Description

A sign on the Covehead Road
claims it to be "The oldest road
on Prince Edward Island." This may
be true - it is certainly the oldest
road still in use on the Island - but
the Covehead Road was not the
first road constructed and utilized
by European settlers. That distinction
belongs to the cart track which
linked the upper reaches of the
Hillsborough River to the French village
of Havre-Saint-Pierre in the parish
of Saint-Pierre-du-Nord. Maps as
late as the early 20th century showed
a small stretch of road running
from St. Peters Lake to the shore of
St. Peters Bay - the "Old St. Peters
Highway." This was the eastern
terminus of the water and overland
route which connected Port-La-Joye
and the rather extensive settlements
along the Hillsborough and its tributaries
to the commercial centre of
Ile-Saint-Jean, Havre-Saint-Pierre,
during the French regime of 1720
to 1758. Though now only scraps of
it remain, this road to Havre-Saint-
Pierre was the Island's first road.