-^3- (St. Martin's) With much pride the people in 1872 erected a beautiful little church of dressed Island sandstone which they dedicated to St. Martin of Tours and which continues to serve the parishioners to this day. A rectory, dating from 1932, has been used mainly for meetings and small gatherings. The priests from the cathedral parish served the people here until 1929. From then until the 1970s, the Redemptorists from Holy Redeemer Parish carried on this ministry. Since the erection of the parish of Cornwall in the late 1970s the people of St. Martin's, numbering some forty families, have a close association with that parish. This area, commonly known as , is one of the most beautiful on the whole Island. With most of it washed by the peaceful waters of the Northumberland Strait and by the spectacular West River , it attracts a flood of summer residents and visitors alike. Tins general location was once the well-developed homeland of a number of French families who lived at Port lajoie from the early 1720s to the late 1750s. There they had a church, built in 1722 and dedicated to St. John the Evangelist. It was the first place of worship on the Island. The early priests there were the first to set foot on the Island. In 1759 the British destroyed their properties and deported the residents. Immigrants from Ireland arrived in this locality in the early 1820s and for many years went to Charlottetown for liturgical services. Our Parishes ♦ 57