around so eagerly that they knocked the metal floor out of the van. A new cement floor had to be poured into the bottom of the van to fix it. (You can still see this van on the left-hand side as you drive up Striders Path.)

The previous owners of Ed & Lanie's property, the Langille's, had owned the property for about 25 years (since the end of World War II). They owned all the the land to the West of Hebb Point Road including the area that is now known as Bean Point Road. Harvey got into dairy farming and used the large barn to house cows and the fields to grow hay. Harvey built the Hebb Point Road as we know it today, all the way from its entry point and up over the hill and along the shoreline to what is now the Cyr's cottage, and subsequently, he divided up the property along the shore into “lots” and began selling them in the early 1960's. By the time Ed & Lanie acquired their property from the Langilles, there were already several cottage buildings on these lots including the lots belonging to George & Claire Hall (Woolsey's today), Vernon Walters (McKenna's today), Eddie Hanson, Ralph & Millie Manthorne (Kenney's today), Ms. Young (Oxner's today), and Les Mason (Nichols' today). However, Ed & Lanie where the ONLY full time residents on this end of Heckman's Island at that point in time. Their closest “full-time” neighbor was Sam Whynacht whose house stands at the corner of the Heckman's Island Road and Whynot Lane.

Although things were truly rural on Heckman's Island when Ed and Lanie first arrived, there was indeed one piece of advanced technology available – the telephone! The telephone service consisted of a “party-line” serving all 12 customers on the island. Whenever the phone rang, they had to listen carefully for their own “ring code” to determine whether or not the call was for them … or someone else on the island. Of course, anyone could pick up the phone and listen to a neighbor's conversation – a rather interesting way to quietly hear some local gossip … not to suggest that anyone would ever do such a thing … :-)).

There was only one tree near Ed & Lanie's house back in the early 1970's. It was a big Horse Chestnut tree. All the rest of the land surrounding their house consisted of fields for growing hay. Harvey Langille had previlously bulldozed the hillsides along Hebb Point Road and pushed a lot of earth down toward the water's edge to even out the fields and make them more suitable for growing hay. Second Peninsula was in full view from Ed & Lanie's house. Ed remembers many times watching David Stevens' schooner, “Kathy Ann II”, sailing quietly in and out of the cove near the end of Second Peninsula. Captain Stevens was a top notch sailor and he never started his engine when leaving or picking up his mooring ball. Watching this beautiful schooner come and go so gracefully inspired Ed to acquire his own schooner in the early 1980's, and after that, Ed & Lanie began to spend much of the summer months sailing their new schooner “Ellen”, and more recently “Concertina”.

There were a lot of little things I thought about after Peter and I spoke on Monday night. Had my hands full at the time. When Peter ask if I was Harvey's son, I think I mentioned Harvey senior, my Grandfather and one of his sons (my uncle) Harvey Junior. Same names get confusing in any case! Harvey senior's wife was Violet (Jollimore). They had five sons, Roy (my father 1931-1983) Melbourne (still in Lunenburg) Harvey Jr. (we lost him in 1997) St. Claire (gone since the late '70's), and Sterling, still on the west coast. One sister, Joyce, widowed from her husband, Sammy. I am Ccing this email to uncle Sterling Langille in Prince Rupert, BC, as he could tell you so much about Heckman's Island, and my family, before my time. Also, to Christopher Langille, who is Melbourne's son in Lunenburg, as Melbourne knows all of this as well. Harvey's family moved to Heckman's Island from Tancook Island around 1947, when dad was 16 years old.

An important member of Heckman's Island was, of course, Burton Heckman, not sure if I spelled it right. He owned a large portion of the island (along with other members of the Heckman family), and Harvey purchased a lot of land from him. Sterling can correct any mistakes I make here! It's a long time since I even drove down there, and the roads may be changed, but when we went across the bridge, and around the first big turn to the left, there was another little farm there, and I think it was Robert Petit, if that's how you spell it. After a straight road, was the old school house, just past this on the right a few lots was Burton Heckman's house. Keeping left went on to the Cemetery, Hebbs hill, and further to Grand dad's house. More details later.

