Over the past 15 years, the Glengarry Pioneer Museum has hosted annual guided, in-person Historical Driving Tours through Glengarry County. The event proved to be a perennial favourite that would see a cavalcade of cars driving from one interesting historical site to another. At each stop along the route, local experts would share historical information and little-known facts about location being featured. The day’s outing would also feature a delicious box lunch.
However, the pandemic has forced the Glengarry Pioneer Museum to rethink this successful format in a way that still allows history buffs to take a magical mystery tour, without compromising safety. Organizers Lindsey Howes and Stuart Robinson opted to go with a downloadable audio guide to seven locations around North and South Glengarry: Alexandria’s Industrial History; The Glengarry Archives; Williamstown Walking Tour; Glengarry, Nor’Westers and Loyalist Museum; Peanut Line and the General; and a Cooper’s Marsh Walking Tour. Subject matter experts were recruited for each location and their presentations were translated and recorded in both English and French. The audio files are available for download from now until the end of the year. Each location’s presentation can be saved as a separate file, or the entire tour can be downloaded as a whole. No matter which option you select, you can visit the locations at your own pace, and more than once if you wish.
The “Virtual Driving Tour” audio files and a printable guide map are yours for a contribution of just $12, with the proceeds being shared by the Glengarry Pioneer Museum and the Glengarry, Nor’westers and Loyalist Museum. Just visit the Glengarry Pioneer Museum’s website (www.GlengarryPioneerMuseum.ca) and click on the “Tour” link under the Events tab at the top of the page. A suggested route for the tour is provided, but feel free to create your own itinerary. You could even throw in a picnic or stop for a bite to eat at one of the many local restaurants in North and South Glengarry. Trust me, they need your business… and you deserve a few moments of normality.
Dunvegan’s day of rest
When Amazon’s white delivery van pulled up last Sunday morning to drop off my new iPhone case, it struck me that the former settlers of Dunvegan must be turning over in their graves. I had been reading the recollections of deceased residents from the area, and the contrast to today was dramatic, to say the least. Not all that long ago, it was a whole different world.
As starters, here’s a brief account of life around the turn of the 19th century written by Ellen Bella Daggett (née MacLeod) of Salmon Arm, British Columbia. Mrs. Daggett, who died in 1974 at the age of 92, was born and raised on Lot 6 in the 9th Concession of Kenyon. She wrote “My pa and ma were very religious and always had bible reading and a prayer in the morning after breakfast and also before we went to bed. We kept Sunday very holy. On Saturday, we did all the work for Sunday, such as filling a big can of water from the pump, filling the wood box with wood, peeling potatoes for Sunday dinner. We couldn’t read the newspaper on Sunday, only bible stories. And we’d go to church three times a day with two or three horses – four miles each way to Dunvegan. Stone church, built 90 years ago and it is still up as good as ever, holding 1,000 people with a high balcony, sitting 100 people. Our minister preached a Gaelic sermon at 11:00 and English at 3:00 and the singing and preaching were so nice. I had to memorize the golden text to tell my strict father when I came home from church.” I’m not convinced Dunvegan’s Kenyon Presbyterian Church has a capacity of 1,000 worshippers, but even if only half this number had turned up for a Sunday service in days of old, there would have been a serious collection of horse-drawn vehicles awaiting the return journey. I wonder where they all parked?
Ontario in the early 20th century was a hotbed of ‘Blue Laws’ that included a prohibition onthe work of labourers, mechanics and manufacturers; all farm work; work on railways; driving for business purposes; the work of bakers and barbers, etc.; the work of musicians and paid performers of any kind; all games, races or other sports; all paid excursions with the object of pleasure; advertising of unlawful things to take place on Sunday; all gambling, tippling, using profane language; all public meetings, except in churches; hunting, shooting, fishing; also bathing. I guess many folks breathed a sigh of relief when the Roaring 20s hit town.
While the religious fervor of this 1911 statute faded a wee bit over time, the stricture against work on Sunday still resonated with some members of the community ever after the end of the Second World War. Here’s a brief account written by a young lad living near Three Bridges at the south end of Blyth Road. “One Sunday after dinner I decided to ride my bicycle and go visit (a relative on Dunvegan Road). I had never traveled that far before on my bicycle… Opposite Donald John and Mary Ann’s house, I had a flat tire. I had my tube repair kit with me, but my all-purpose bicycle wrench was at home. Donald John and Mary Ann were brother and sister and their house was northwest of where the Scotch River crossed the Dunvegan West Road. I pushed my bicycle up to the house and asked Mary Ann for a wrench. Mary Ann took the bicycle away from me and told me, in no uncertain terms, that I was not supposed to work on Sunday. I walked home which was about two miles and (we) picked up my bicycle the next day.” I shudder to think what Mary Ann would have done to my Amazon driver.
Mayflower false alarm
Talking about Sunday, Dunveganites who were out and about the latter half of last weekend may have been shocked to see a huge Mayflower moving van at Bob and Karen Linney’s place, the old log manse at the east end of the hamlet. I’d like to reassure readers that the Linney’s are not moving away. At least, not yet. Given the absurd prices local real estate is commanding these days, like Terry and I, they may be thinking of packing up and finding a quiet beach on the west coast of Mexico to live out their remaining days.
Sunday’s moving van was delivering stuff, not taking it away. Sadly, Karen’s brother in Winnipeg passed away recently and she had to travel out west to settle his estate. Karen flew home a couple of weeks ago and has just completed her compulsory quarantine period. And her brother’s effects followed her back to Dunvegan on eighteen wheels.
Welcome home Karen. Our condolences for your loss.
Old Trappers Never Die
As regular readers have no doubt gathered, I take great delight in hearing from Glengarrians and their memories of the past. One regular contributor is Ken McEwen from Ottawa East who grew up on the 8th concession road, near where it crosses the east branch of the Scotch River. When Ken was young, the Scotch was awash in muskrat traps during the spring. According to a long-standing gentleman’s agreement, Frank Schell trapped the western side of the Scotch River and Nelson Montgomery trapped its eastern shore. Both had other occupations. Frank was a bricklayer. And in latter years, Nelson ran a garage in Dunvegan. But as Ken recalls, regardless of what they were by trade, both were hunters and trappers by inclination.
Necessity being the mother of invention, Nelson designed a watercraft that was purpose-built for “rat” trapping on the Scotch. Ken describes it as having a prow shaped from a block of cedar, designed to accommodate the
12-foot long boards that formed the sides. Struts were inserted to bow the sides and create a base for a seat. My research has shown that Nelson made a number of these Scotch River Trapping boats, including one that Ken McEwen found abandoned in a log jam down by the Three Bridges. He dragged it home, made the necessary repairs, carved a paddle and was back “at sea” in no time. Shortly before he left to join the RCMP in the fall of 1952, Ken left his boat tied to a fence post so it wouldn’t float away in the spring flood. Sadly, he didn’t return home on leave until after Christmas 1953. His boat was gone. Kenny MacLeod and Mallory Franklin also had Nelson Montgomery boats. They acquired them from Nelson in the 1970s when he was living in the small house at the north end of Alice Street.
I thought Ken had an excellent suggestion: that a replica of a Nelson Montgomery Scotch River Boat be made based on pictures and first hand accounts of the boat’s construction. As Ken said in his email, it would make a fine addition to the museum’s Trapper’s Cabin exhibit. The cabin was owned by the late Angus McRae from Maxville, whom I’m told once had a bumper sticker that read, “Old Trappers Never Die, They Just Smell That Way.”
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