On November 6th, 2001 we interviewed Nellie Young. Nellie was born in 1906 at East Baltic. She obtained her schooling at the East Baltic School where she completed grade 10. Then she went to Boston and worked there from 1924 until 1925. After she had collected enough money she moved back home to Prince Edward Island.

Nellie married Mayor Young, who was a fisherman, in 1926 and had a family of four children.

Nellie worked at the Green Lantern, a cookhouse in North Lake. Unfortunately, it was not in operation very long before it closed. After this she went to work for the Johnston’s at their cookhouse called, Johnston’s Cookhouse which was located at North Lake. Johnston’s previously owned a cookhouse and factory at East Point before they moved to North Lake. The cookhouse was a 52 foot long building with eating area, sleeping quarters and office downstairs. The second floor was used as sleeping quarters for fishermen and factory workers. The rooms would sleep 12 to a room. The fishermen would provide their own bedding and towels and take them home for washing when they went home on Saturday night.

The owners of the cookhouse, Earl and Janet Johnston, lived and worked at the cookhouse from Spring to Fall. Some of the people Nellie worked with were Rita MacDonald, Sylvia MacLean, Helen Young , Vera MacDonald, Emma Harris, Anna (Harris) Holland and Arlene (Robertson) MacPhail. The cookhouse was opened in 1944 and came to a sad ending when it closed in 1964. Nellie was supposed to work at the fish plant in North Lake when she went to look for work first but she didn't because at the last minute, the boss of the cookhouse asked her to work there for them.

on the right, Johnston's Cookhouse

Nellie lived at the cookhouse during the week, sometimes taking her children to stay with her. Nellie worked from April to December. Fishermen would lobster fish in May and June then fish for cod and other fish for the remainder of the season.

Nellie’s normal work day (which was Monday to Saturday) usually consisted of waking up at 3:00 a.m., lighting the stoves and starting to cook breakfast for the fishermen. Nellie would tap on the pipes to awaken her helpers known as "cookees" to come down to help make breakfast which they would start serving at 4:00 a.m. Breakfast would consist of porridge, bread, prunes, beans and tea.

After the men left to go out fishing the tables were cleared and the cook would set bread (twice a day) making 17 loaves at a time, make rolls and bake 2 - 3 pans of biscuits (5 doz. each pan) each day using 100 lbs of flour a day. They would also make raisin bread, cookies and pies (14 large pies per meal). Chocolate cake with homemade fudge icing was a favorite sweet especially with Harold Hunter. Nellie remembers the time that the icing melted right of the cake onto the floor with the heat and she had to have someone run to Theresa’s Store to get some chocolate bars that they melted to put over the top of the cake before the fishermen arrived for their meal. Nellie would make 6 -7 fruit cakes in early April of each year when she first went to work to have when they would run out of other things throughout the season.

At 10:00 a.m. the factory workers came in for lunch and they were served tea, sweets and whatever was left over from the day before. Dinner would consist of roast pork or roast beef or salt fish and potatoes and turnips (which was the only vegetable they ever used), bread, pie, sweets and tea. At supper they served fish or meat hash, soup and homemade potted meat along with bread, sweets and tea.

Eighty Five Lunch Buckets would be packed at night for the fishermen the next day with biscuits, sandwiches made from home made bread and cold meat, cheese, sweets and a large bottle of tea. The "cookees" hands would be sore from slicing all the bread for the lunches. Nellie says there was no such things as coffee back then, everyone drank tea.

Nellie’s day would end at 10:30 at night after her and the girls washed the dishes, mopped the floor and all the lunch buckets were made for the next day.

The cookhouse would seat 80 people (tables with long benches) but many fishermen came and went at different times according to their schedules. The meals were cooked on a large stove that was heated by wood and coal. It wasn’t until later years that they had the luxury of using an electric stove. There were no refrigerators until the later years Nellie worked at the cookhouse. She says she doesn’t remember how things were kept but the food was eaten up so fast that nothing spoiled. They used only can milk so storing milk was not an issue. The groceries would be shipped from Charlottetown when needed, also using local meat and fish. Nellie says they never ran out of food at any time.

On stormy days when there were less fishermen out on the water it provided a good opportunity to get some baking done ahead.

Nellie received $10.00 a week in wages for working at the cookhouse when she first started working, compared to an average wage of $ 500.00 a week for a cook today. Nellie recalls that the fishermen and some locals that would always arrive for their meals would pay .25 cents for a meal back then and today such a meal would cost from $10.00 - $12.00.

When the cookhouse closed in 1964, Nellie and (owner) Mrs. Johnston walked out of the cookhouse together.

There was a lot of hard work put into running and maintaining the cookhouse. Nellie says it was hard work but she says she also had a lot of fun. She says the fishermen were great people to feed as they appreciated a good meal and always had a story or yarn to tell to make the day interesting. Nellie recalls the many times her two sons, Johnny and Gary, would be playing on the wharf and fall through the planks, land in the water and have to be fished out by a fisherman.

After leaving the cookhouse in 1964, Nellie went to work at the Sea Breeze Motel in Kingsboro where she worked as a cook, waitress and a desk clerk. She worked at the Motel for 20 years before she retired.

Nellie says she met a lot of people and made a lot of friends over the years through the cookhouse at North Lake and the Sea Breeze Motel in Kingsboro and still today looks back fondly on all the memories.

We would like to thank Nellie, Glen Cameron, and Eastern Kings Consolidated School for helping us to do this interview.