Two Days About Yesterday: Day 1

The first of our Two Days About Yesterday event was a great success, with many visitors attending the exhibition and talks in Wellington’s Highline Hall.

Ernie Margetson’s talk on the history of Prince Edward County’s barns was very well attended, with the audience completely enraptured by his exploration of the development of barn-building in this area. Ernie’s talk was well illustrated by the dozens of photographs he has taken of barns over the past three decades, many of which are no longer standing.

Visitors also enjoyed the talks by Krista Richardson of Prince Edward County Archives and Ian Robertson, who talked about Camp Picton. A delicious lunch of heritage-theme foods helped sustain everyone’s energy levels.

Tomorrow the history weekend continues with three tours and another speaker: Marc Seguin will be talking about lighthouses at the Mariners’ Museum, South Marysburgh, at 12pm. There are tours of Camp Picton and the ‘Her Stories’ presentation and tour of Glenwood Cemetery. (Booking form for the tours.)

Thanks to all the exhibitors for their time and we hope to see you again in 2017!

Prince Edward County Built Heritage Fund

Applications are currently being accepted by the County Community Foundation for requests for funding to “aid the preservation, protection, or restoration of a heritage structure within the geographic area of Prince Edward County deemed historically or culturally significant to the community.” These funds are raised from the proceeds of the annual Christmas House Tours of Prince Edward County. This year the tours will be held on December 4th.

Information on how to apply for a “SAVE THE DAY” grant

Download the Built Heritage Application Form

Applications are due by June 15th, 2016.

2016 Prince Edward Historical Society AGM

The Annual General Meeting of the Prince Edward Historical Society will be held on Sunday, May 15th at 2:00 p.m. in the Wellington Library, 261 Main Street, Wellington, Ontario (lower level meeting room).

A proposed slate of officers for the Society will be presented by the Executive and nominations from the floor will be accepted.

Our guest speaker will be Lindsay Reid of ERA Architects who is in charge of ERA’s Prince Edward County office.

ERA is a renowned leader in historical and heritage restoration projects.

Some of the company’s more recent projects include Toronto’s Distillary District and the Imperial Oil building, and the restoration of the Royal Hotel in Picton. Lindsay will talk about Heritage Conservation Districts, including Picton’s, that ERA has been involved in creating.

Please join us for what should be an interesting presentation.

The AGM will also include an update about our heritage event, ‘Two Days About Yesterday’ that is taking place on June 18th and 19th.

Two Days About Yesterday postponement

After careful consideration, the executive of the historical society has decided, regrettably, to postpone November’s ‘Two Days About Yesterday’ event until next spring.

A number of factors led to our decision, including cancellations by some previously committed exhibitors.

We will publish the revised date and location when they are set.

Quinte Boy returns

Picton’s Canada Day celebrations included the official installation of a new piece of public art in front of the Armoury building on Main Street: a bronze statue of John A. Macdonald as he might have appeared when he was a young lawyer, practising in the town.

The statue is the work of Ruth Abernethy and represents the successful completion of the five-year Macdonald project, chaired by David Warrick.

Hundreds of people attended the event, which included an additional unveiling of a bronze bust of Macdonald which was donated to the Museums of Prince Edward County. Nancy Woods and Steve Ferguson accepted the bust from David Warrick on behalf of the Museums and the Prince Edward Historical Society.

Other speakers at the event included Justice Robert Sharpe of the Ontario Court of Appeal and Janet E. Minor, Treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada. Justice Sharpe spoke about Macdonald’s contribution to Canada’s constitution, while acknowledging his failings in relation to Canada’s Indigenous peoples. Treasurer Minor highlighted Macdonald’s progressive views on votes for women and noted that in every year since 2000, more women than men have been called to the bar in Ontario.

Congratulations to the sculptor, the project team, and the organizers of today’s event.

2015 Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of the Prince Edward Historical Society will be held on Sunday, May 3rd at 2:00 p.m. at the Wellington Library, 261 Main Street, Wellington, Ontario.

A proposed slate of officers for the Society will be presented by the Executive and nominations from the floor will be accepted.

Current location of the Community Archives of Belleville and Hastings County in Cannifton

Our guest speaker will be Sharon White, MISt, Archivist for the Community Archives of Belleville and Hastings County, who will be telling us about the plans for the move of the archives to a new location in Belleville Public Library.

Light refreshments will be served.

All welcome: we hope to see you there!

Camp Picton tours

Last year’s tours of the former aviation training base at Camp Picton were so popular that the Historical Society ran them again in July 2014.

Thanks to all who came and enjoyed the tours!