'Jewel of the community': N.B. volunteers help restore historic hall

Nearly a dozen volunteers rolled up their sleeves and worked to restore a 140-year-old building in Harvey, N.B., Saturday.

Back in 1884, Harvey Hall was built with plans to be used as a community centre for the agriculture and shipbuilding industries, but has since become a staple in the area.

Volunteer Jane West-Chrysostom said the hall has been a multi-use facility for years.

"It's been a venue for weddings, memorials, funerals, baby showers and market places. In its early days it was a replacement school when a local grammar school burned to the ground. It was a voting place, basketball was played here," said West-Chrysostom.

Decommissioned railway ties were placed underneath the building to stabilize the overall structure while crews work on the roof and windows.

"It's been closed doors for about six years now just because of the overall insecurity of the structure, so when this comes back it will be a great day for everyone who is devoted to this hall, devoted to the history of this area, the legacy of the people who built and conceived of this place to be a place for people," said West-Chrysostom.

The building has also hosted musicians from around the world. Now, there's hope local artists will soon perform there again.

"The acoustics of the building are fantastic," said volunteer Peter Brzezicki. "Very rarely will you find a building that sounds that good inside."

Brzezicki called the old hall the 'jewel of the community' but cautioned the work being done is not long-term.

"In the meantime, we need to get our act together, get fundraising going to simply secure funding to do permanent fixes. This is temporary, we think this is going to last for a few years and that is going to buy us some time to do something more concrete," said Brzezicki.

The group has received funding from the public and the province which helped facilitate Saturday's project.

The Harvey Hall sea shanty was recorded and uploaded to YouTube last year which raised more than $5,000 for the campaign.

Officials say the goal is to have the hall open and fully operational in 2023. More information and history on the building can be found online.