One thing I thought about, was how Grammy loved to pick berries. The common land on route to the island had lots of blue berries, and the island was full of black berries, blue berries, raspberries, and a famous berry know to the Terra Beta Farm today, the cranberries!

Harvey Sr. had a Dairy farm, and it brings to mind a story dad told me about his scallop fishing days. He owned and sailed an old schooner called the Cape Eagle, that was converted to a scallop dragger. Much of the Langille family, and Joyce's husband Sammy, were important crew members that sailed with him. The cook had made a cake, that he baked too long, so it was rather dry. It wasn't getting eaten, so he mixed up some whip cream, cut the cake into squares, and served it in bowls with the whip cream on top. One of the crew members ask the cook if he could have the recipe for that desert, as he exclaimed, "That was some good". The cook laughed, as everyone ate this fine desert, and then he said, "There's not much of a recipe, a quart of Harvey's Langille's cream, and any old dry cake will do!"

Will find some information for you, scan a few pictures, and am sure my family members will add some great stuff for your quest for information about Heckman's Island!

Dianne Cotter on Hebb Point Road suggested that I phone her cousin, Rose Weaver, because she was born at the house now owned by Ed Porter.

Rose and I had a nice chat. Rose's husband's name is Rockwell Weaver.

Rose's maiden surname was “Mosher” and she was born on Heckman's Island. Her parents lived on Tancook Island; however, because her mother was not feeling well during pregnancy, she came over to Heckman's Island to stay with her husband's parents; namely, Joseph and Bessie Mosher, at the house now owned by Ed Porter.

Rose and her mom returned to Tancook Island after her birth and that's where she grew up.

Rose remembers visiting her grand-parents on Heckman's Island from time to time when she was under 10 years old. They would sail over and land in the cove below the house.

Joseph Mosher sold his house on Heckman's Island to his son “Willy” (whose wife's name was Catherine).

Willy later sold that same house to Harvey Langille.

Rose and her husband, Rockwell, later bought a trailer on Whynot Lane on Heckman's Island (near the cemetary) as their summer cottage and enjoyed it for more than 10 summers.

Vernon offered many interesting recollections about the Island. He bought his property directly from Harvey Langille in 1963. This was the first piece of waterfront property that Harvey sold to anyone. One day Harvey came into the Thomas Walters “Blacksmith Shop” in Lunenburg and asked Vernon if he could manufacture 12 strong metal stakes to mark properties that he wanted to sell. Venon had visited Heckman's Island and knew how beautiful it was, so he suggested to Harvey that he make the 12 iron stakes and give them to Harvey in exchange for a nice piece of waterfront property. Harvery nodded his head and the deal was sealed.

Vernon remembers quite a few incidents related to maintenance of the Hebb Point Road. It was built in stages with progressive improvements over the years. In fact, Vernon invested quite a bit of his own time and money into the road to make it more dependable and easier to navigate. The road only went as far as his property and then up the hill to Harvey's house when Vernon first acquired his property. Later it was extended along the shore as Harvey sold more properties along the waterfront. Things were not always agreeable among neighbours regarding what should be done to the road. Vernon and Ed Hanson (who bought the lot next to Vernon's a few years later) created an informal community association to help look after the road and then things got better and better over time.

Vernon remembers one time when Harvey Langille offered him and another waterfront land-owner the opportunity to by the entire waterfront for $7,000! As Vernon pointed out, “if only we could look into the future to see what land might be worth 30 or more years down the road”.

All the properties sold by Harvey Langille in the early days were bought by local Lunenburgers. Over time this changed as more people from outside Lunenburg discovered the pleasure of crossing the bridge onto Heckman's Island. Vernon later sold his property to Claude and Louise Lalonde who subsequently sold it to Ross and Darleen McKenna. Vernon subsequently bought another cottage on Heckman's Island with a very comfortable veranda on Linwood Road (shortly before the Hebb Point Road) which once again gives him lots of peace and quiet to enjoy at his leisure.

