Memories of Blairmore Pier

"Blairmore was a very busy thriving village. The pier was a great attraction with many lovely boats coming in regularly- a wonderful service for the daily travellers going to business. In the summer there were evening cruises with a band playing and these were very popular with locals and visitors. The boats also brought a lot of day trippers to the village and this gave good business to the shops.

"Mr MacArthur, the pier master, always stood at the door of his office, which was at the top of the pier, collecting the pier dues, and the purser aboard the steamer sold the boat tickets. Mr MacArthur had two taxis and a lorry to unload the coal from the coal boat, and then the lorry was weighed at weigh bridge and then taken to the ‘coal ree’ where it was bagged ready to deliver to customers.

"Behind the hotel was Creggandarroch nursery, owned and run by Mr Tom MacDonald and his family. it was very well known for its produce, especially the tomatoes. One of the boats, The Marchioness of Lorne, was called the tomato boat. They had a lorry and every day- sometimes up to three times a day- they delivered as far as Innellan to all the boarding houses and hotels in the area. We loved going along in the summer holidays to pull the fruit."

As told by May Lamont, resident of Blairmore.

More information on visiting the area can be found here.