Heritage

Tracy Gordon - Sharing a Journey of Remembrance

4/2/2017

Many of the stories of everyday Canadians participating in World Wars I & II have come to light in recent years due to the painstaking research of history enthusiasts. They are accounts of sacrifice, personalities, hopes, thoughts, family ties, and ordinary people doing extraordinary things. They are shared with us through writing, historical re-enactment and lectures in a manner that is often more enlightening than the telling of history via a recounting of dates, battles, motivations and viewpoints of generals and political leaders. One local woman from Dutton, Tracy Gordon, has taken on such a story-telling mission on many fronts.

Gadgets and Gizmos at the Elgin County Museum

11/1/2016

The hands-off observation of a museum exhibition of old gadgets obviously designed to do something is likely to leave the curious on-looker with an unfulfilled urge to set moving parts in motion. However, visitors to the “Gadgets & Gizmos” exhibition at the Elgin County Museum can satisfy that inclination. They are invited to touch and operate several of the artifacts in this show of “labour-saving, time-saving and just plain inventive machines and contraptions of the 19th century”.

History Brought to Life at Aylmer-Malahide Museum & Archives

8/31/2016

Amanda VandenWyngaert became curator of the Aylmer Malahide Museum & Archives in April 2014. Under her direction, exhibits have included ones which transformed sections of the museum into a Victorian home and into a World War I trench. As we sat upon a quite lovely, very yellow kitchen set which will become part of the upcoming Fabulous 50s exhibit, she shared some of the “behind the scenes” at the museum.

Spirited Walks in Sparta

6/30/2016

A visit to the quiet village of Sparta can feel like a trip back in time. The lives of many of its inhabitants throughout the 1800s unfolded in buildings which can still be seen today. You can feel a sense of history when you visit the businesses housed in those heritage structures. And you can explore it further by stopping in at the Forge and Anvil Museum or Sparta Church Museum & Cultural Centre or by taking the self-guided Sparta Walking Tour.

This Year's Vimy Lecture Set Against Exhibit Featuring Elgin's Contribution in WWI

4/9/2016

This year, the Elgin County Museum is featuring the centenary of WWI and Elgin’s contribution to the war both at home and overseas. The current exhibition fills the museum space with archival photographs and displays on that theme. It made an especially appropriate backdrop to this year’s Vimy Lecture, held annually on the anniversary of the first day of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, April 9, 1917.

Early Ice Sports in St. Thomas by Pete Sheridan

11/1/2015

In the autumn of 1865, 150 years ago, a lot at Wellington and Queen Streets in St. Thomas, just opposite the Elgin County Courthouse, was being prepared for the winter. The land was being levelled, a well was being sunk, and a shed to house the pump was being built. As soon as the weather was right, this would become the new rink of the St. Thomas Skating Club.

Read the entire article below or in Relish Elgin Holiday 2015.

Nurturing Nature in Noteworthy Ways

9/1/2015

An Eskimo Curlew (Archibald Thorburn)

Local naturalists have helped restore lost habitats, maintained trails, counted wildlife, banded, documented, inventoried, photographed, created resources, volunteered on boards, and helped raise funds. They have kept watch and understood what we stand to lose without constant care and vigilance. Three local naturalists of the past are amongst those who have served as inspiration to the generations which followed.

Read the entire article in the Relish Elgin Fall 2015 Edition

War of 1812 Plaques Bring History to Life

6/28/2015

A plaque trail of permanent markers which record local events and people significant to the War of 1812 was unveiled at events hosted by The Elgin County 1812 Committee on Sunday June 28th. The launch event took place at two locations of the nine on the trail - Port Glasgow Memorial Park and St. Stephen's Church Graveyard.

Although the majority of more well-known battles of the War of 1812 took place in other areas, like the Niagara region, there has been an increased recognition that the war also had substantial and long-lasting impacts on the settlers who lived in Southwestern Ontario, including in Elgin County.

Elgin County Awards Funding to Local Festivals

6/9/2015

CENTRAL ELGIN – Elgin County Economic Development is pleased to announce that the Festival and Event Partnership Program grant recipients for 2015 have been chosen.

Aylmer Fire of 1965 Focus of Exhibit Fifty Years Later

3/1/2015

The exhibit “The Holocaust on Main Street” previewed on February 26th, fifty years after the catastrophic Aylmer fire took place in 1965. Other artifacts and materials from Aylmer and Malahide fire departments and from other fires which shaped Aylmer are also on display, but the fire of ’65 takes centre stage.

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