Mount Stewart, Prince Edward Island

Mount Stewart is a municipality that holds community status in Prince Edward Island, Canada. It is located in the northeastern part of Queens County.

Mount Stewart is located at the head of the once-navigable portion of the Hillsborough River at the point where the river begins to narrow significantly.

The community played an important role in the province's early transportation history, being the site of a bridge over the river along the route between the capital at Charlottetown and the shire town of Kings County at Georgetown.

In the early 1870s, the Prince Edward Island Railway ran its mainline between both communities through Mount Stewart. If any one wanted to travell to Georgetown or Souris from Charlottetown, they would have to come through or make a stop at Mount Stewart. Mount Stewart also came to be referred to as Mount Stewart Junction after the PEIR built a line northeast to Morell and Souris. During the 1930s, the community became the centre of all railway service accessing eastern PEI after the Hillsborough River Bridge carrying the railway line to Murray Harbour between Charlottetown and Southport was condemned. The CNR constructed what was known as the "Short Line" between Mount Stewart and Lake Verde, permitting rail traffic to continue to serve the southeastern part of the province. People would also use the railways to transport vegetables, potatoes, lumber, and other resources. The last train that came here was from Charlottetown in 1989, it was also when the railway stopped running.

Spikes were pulled out of the railway and they turned them into trails. In 1992 they started pulling the spikes and I took the m around ten days or more, to get from cardigan to Mount Stewart . Now that the spikes are pulled out we have wonderful tracks that go all around P.E.I. If it hadn’t been for hard work earlier on then we wouldn’t have that beautiful scenery and tourist spot that we have now.

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