All roads lead to Glencoe for 150th celebration of Cape Breton church

All roads lead to the western Cape Breton community of Glencoe this weekend.

“That we were able to keep going for 150 years, it’s just wonderful,” Irene Gillis says of the community spirit that has allowed the Glencoe Catholic Church to reach that milestone, which will be celebrated Saturday.

The familiar ‘all roads lead’ expression aptly describes the labyrinth of unpaved Inverness County side roads that have long converged on the remote community of Glencoe, equidistant from Mabou to the north, Port Hood to the west and Whycocomagh to the east.

“People always come together whether it’s good or bad (circumstances), to help out in any way possible,” Gillis said of the community.

“Everybody helps everybody. That’s what makes it more special.”

All that volunteer help will culminate in the day of celebration Saturday, beginning at 2 p.m. with games of chance, a barbecue, horseshoe tournament, music and story-telling under the tent, followed by a mass in the church at 5 p.m. and a meal in the hall to follow. A family square dance from 9 p.m., to midnight closes out the festivities.

T-shirts and caps with the words All Roads Lead To hovering over a rendering of the hall, which was converted from a one-room school after area students moved to the then-new consolidated school in Mabou in the mid-1960s, were provided as a fundraiser several years ago. The artwork for the T-shirts and caps was done by renowned cartoonist Kate Beaton, who grew up and lives near Glencoe.

The history of the church and its people is chronicled in a new book researched, written and published for the anniversary. Up in Glencoe aite cruinn each aidh (the Gaelic words meaning a gathering place) is a 108-page book that features sketches of the 35 early settler families who came from Scotland to settle in the Glencoe area in the 1820s and beyond.

The migrant settlers came from the Isle of Eigg, Isle of Canna, Isle of Coll and Lochaber in Scotland. The surnames of the settlers were those of the highland Scots –  MacDonald, Campbell, Beaton, Gillis, MacAskill, MacEachern, MacIsaac, MacLean, MacKinnon, MacKenzie, MacLeod, MacGillivray and Stewart.

The newcomers scratched a sparse living from the land and raised large families.

 In 1873, Hugh MacDonald and Angus MacDonald deeded two acres of land from their adjoining properties for the sum of $40 for the construction of the church.

“By the 1870s, the community of Glencoe must have been prosperous to construct such a fine example of a Gothic revival church,” an excerpt from the book reads.

By the late 19th century, Alexander MacDonald (the White Miller) constructed a mill in Glencoe to saw and process lumber. A grist mill to grind grains, a sawmill and a carding mill to process wool followed.

The community, its geographical boundaries changing from census to census, was home to several hundred people in its peak years and it had its own post office and credit union.

The name Glencoe Mills was adopted by some in the community but others held fast to Glencoe.

The book, Up in Glencoe aite cruinn each, was created by a group of volunteers, including committee member Irene Gillis, to pay tribute to the early settlers and captures the essence of the community through the years and generations, particularly its intricate connection to the Gaelic language, traditional fiddle music and culture of faith.

There are contributions in the book from Frances MacEachen, Joyce Rankin, Harvey Beaton, Cathy Gillies and Francine Gills, all who live or lived in the area surrounding Glencoe.

There is also a section on Bana-ghaisgich, the heroines – Theresa MacNeil, Elizabeth Beaton and Bernadette MacIsaac (Irene Gillis’s mother) – who all volunteered for 60-plus years at the now famous Glencoe hall square dances, held every Thursday throughout the summer.

But the focus of this weekend’s celebration is the church.

“Of the families that have been here since they came (from Scotland), the only ones that are present right now are the MacIsaacs,” said Rev. Bernie MacDonald, the longtime pastor of the Catholic church that is part of a three-church parish that includes buildings in nearby Brook Village and Lake Ainslie.

“The rest have all, for whatever reason, either through emigration, getting old and dying or going some place else where you can get work, have left,” MacDonald said.

He said anywhere from 50 to 60 people still attend Saturday evening masses at St. Joseph’s.

“But they are all coming from Port Hood, Mabou or Judique. Largely, that group would have had roots in Glencoe and are very loyal to the place, the church here.”

MacDonald said the church in Lake Ainslie has very few congregants and will likely have to close in the near future, making the financial squeeze for furnace oil, insurance and upkeep even tighter to keep the other two churches going.

“I am going to be 81 this summer, I should have been retired 16 years ago,” MacDonald says with a laugh. “There ain’t nobody else coming behind me though. 

“You certainly feel a loyalty to the people in all three places. Are you going to walk away, and then what? There really is no one else coming up the line. That can only last for so long. None of us know where our own health is going.”

The priest credits the people of Glencoe for maintaining the church through the years and getting it ready for the weekend celebration.

“The biggest thing is that it was always a pretty self-sufficient place in terms of people got together when a job had to be done,” he said. “You didn’t hire out a contractor. We all got together and did it ourselves, which is to their credit. 

“I remember one time the vestry in the back was starting to sink. A few guys got together and we jacked her up and put blocks under it and fixed ‘er all up. That spirit, and they really maintained even the graveyard that surrounds the church, has always been maintained to honour those who are buried there. It’s a matter of pride. We’re not going to let this go …

Without a great deal of fanfare, everyone does whatever has to be done, whether it’s fixing a roof or whatever it is.”

This weekend is a celebration of what was and is, not so much about what is to come. But Gillis, one of nine children raised by her mother after her father died young, said the ethic of hard work that created the church out of nothing 150 years ago lives on.

“We are more doing it for our ancestors and keeping everything going for as long as we can,” said Gillis, who took time away from operating her Mabou Village Beauty Salon to enjoy the peacefulness of helping to scrape and paint the fence surrounding the church and cemetery in preparation for the celebration.

Doing that menial task, Gillis said she remembered many of those who came before her.

“John Duncan (Campbell), Donald (Katie Anne) MacDonald, Hughie Patrick (MacDonald), they worked so hard keeping that church up, even the fence,” Gillis said. “For me that’s all very important, keeping it up for them.”

The demise of the church is not something Gillis wants to contemplate.

“If the church closes, or when it closes, I’m hoping that we can still keep it open for funerals, weddings, baptisms or even for pastoral airs. That’s my thinking, we need to keep it open, not close it completely, for as long as we can.”