54 Historic Sites

The Glass Factory

Possibility of Glass Factory on Panmure Island

An excerpt from The Macdonalds 0fBrudenell Point, p.10 - PEI Public Archives, Accession No. 3, 2413.

There have been many more rumors about the de Roma Glass Factory at Panmure Island. Moreover, Lawrence E. Doucette of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs (Lands Branch) said that the French settlement at Brudenell Point used to grow hay around St. Mary’s Bay. It would therefore be possible for them to have a factory on Panmure Island.

Local students who worked at Brudenell Point on de Roma excavations, 1970. High school and university:

Carol Conohan, Linda MacIntyre, Barbara McDonald, Allen Fraser, Blair Fraser, Cecil Fraser, Gerard Shepherd, John Sullivan, Paul Sullivan. Jim Cameron and Roy Mumaghan acted as watchmen on the site. Also, Mrs. Margaret Fogarty typed the numerous cards and reports. Miss Gisele Piedalue of St. Boniface, Manitoba, assisted in the direction of the excava-

tion. Source: PEI Public Archives, Accession No. 3, 2413 .

The Macdonalds of Brudenell Point, p.10.

Excavation at the de Roma Site

Introduction Local legends, as well as original 18th-century documents, refer to the

existence of a glass factory on or near the Roma settlement of Trois-Riviére. The historical data uncovered to date states that such a glass works should have been established if the necessary personnel was obtained (Roma 1734). There is, as yet, no conclusive evidence that Roma ever carried out his

proposal, although local tradition does claim the existence of such a glass works on Panmure Island, located southeast of Brudenell Point, opposite Georgetown Harbour.

Structural Review A small excavation at the northwest corner of this island, in a location where

numerous glass findings were reported, revealed a large quantity of pane glass and the “bulls” of the glass prior to its cutting into separate panes. This