Billy Dauphinee used to work in a retail furniture business and he made occasional furniture deliveries by truck to Harvey & Violet Langille's farm house on Heckman's Island. During one of these deliveries in 1960, Billy and Harvey got to chatting about cottage properties and Billy asked if Harvey might sell him some land along the shore. Harvey seemed interested in this idea and agreed to let Billy choose a piece of land along the shore for a cottage. The two of them walked down the hill and along the shore and Billy selected the area where his cottage is located today. Harvey hammered some wooden stakes into the ground and measured the distance between the stakes with a rope and they agreed on a price. About two months later, Billy returned with the money and bought his first lot.

A year later, Billy decided that his cottage location was so nice, that he might like to buy a second lot right beside his first lot. So one day, he dropped in to see Harvey at the farm house and they sat down in the living room to discuss it. Harvey's wife, Violet, kindly went down into the old stone basement and brought up a bottle of home-made brew. After downing several mugs of this tasty home-made brew, Harvey not only agreed to sell another lot to Billy, but also, Harvey offered to sell his entire water front to Billy for the sum of $5,000. Needless to say, Billy was quite intrigued at this possibility. He said he would get back to Harvey about it because he had to figure out how to pay for it at a time when he was also buying a house in town and raising a young family. So the next day, Billy asked his boss at the furniture company if he might loan him the money to purchase this section of Heckman's Island. Well, unfortunately, that didn't work out. His boss just couldn't see any merit in buying such a remote shoreline property. OoooohhH, Hum Bug! That same property would be worth a small fortune today! His boss didn't have the wisdom to foresee the future value of waterfront property in the Lunenburg area. So Billy went ahead anyway and simply bought a second lot beside his first lot.

Billy well remembers how difficult it was driving to his cottage in the early days. He had to drive up the road near Harvey's house and then across the field and down a bumpy pathway to the shore (that is now the Hanson's driveway). And keeping the bushes pruned along this roadway was a daunting task. It's a good thing he owned a truck back in the good ol' days … :-)).

Much frustration arose a few years later when Harvey built the Hebb Point Road along the route that it follows today. Apparently Harvey arranged for an earth-moving contractor to come down to carve out the roadway with a bull dozer. In advance, Harvey carefully placed stakes in a single line along the proposed route for this new road. Unfortunately Harvey was out scallop fishing when the contractor came to do the work. When Harvey returned, he discovered that the bulldozer operator had plowed out the road on the water side of the stakes instead of the upper field side of the stakes – and now it was too late to do anything about it. So, the Hebb Point Road is a little bit closer to the shoreline than originally planned.

The farm at the first corner after crossing the bridge onto Heckman's Island did indeed belonged to Robert (Bob) Petit. Bob drove the milk truck for Farmers Dairy. His wife was Nadine and his son, Ron, still owns that family home. Ron's sister and her partner live there most of the time and they maintain the truck cabs parked there. Ron still visits Heckman's Island and uses the house from time to time.

When Ed and Lainie came to Heckman's Island in 1971, Burton Heckman (who previously owned a large portion of land on Heckman's Island) just owned the land his house was on. David and Evelyn Ernst now live in that house and they have renovated it extensively since Burton's time.

Burton's wife sadly died one winter day when returning to her home. Her car went out of control on the icy road and it went off the road just before the bridge onto Heckman's Island and went into the water on the Back Passage. The retaining barrier was extended after her death.

