112 A Bridge To The Past

Meac‘ham ’5 Atlas 1880, it is referred to as Bluesman Road but this is a name that was seldom used.

There are several stories that have been handed down from generation to generation about the origin of the name “Blueshank”. The theory that seems the most reasonable tells about a wild flower that once grew in abun- dance in this area which produced a blue blossom. When in bloom, the color would stain anything that came in contact with it and the oxen, the horses, and the people who walked along the narrow trails would emerge

with blue shanks.

The plant has not been identified but several local residents on a recent tour of Australia were interested in seeing large patches of a blue flowering plant when driving through the countryside. This plant was growing to a height of twelve inches and the tour group was told that the blue color would rub off on ladies’ skirts or on anything else that rubbed against it. It was called Patterson’s Curse and might very well be the same plant that grew in Wilmot Valley such a long time ago.

The official Tourist Maps of Prince Edward Island for the past few years have dropped all names of roads and replaced this interesting method of identification with a meaningless highway number and the Blueshank Road is now Highway 107.

The story was told several years ago of the visiting tourist who pulled up at the roadside milk stand in Wilmot Valley where the veteran farmer was packing the empty cans into his hand cart to take them home. “Hi there!" called the voice from the depths of the limousine. “Can you tell me if I’m on Highway 107?” “I’m sorry, mister,” replied the old farmer, “you must be lost. This has been the Blueshank for as long as I can remember and I’m almost eighty." And so it will remain and time and tourist maps will never erase it from memory.

The traveller, turning west from Highway 2 at Norboro or east at the Red Bridge, whether he likes it or not, will be following the Blueshank Road. No blue flower will stain his whitewall tires and no road sign will identify the place but in the hearts and minds of loral residents it will always be known as the “Blueshank”.

AN OLD-FASHIONED PICNIC

Have you ever been invited to a picnic and been asked to take along a bouquet of peonies? That was the custom years ago in Wilmot Valley and the invitation was extended to Mrs. Edward Clark whose daughter; Margaret Sweatmas, who lived in Kelliher, Saskatchewan, remembered the story and in later years thought it was a very unusual donation to be asked

to bring to a picnic.