PORT HOOD: Stories that, years ago, wouldn’t dared be told publically were offered with good humour last Tuesday at the Chestico Museum.
“Moon shining and making bull beer were things that happened in our community,” said John Gillies, one of the speakers at the Celtic Colours-related event called “Stories of Rum Running and Moonshine.”
“It was kept secret, and no one wanted to talk about making the stuff.”
Gillies, a former teacher, is well-known as a local historian.
John Gillies was one of the storytellers offering yarns about prohibition at the Chestico Museum.
Gillies was joined at the Tuesday afternoon get-together by fellow speakers Janet McManus and John Philip Rankin. Rankin gave a thumbnail sketch of how stills work, and McManus offered an amusing story relating to a still her family donated to the museum.
McManus came to the area in October of 2015 to help care for her uncle Donald Constance MacDonald, who had reached the last chapter of his life.
“People who knew Donald knew that he was a very quiet and very private man,” she said, noting that he had a great mind for remembering stories and connections between people. “His memory is what allows me to share the story with you today, because I would have no clue.”
One day, McManus came across a box-shaped device in the upstairs of MacDonald’s home. She was stumped as to what it was, and she naturally went to her uncle for some insight.
“Donald had his pipe in his mouth,” she said. “He looked at it, and he looked and me, and I knew I was in trouble. ‘Where did you find that?’ he said. ‘You and I are the only two people who know this exists.’”
The box-shaped device was a still, McManus was told, and it belonged to MacDonald’s father and another local man. It’s important to note that while moonshine was made with the still, MacDonald’s father and his friend were not interested in bootlegging. The still produced drinks that were shared on special occasions. Indeed, the two men kept the existence of the still a secret.
Janet McManus is seen here with the still she donated to the Chestico Museum on behalf of her family. The story of how she discovered the device in the attic of her uncle’s house left those attending last week’s Celtic Colours event very amused.
MacDonald went on to tell McManus a funny story relating to the day when electricity was being installed in local homes. Donald’s father was not home, but he caught wind that his house would soon be visited. Donald, just a kid at this time, was told to deliver a very important message.
“You go home and you tell mama to ‘clean the attic,’” McManus said, mimicking her grandfather. “And if you knew my grandfather, the next word was ‘get!’”
By the time the linemen arrived to connect the power, the still was in the barn. After MacDonald’s passing, McManus made sure the device got a new home where it could garner a bit more attention.
“I donated it in the family name to the Chestico Museum, and I’m just glad that it can be put in a place of honour – not the attic or barn,” she said.
In Nova Scotia, prohibition lasted from 1921 to 1930. Interestingly, Gillies said, most people who had stills weren’t bootleggers. Some people sold the product, but generally operators made their concoctions for personal use.
Regardless of the use, some folks were quite happy to have booze outlawed.
“In Port Hood, there was Father Donald MacPherson who was the parish priest here from 1919 to 1957,” said Gillies. “He had one true dislike, and that dislike was alcohol. He would confiscate [stills] and the way he’d do it would be to contact the second person who was responsible for keeping the moonshine business underground, RCMP officer Sidney MacLean.”
Rankin recollected that Father MacPherson would go to extreme lengths to keep tabs on bootleggers.
“He’d go out on the ice to look at the woods,” Rankin said, noting that Port Hood harbor was famous for having the ‘big ice’ drift each winter, allowing for a good view of the community.
“If he saw smoke coming out of the woods, he’d know who was making the Christmas batch.”
Gillies recalled a time when Father MacPherson was visiting a sick parishioner in the Judique area. While doing a blessing, the priest asked the sick man’s wife to fetch the family’s bottle of holy water. It was at that point Father MacPherson discovered where the family hid its moonshine.
Father Donald MacPherson was no fan of alcohol, and during prohibition, he had no problem doing his part to have stills seized by the RCMP.
The Chestico Museum enjoyed a full house for the event, and several other stories were told during the afternoon session.