November 9 - Alison Bell at the Old Town Hall
Alison has been working on a history of performances at the Old Town Hall for years.
She gave the first part of presentation in music, pictures and film, covering the years from 1902 to 1918 at the Old Town Hall to a wonderful crowd. Part 2, from 1918 to 1939 will be presented on November 14, 2012
October 12 - James Christison on Hallowe'en Collectibles
James entertained us with a history of Hallowe'en collectibles and a sampling of his collection. We learned that the things to watch out for in the hierarchy of Hallowe'en collectibility are definitely the devils - along with vegetable people - the postcard pictured has BOTH! And we learned that, in general, the spookier the older. It was a fascinating trip down memory lane and beyond. We hope that we have also snagged James to give us a talk next year about his specialty - the related field of mourning collectibles. All those casket pictures and hair wreaths ... *shudder*
September 14 - Road Trip to Haldimand County Museum
We enjoyed a tour of the museum and a lively talk by curator Karen Richardson entitled “You Just Can’t Live Without It” - a look at the emergence of advertising through history and how it reflects on our life and times.
We also enjoyed visiting the Nicholas log cabin onsite, built about 1835, and had a walk around the still-functioning court house (designed by Cumberland and Ridout of Toronto) and the staggeringly impressive stone jail walls in the back.
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August 13 - Historical/Ghost Walking Tour of Waterford for Doors Open Norfolk
A great success! Nearly 80 people joined us on our tours, jointly led by Karen Lindsay and Alison Bell. Not only was our audience amazed and amused by the tales we told them as we walked from the Town Hall, down the hill and across the dam, but many of them had a few stories to tell themselves! Explosions, crimes, graveyards, a near-hanging, a Donnelly murder and a handful of ghosts. For those who missed it, we may revive it for Hallowe'en one of these years. Keep your ears and eyes peeled! Photos courtesy of Simcoe Radio CD 98.9 |
June 2011 - Road Trip to Port Rowan
Paul Smith, President of the Port Rowan and South Walsingham Heritage Association
gave our members a surprise - we were expecting a walking tour and got a horse-drawn tour instead.
Thanks to Paul and Dedrick Sheldon, owner of the horse team and wagon for an interesting and fun afternoon, full of history on the settlement and its architecture.
May 2011 - Michael Yeo on Signal Hill (aka Messecar's Hill)
Waterford Star - March 27, 1913
We were treated to a fascinating discussion and picture show that spanned 10,000 years of geological history and 100 years of social/scientific history. Michael Yeo, a local land surveyor, has been doing a lot of work on the hill north of Waterford, an old glacial kame. It was used in triangulation mapping by the Geodetic Survey of Canada between 1908 and 1919 - and blew down a couple of times, as you can see in the attached newspaper article. We are hoping to expand on this work a bit in the future.
April 2011 - Melissa Collver's Glass Egg Collection
Melissa Collver, well-known to us as the curator of the Waterford Heritage and Agricultural Museum, is an avid collector of white glass Easter Eggs. She had many on display from her collection of 103 and discussed the history and manufacture of holiday collectibles in Europe and North America. She brought along Jeremy Hayes, another collector from Port Dover, who had a great variety of other Easter collectibles spanning the 20th century.
And we got through the evening without breaking any eggs!
March 2011 - Alison Bell on the Stone Houses
Alison Bell gave an illustrated talk about the Stone Houses of Old Townsend, the 1985 book that was reissued in 2010 to coincide with the 25th Anniversary of the Museum.
She talked primarily about the builders of the houses - George Wallace and Alexander Skinner - and their life stories - how they arrived in Townsend from Aberdeenshire in Scotland and about their lives here. She also talked about many of the houses in the book and their history, some of the details that she was able to uncover that weren't as easily available for the first publication, and some of the things that came to light after publication. Lots of material will be covered that isn't in the book, with colour pictures. And, of course, copies of the book are available for $15. Alison hopes to put the first half of the presentation (the part about the builders) on YouTube soon.
She talked primarily about the builders of the houses - George Wallace and Alexander Skinner - and their life stories - how they arrived in Townsend from Aberdeenshire in Scotland and about their lives here. She also talked about many of the houses in the book and their history, some of the details that she was able to uncover that weren't as easily available for the first publication, and some of the things that came to light after publication. Lots of material will be covered that isn't in the book, with colour pictures. And, of course, copies of the book are available for $15. Alison hopes to put the first half of the presentation (the part about the builders) on YouTube soon.
February 2011 - Bob Stevenson presents the United ChurchIn February, we met at the Waterford United Church for a presentation by Bob Stevenson, the archivist and artefact collector for the United Church. He wrote a marvelous history of the Church a few years ago and gave us a presentation about its history from its beginnings to the disastrous fire of 2008 and through to the current beautiful reconstruction. The illustrated talk and tour included many interesting details, such as:
- the many faces the church had in its long history, and how they were revealed by the deconstruction after the fire - the items of interest that were found in the walls of the church, including lamps, carpet and some things better swept under that carpet - the fact that the church was extremely fortunate that their insurance entitled them to replace their old pipe organ manufactured by the Casavant Freres of Quebec (in business since 1879) with an equivalent by the same highly respected organ builders Bob is one of Waterford pre-eminent historians and we enjoyed his presentation very much. |
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November 2010 - Carly Lindsay at Mount Everest
17-year-old Carly Lindsay gave a wonderful presentation on her trip to the Base Camp of Mount Everest with the No Guts Know Glory Expedition - a project of IDEAS (the Intestinal Disease Education and Awareness Society) and sponsored by Abbott Laboratories and ConvaTec. We were amazed by Carly's pictures, her stamina and her adventure.
If you missed the presentation, here is Carly's story.
If you missed the presentation, here is Carly's story.
Norfolklore - September 2010Karen Lindsay and Alison Bell
The Historical Society was represented at the 34th Annual Norfolklore Genealogy Fair in Simcoe. It was wonderful to meet and chat with all the people who stopped by. We sold copies of our recently released book The Stone Houses of Old Townsend which contains historical and genealogical information about the Stone Houses in the former Township of Townsend. We have added a list of surnames in the book to help you find people of interest. We also had slideshows running of the stone houses and of our ongoing project to document the barns in our area, along with material from Spruce Row Museum, and some other goodies for those interested in local history and genealogy. |
Trip to Cranberry Creek - Sept. 2010 |
June 2010: The Society supported Spruce Row Museum in its celebration of "25 Years at the Pickle Factory" There was a free barbeque for the community, a video of people who had worked in the old pickle factory, the release of the Stone Houses book, lots of games and music. And ..... pickles on a stick! |
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