Dempsey Corner is mostly a farming area producing beef, apples, vegetables and dairy. Some of the businesses are Stoddart Surveying, Valley Glass & Mirror, and S.A. Horsnell Studio.
I live in the house that used to be part of a home for orphaned children. Miss Stirling came from Scotland with 23 children to start the home for orphans in 1886. The home is part of the farm owned by my grandparents, Laurie and Joyce Horsnell and my parents.
Kelly Villa was built in September 1907 and altogether the main house had twenty one rooms. Mr. & Mrs. Kelly had their home in Brooklyn, New York and spent the summers in Dempsey Corner. An ice house was built in 1908 and shortly after that Kelly Villa became the first house in the area with electricity. A large generator was installed and it was said that at night the house all lit up set the mountain aglow. There was also an elevator from the first to the second floor. The large tower had a view of the valley. The house and barn are gone now, the house burned and the barn was struck by lightening.
Some of the businesses that were in Dempsey Corner prior to the turn of the century were a sawmill, a cheese factory, a tannery, a boot and harness shop, a school and a general store.
Dempsey Corner school was built in 1867. The school closed in June 1961, the local children then went to Aylesford and in 1965 moved to the school now called St. Mary's Elementary. The old school is now used as a community hall.