Cobble Hill

Cobble Hill, the community, was in Middlesex County but somewhat straddling the boundary into East Nissouri. The hills, after which the community and its post office were named, are in Zorra (Gazetteer of Canada: Southwestern Ontario: Canadian Board on Geographic Names, 1952). The Cobble Hills Post Office (1882-1912) was a road west of the boundary (Cobble Hills Road), and the Cobble Hills School was south of the post office (on Cherry Hill Road). At the end of the 19th century, the population was reported to be 50, likely including several East Nissouri residents. For instance, the address of a member of Oxford County Council in 1856, Duncan MacMillan, was “Cobble Hill.” Ethel Slater, a resident of Lakeside (in Oxford  County) who taught at the Cobble Hill School in the late 1930s, recalled being a young woman with “23 pupils, three trustees and an inspector. No Superintendent of Education, no Director of Education, no special studies consultants, no supervising principal or secretary to handle my correspondence, no parent-teacher interviews. On my own, and for that first year at least, I know that I learned more than my pupils did. I had four wonderful years in that school section. The pupils were cooperative, I had a home away from home with the Joe Johnson family, and board from Monday morning to Friday night cost me four dollars."