The community of Brae was first settled by Acadians in the early eighteenth century. With the expulsion of the Acadians from Prince Edward Island, beginning in 1758, known as the
Le Grand Dérangement, the Acadians who had lived in the Brae area apparently fled across the Northumberland Strait to New Brunswick. By the early 1800s, Scots Presbyterians began to arrive in the area, settling and creating the community they named
The Brae, Scottish for a slope or hillside, later known simply as Brae. For many years the community worshipped at nearby Dunblane until building their own church, the Brae Presbyterian Church, in 1879. In 1925, with
Church Union in Canada, Brae Presbyterian was one of the majority of Presbyterian churches which voted to join the United Church of Canada.
We have managed to put together the following two excerpts to arrive at the construction date of the Brae Presbyterian Church.
In 1878, a new church and cemetery were established at modern day Dunblane. This is the site of the current West Point Presbyterian Church. At this time, the Campbellton and Brae communities formed their own separate congregations.
From
Historic Places Canada
In 1872 [Robert Oulton and family] bought land in what is now Brae Harbour, Lot 9, where they moved to escape the memory of the tragic accidental death the previous year of their son Robert. Robert Sr continued farming and also rafted lumber. In 1875 he became an elder in Lot 7 Presbyterian Church, where Brae Presbyterians were attending until the new Brae Presbyterian Church opened in 1879.
From
Biographi Canada
Brae United Church Cemetery is located in Prince County, Brae Prince Edward Island, Canada. There are approximated 315 known interments.
Brae United Church Cemetery records indicate Hugh McAdam born December 11, 1744 at
Straiton, South Ayrshire, Scotland and passed away in 1841 was the first known interment. The interment date of Hugh McAdam indicates that the cemetery came into being a minimum of decade or so before the church.
Whatever may have comprised the Community of Brae at one time seems no longer to exist, as the church finds itself nearly alone in the countryside, with the church hall across Highway 14 from the church, then the odd farmhouse here and there dotting the horizon.