Description of Historic Place

Morice’s Mill Pond is located in Middle Sackville. It includes Morice’s Mill Pond, also known as Silver Lake, and the land surrounding it, including Lillas Fawcett Park. The pond is a large body of water created by dikes and gristmills, dating to the Acadian period prior to the expulsion in 1755.

Heritage Value

Morice’s Mill Pond is designated a Local Historic Place because of the mills and milldams dating from the Acadian period, and the successful mills of the Morice family in operation from 1821 until 1939. Due to the dikes on the streams for the use of a gristmill, the land surrounding the lake was the site of some of the first settlement in the region and the centre of winter and summer recreation.

The land surrounding Morice’s Mill Pond played an important part in the early history of the area. It has been suggested that French armies camped near this site while marching to the Upper provinces, and the gristmill, mentioned in early deeds, was built for the use of the French farmers. The Township Committee in charge of the allotment of lands in 1762 reserved Lot 56 in Letter B division as a public privilege for mills or other water works. Gristmills were operated in the area over the years but the first granting of the land occurred when Christopher Harper petitioned the government in 1809.

John Morice became owner of the site in 1821. It remained an active industrial site supporting a gristmill, carding mill and sawmill. The site provided a good source of ice that was sold to households. The property was sold by the Morice family in 1939.

The dike broke several times over the years and the lake became no more than a shallow body of water and the marshlands were flooded. A major restoration of the spillway and dam occurred in 1951 under the auspices of the Sackville Fish and Game Protective Association. Although never a deep lake, the site has been used for recreation where boat rentals, a canteen and dance hall were available. Bands performed on a floating bandstand during the summer and a picnic park was built.

Since the early 1970s, the area surrounding the lake has become the site of many housing subdivisions. In 1977, the Rotary Club created a park and recreation area called Lillas Fawcett Park. In 2001 the Town of Sackville designated the park area near the lake as a historic site.

Source: Town of Sackville, Historic Places File Cabinet, Morice's Mill Pond file

Character-Defining Elements

The character defining elements relating to Morice’s Mill Pond
include:
- gently sloping banks around much of the lake;
- areas around the lake where no development has occurred due to swampy condition of the land;
- fairly shallow lake;
- dike and spillway located on original site of dams and gristmills;
- lake used for recreation; swimming, boating, fishing and skating;
- one of main areas of settlement, as early as the mid 1700s.