O. B. Davis Park / Lovers' Lane

Oran Beecher Davis (1872-1960) was born at Simonds in Carleton County and lived in Grand Falls with his wife Elizabeth Fraser. They had no children but raised his wife’s nephew Harold J Fraser.

He came to Grand Falls at the end of the 1800’s, most likely in 1898 and was hired by Lumbering Co. Ltd. He was a Liberal member of parliament in the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly from 1925 to 1930 and was an active member in multiple organizations especially the Grand Falls Rotary Club. His friends referred to him as O.B.

In 1914, Mr. Davis built a sawmill on Salmon River between Drummond and New Denmark. O.B. was the second largest mill owner-operator in our area. Mr. Davis mill operations not only included a furniture and woodworking mill at the head of the upper basin but also included mills near the C.N.R station, a large mill at Salmon River and another at Rivière-Verte.

He erected two locks: one near the mill and another several kilometres higher called the Dane’s lock. In lumbering a lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercrafts between stretches of water on different levels. Near the mill, a village grew rapidly, including about thirty houses, a school, a store belonging to the Davis Company and a big boarding house. Many men from Drummond and from the area went up to the logging camps of the Davis Company and drove logs in the spring on the Salmon River. Davis’ company gave jobs to the locals of this town. Lacking wood, the sawmill closed its doors in 1952.

O.B. was an important businessman who helped contribute to the growth of our town.

Living on Front Street near the waterfalls, it is said that Mr. Davis would come here to rejuvenate and get some energy from the falls. He had noticed how deteriorated and unkept the park was. He devoted his time to cleaning the park since it had become a dumping area. The park’s name, “Lover’s Lane”, came about as it was known earlier on as a place of secret rendezvous with a forbidden lover.

In 1967, the Rotary Club of Grand Falls erected a monument consisting of half a grist mill stone from the Sir John Caldwell grist mill that once stood and operated on the site with a plaque honouring O.B. Davis for his contribution to the area.

Today the park is visited daily by the Grand Falls population and the many visitors who come to visit each year.