HIGHLIGHTS
AI NOTEBOOK LM DIALOGUE with related INFOGRAPH
Lorne de l’Acadie HDP Consultation Summary Statement, April 19, 1977
BACKGROUND
GEOGRAPHY: Lorne de l’Acadie is located five miles from Highway 11, a public highway open year round.
POPULATION: The village of Lorne is a series of 224 houses placed on either side of a road which extends four miles from east to west to the main road.
CHALLENGES: After the mechanization of the logging industry, unemployment among men of working age was estimated to be between 50% and 75%. In response, the community procured a sawmill which created 35 new jobs and started furniture and hand-craft industries. Villagers also pooled their savings to buy a fire engine and have organized a fifty-man Fire Protection Association.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
By 1980 the people of Lorne celebrated the following accomplishments:
- The Lorne integrated wood industry, sawmill, shingle mill, and woodworking shops produce jobs and market products.
- Lorne Economic Development Corporation organized to serve as Management Team for industries.
- The citizens of Lorne have constructed a firehall, secured two firetrucks, have 18 trained volunteer firemen and have conducted fire protection programs in the community.
- Lorne identity has been recaptured through creating “The Lorne History Book” in its centennial year in 1979 and work on the Heritage Homestead for the Village Square.
- Lorne residents have presented the story of Lorne’s development to raise funds and to call upon resources in New Brunswick and Eastern Canada and travelled to Korea, Zambia and Great Britain to share with other communities.
- An Education Guild organized adult education courses to give 21 adults the chance to upgrade their education. The Early Learning Centre has conducted classes for over 80 preschool children over the 3 years.
I was in Lorne with a team from Chicago. That year I had been in Arizona with the Papago Consult, Ivy City, and then Sol de Septiembre (Chile) and Bananeiras (Brazil) was in there somewhere. We were sitting down for the evening meal when someone smelled smoke. When we looked around, we could see a column of smoke coming down the stairs from the floor above. About the same time, we heard a tinkling sound, like wind chimes. One person went to see what was going on and came back immediately telling us all to get outside. Yvonne Stringham was resting, and someone went to get her (She was at least eight months pregnant). She had a difficult time pushing the door open due to the fact that all the oxygen was being used by the fire. When we stepped outside, there were flames coming out of the windows just above the room we’d been in.
The beautiful community hall we were sitting in was gutted by that fire. Everything any of us had was destroyed. It was a couple days before the ruins were cool enough for us to go through them looking for anything that might have survived. (Nothing did.) We had to get inkind food and ate a lot of peanut butter sandwiches for a few days. I was given the job of going into town to get a pair of inkind shoes for Yvonne. In her rush to get outside she had not put her shoes on. Ruth Landmann