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speakup

This article will be dedicated to what was known as the Buckley House on Jane St. As you can see from the picture, it was a rather magnificent structure situated right in the heart of the community. It had elaborate design lines and a wrap-around veranda.

Contributed photo

The Buckley House was a focal point at the corner of Jane and Pleasant St. in Newcastle.

In a previous column on the Buckley Mill at French Fort Cove I mentioned that this house was built by David Buckley in 1911 when he moved to Newcastle to maintain his mill operation. I don't have a considerable amount of information on who built the house or who designed it but it fits with a lot of the local design architecture in the area of that time.

The house then changed hands when a young doctor by the name of Alex Bell came to town to open a medical practice in the community. The young Dr. Bell, educated at McGill and serving overseas as a surgeon, was returning home to Simco Ont. He was removed by military orders from the train in Newcastle and sent to Rogersville to work in the community as they had no medical services and the community was devastated by the influenza epidemic of 1918. One year later he moved to Newcastle and opened a medical practice. He married Cannie Armstrong and raised his family and became the owner of the Buckley House from which he operated his medical practice. His practice went well and he devloped an excellent reputation as a physician and surgeon in the community but in 1938 he moved to Fredricton. At that time, rather than sell the house, he rented the house to a man by the name of Hans Coma.

Coma was employed by a German lumber company buying and shipping lumber back to Europe. This was a very common business practice on the Miramichi at that particular time.

A couple of large aerials for ship to shore communications were installed at the house. This raised concerns in the community as the clouds of war were gathering again. It was also reported Coma was taking many pictures of various bridges and industrial buildings in the area. It all seemed to be very sinister in a very nervous time on the river to the point the RCMP were keeping a very close eye on the situation. With the declaration of war the Coma family disappeared over night. The RCMP raided the house and seized radios and pictures. This raised the rumours of German spies in the community. It was a very interesting story that I listened to one night when told by Dr. Bell and Aubrey Falls, the RCMP officer involved.

The Coma family was arrested in Montreal and intered for the duration of the war, Dr. Bell was thoroughly emberassed and the spy case went down in the history books.

The old house then was rented to the RCMP and they used the house as the main barracks for a number of years. Again I had an opportunity to hear many stories told by Aubrey Falls and his years of service in the RCMP.

The house then changed ownership. Bill Craig turned the house into a hotel or guest house known as the Woodland Lodge. I believe Bill Craig came from St. Stephen and he ran an outfitting business for fishermen and operated the lodge. At that point in time my parents were running the Riverview Cabins so as a young boy I can remember Craig and his weekend visits to my fathers place. To me the Woodland Lodge just seemed to be an enormous building.

Eventually the old house was old to the Irving Oil Company and became the victim of the wrecking ball. A Irving service station and car wash was built on the site and continues to operate to this day.

I am sure I have missed a lot information on the history of this stately house but of what I can remember this old house certainly had a huge impact on the Miramichi in many ways.