In the earliest days of settlement all the district which is now known as Lower Freetown was called Bedeque, but it is not known when the name Freetown came into being or where the name originated, suffice to say that there was a Post Office at Auld’s, Freetown, in 1855. By McAlpine’s Directory of 1870, mails left Charlottetown on Monday and Thursday mornings at eight o’clock for western points, including Auld’s Freetown and ‘ P. Schurman’s, Lower Freetown. Peter Schurman’s farm was sold in 1870

and apparently the post office was moved across the road to George Burns’ where it remained until approximately 1910, at which time it was moved to i

Abijah Burns’, where it continued until its closing in 1914, when rural % delivery was started. After the railway was built in 1875, the mail was ‘ redirected to Lower Freetown from the Freetown office. When mail routes 5 were first laid out most of Lower Freetown was on a route served from Wilmot Valley, but eventually the routes were changed so all of Lower Freetown was served by two routes from Freetown, which arrangement has continued up to the present.

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THE BURNS FAMILY

As mentioned earlier in this history, James Burns bought 1000 acres of land in the district in 1810. This agreement (L19 F55, Charlottetown) states the seller to be John Clark, builder, of Saw Mill Village, and Hannah, his wife, and the buyer to be James Burns, the elder, late of Bishophall, County Perth, in that part of Great Britain and Ireland, called Scotland. The purchase price was five hundred and sixty—seven pounds and ten shillings. This land was bordered on the west by the Dunk River, on the South by the line between Lots 25 and 26, a distance of two hundred and forty-four chains, thence North forty chains, thence West two hundred and fifty-six chains to the Dunk River. Roughly, in to-day’s language, it comprised all the land in Lot 25 south of the Freetown Road from the Dunk River to the “Birches”.

At first the road followed the Dunk River and then up the brook that ran through the Burns’ property. All their first houses were built near this brook. Evidence still remains that shows there were two shipyards on the Dunk River, and also a nearby forge site still shows signs of its past existence whenever the land is plowed, judging by the fact that John Clark’s trade was “builder”,these shipyards could have been here prior to 1810. Immediately south of the present Robert E. Burns’ residence, there was a saw and shingle mill on the brook, and also a furniture factory. Several old cupboards, which were manufactured in this factory are still in use in the Robert E. Burns’ home.