The cottage property owned today by Peter and Donna Woolsey was previously owned by Edward and Marion Browne, who bought it from George and Claire Hall, who bought it from Harvey Langille. When the Hall's originally bought the property from Harvey Langille in 1963, there was no cottage building on it. So the Halls looked around and discovered quite a large and very sturdy commercial wooden “feed shed” known as “Kenneth Crouse & Sons Ltd.” that was up-for-sale on Starr Street in Lunenburg. They took a close look at it and began thinking this could be transformed into a nice cottage building ... if there were some magical way to transport it from Lunenburg to Heckman's Island. Well amazing as it may sound, they bought that feed shed and George Hall took a hand-saw and sawed the entire building in half. It would take a strong man to do this – and within two days, he had it done! He then made arrangements with a contractor to load the two “halves” of the feed shed onto a flat-bed truck, one at a time, and hauled them to Heckman's Island one-by-one. Imagine driving a big heavy section of a feed shed in the middle of the night (to avoid traffic) through downtown Lunenburg, and along the road through Garden Lots, and across that narrow bridge onto the island! As they were slowly driving the flat-bed truck along Montegue Street in Lunenburg, they realized that some power lines were hanging too low, so they used pike poles to push up the power lines to enable the feed shed to pass underneath. When they got to the bridge onto Heckman's Island, they discovered that the railings on the bridge were a bit too high and would hit the underside of the feed shed, so being as imaginative as ever, they jacked up the feed-shed a few inches higher on the flat-bed, and kept going across the bridge. The whole transportation process was quite nerve racking! When the truck started driving up the steep hill at the beginning of Hebb Point Road, the feed-shed started a dramatic “rock & roll” as it went around the first corner on the hill ... WWwwoooohh!!! Amazingly, this transportation adventure ended successfully and the two sections were placed on 20 concrete blocks (taken from underneath the original feed shed) and carefully positioned where the cottage is now located. The two sections were then nailed back together, new windows installed, interior rooms constructed, and a deck build around the outside. Believe it or not, this all worked like a charm. And because of the tin plate laid across the entire underside of the original feed shed, there has never been a single mouse, chipmunk or squirrel that got into this cottage! Very comforting to know that these cute little beasts can only play “outside”! Each successive owner performed additional renovations to enlarge the building; however, the original structure remains strong and well preserved within the overall structure. It would be interesting to see a picture of those flat-bed trucks bouncing along the old pot-holed road from Lunenburg to Heckman's Island during the cottage's original journey – and if anyone happens to have one, please pass it along! ... :-)).

I have just been reading the fascinating stories in the history section. While my little tale is not (yet) history, it does tell of how I came to be anchored on this beautiful island. Having grown up in Chester where my grandparents had owned a home and moved to in their retirement, I was well and truly bound to the South Shore in general and Mahone Bay in particular, but alas the Chester home was sold out from under me while I was off in college. A few years later, after Pat and I had established our family of two daughters, we decided in 1971 to look for our own "pied-à-terre" so we drove down every road that led to the water from Blue Rocks to Blandford, but found nothing. At home in Halifax that night, I read an ad in the newspaper about waterfront land for sale on Heckman's Island. But I had just been there that day! What I had failed to do, of course, was to drive up Harvey Langille's driveway, be careful not to hit his house as I turned onto the trail that led to the south side, and fight my way through the swamp along a freshly cut survey line to the shore. Well, the next day I did just that (following Ian Logie's directions) and made it to the point about where my cottage stands today. I paused there at the crest of a slope leading to the shore to see a natural clearing to my left with a little brook winding through it, and the afternoon sun glinting off the water and up through a stand of mature softwood trees. I was enthralled. I said to myself that, although I did not even know the asking price, I just bought it!

We named the property "Up Spirits", after the call to rum issue in the golden days of the Navy. The first building (now affectionately known as the "Boathouse") was constructed two years later in 1973. The power line came along in 1977. The Navy then sent me to Ottawa and other exotic locations, so things lay fallow for a decade or so, but we returned in 1988 to put Mother Nature back in her place (she had been having a grand old time in our absence). After I retired from the Navy in 1995, we began to do more and more to the place. The present cottage began in 1999, and was finally finished (according to the municipality) in 2006. According to Pat, there is still work to be done. And so life goes on.

The “West Heckman's Island Land Owners Association” (WHILOA) was first started in 1976 and its primary focus was to improve and maintain the Hebb Point Road together with the branch roads that we share. The original idea to create an “association” was brilliant envisioned by Robert Rutherford, Angus Savory, Jeff Burton, and Alex Cyr. Fortunately, most of the other local residents at that time were quite willing to join the association and started paying annual “dues” in 1976. A list of the original members of our association in 1976 is shown below: 

• William Manchester

• Eric Allen

• Ivan Greek

• Edward Hansen

• Albert Skinner

• Ralph Manthorne

• George Chipman

• Blanche McCleave

• Henry Roper

• Barbara Zinck

• Ian Loggie

• Donna Smith

• Diana Cotter

• Robert Rutherford

• George Hall

• Vernon Walters

• Doug Berg

• Leslie Mason

• William Dauphinee

• Angus Savory

• Alex Cyr

The annual dues for association members back in 1976 was only $25 per property and it remained at that level until 1979 when the annual dues were increased by a whopping $5 to $30, and then slowly increased over subsequent years ... to $35 in 1983, $50 in 1984, $60 in 1990, $65 in 1991, $80 in 1995, $100 in year 2000, $125 in 2007, and eventually $160 in 2010. Yes, the annual dues gradually rose from $25 to the present $160; however, this was a good thing because back in the early days when the annual dues were only in the low range of $25 to $80, there were periodic “assessments” for additional money required to maintain the road and also, many WHILOA residents also kindly provided an occasional “donation” to help the association pay their bills for road maintenance & repair work. Almost all the money collected over these years was spent on road work. Many residents still refer to WHILOA the “Road Committee”. We are lucky that our roads are in such good condition today – especially where they are “private roads” maintained by residents. In fact, we have some of the very best “private roads” in the entire province. Let's hear a cheer for our Road Committee!! And it's probably good that our annual dues for summer road maintenance are at their current level because it provides sufficient money to keep our roads in good condition with minimal need for any special assessments.

The above information about annual dues was derived from WHILOA's “Account Book” for the timeframe 1976 to 2007 which was kindly provided by Marie Savory who is presently our WHILOA Treasurer (... a position she has dutifully held for the past 12 years).

The list of residents who have participated in WHILOA has evolved over the years. Many properties have passed from one owner to another ... but nevertheless, new residents arriving on West Heckman's Island are almost always quite willing to participate in WHILOA and help maintain our private roads by paying their annual dues, volunteering to assist with the annual maintenance work, and attending our annual meetings.

Although most of the work performed by WHILOA is related to road maintenance, we are all delighted that there is also an annual meeting with a delicious pot-luck supper, tasty drinks and lots of friendly local chatter ... :-)).

An article published in the Progress Enterprise in the early 1900's provided an extensive ancestry of the Heckman family living anywhere in the Lunenburg area. Toward the end of this article, there is a paragraph that focuses on residents of Heckman's Island and lists the names of all families living on Heckman's Island at that point in time. The exact wording of this paragraph is as follows:

“The present residents of the Island are R.C.S. Kaulback, K.C., Jeffery Heckman and sons, the Tanners, the Petits, the Winters, the Berringers and Coucillor Adam Knickle.”

Note that two farm houses on the island originally built by members of the Hebb family were empty for a number of years during the early 1900's', and this explains why there are no Hebb family members included on the list of residents on the island at that point in time. As another side note, we are not sure who actually wrote this article nor the exact date when it was published; however, we are quite sure that it was in the early 1900's. A copy of this article was kindly provided by Charlotte Dewling (nee Heckman). It was perfectly typed with an old fashioned type writer on thick legal sized paper ... proper thing before computer printers and email were invented ... :-)) ... and submitted to the Progress Enterprize for publication with final wording in the article as follows:

“With the hope that this sketch, a result of much painstaking effort to make the Heckman genealogy tree accurate, we submit it to the Heckman descendents and other readers of the Progress-Enterprize for their perusal.”