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HISTORY NIGHTS: Great Journeys Into The Past

History Lives Here is hosting a series of “History Nights” in 2024/2025 at The Andrew, the former St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church on King Street in Picton.

“History Nights” are 90-minute audio-video presentations on a wide range of local history topics of first settlement, founding industries, prominent people, and significant events, which have shaped the history of Prince Edward County and Canada.

A first event in September outlined the history of History Lives Here Inc., the little company with the big idea to make history a significant economic driver in the area.

Company founder, journalist Peter Lockyer, shared his personal story of working as a volunteer to restore Picton’s historic Glenwood Cemetery over nearly a decade and some lessons learned. Today, after nearly 25 years working with many local volunteer heritage groups, it is his firm belief that we need to do more than tell stories – even as compelling as they are. What really needs to happen, he says, is that we package our history into a community business retailing historical events, experiences and locally made products to consumers with a portion of all revenues contributed into a central, existing fund that supports local heritage projects.

October’s presentation highlighted the story of the Miss Supertest race team, the Canadian boat which raced to victories in Picton waters in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The next “History Night” will take place on Thursday, January 30th at 7 – 8:30PM at the Andrew, 31 King St. in Picton. This presentation will tell the tale of a town, a time, and a team that made hockey history – the story of the 1959 world champion Belleville McFarlands.

In late February, Lockyer will be presenting “Great Journeys” – his experiences documenting Canadian development projects in China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam and Ghana.

 

The concluding presentation in March will showcase some of the History Moments video series, short stories based on local history themes, produced by the History Lives Here team. These highly produced video vignettes were broadcast on regional broadcast networks and before movies at several area theatres.    

 

 Tickets are $30/person. For more information, contact: standrewspicton.com/historynights

RETAILING HISTORY: The 2024 Christmas In The County House Tour

This annual, self-guided tour of some of Prince Edward County’s most historic properties will take place on Sunday, December 8th from 11AM- 5PM.

 

The popular event always sells out. But it originated from tragic circumstances. On a Sunday morning in the late summer of 2010, a demolition crew began tearing down an iconic heritage property on Picton’s Main Street – a former Methodist Church built in 1875. Within a couple of days, this great building was reduced to rubble. Today, the site remains an empty lot on the town’s Main Street – a loss rated as one of the top ten heritage losses in the country in 2010 by the National Heritage Trust of Canada.

 

In time the municipality created the Picton Heritage Conservation District enacting some regulatory policy to prevent more losses. But a very immediate response was the creation of the Christmas In The County House Tour to promote the importance of preserving heritage while raising funds to support local heritage projects. Money from ticket revenues is contributed into a Built Heritage Fund managed by our Community Foundation and re-invested each year in local heritage projects.

 

COVID shut down the tour for a couple of years. But in 2023, the tour was revived by a small group of volunteers. As always, it sold out! In 2024, the tour will showcase nine historic County properties decorated for the holiday season. It’s yet another example of how history can be packaged into a popular product that consumers will gladly purchase – all part of the “Heritage Economy” we are developing in Prince Edward County.

 

We need to make local history and heritage matter. And it will matter most if it makes money – as it does in many communities around the world.

 

Tour tickets are $40/person. To order tickets online, contact: CountyHouseTour.eventbrite.ca

History Nights at St. Andrews-Picton with Peter Lockyer

Media Release

History Nights @ St. Andrews-Picton with Peter Lockyer

The History Nights presentations will showcase local history stories of early settlement, significant events, prominent people, and the first industries that have shaped County history. Journalist and local historian Peter Lockyer of History Lives Here Inc. will share his knowledge and experiences as a professional storyteller who has explored the rich past of Prince Edward County over the last 25 years.

 

This series of five monthly 90-minute presentations begins on Thursday, September 26th from 7 – 8:30 PM with the concept of the Heritage Economy, Peter’s idea to transform County history into a series of heritage products – walking and bus tours, plays, re-enactments, specialty items and experiences retailed to visitors. Throughout many projects, it is Peter’s strong belief that we need to do more than tell stories. He suggests we create a community history business that makes money to preserve our many heritage properties and special spaces.

 

“We’re very pleased to partner with Peter in hosting the History Nights series,” “He and his History Lives Here team have played a significant role in telling these compelling stories of the County’s past for many years while pioneering an economic concept to make history a significant business for the community. He wants to make heritage matter. This is a transformative idea. And we are partnering with his company as we transform our heritage property into a dynamic community space.”

 -Lynne Donovan-minister at St. Andrews.

 

Additional History Nights include the following presentations:

·      Thurs., October 24th–     The Story of the Miss Supertest Years, when this legendary Canadian hydroplane raced to victory in Picton waters.

·      Thurs. November 21 The History Moments – These short television features on County history stories played before movies at The Regent Theatre for over a decade.  

The series will continue in 2025 with:

·      Thurs. January 30th–     The story of the 1959 world champion Belleville McFarland hockey team.

·      Thurs. February 27th–    Great Journeys featuring documentaries on Peter’s overseas experiences capturing Canadian relief and development projects.

 

Tickets are $30/person per show.  You can purchase online at

https://www.standrewspicton.com/historynights  or pay CASH at the door.

County wine, cider, beer, and non-alcoholic drinks will be available to buy. CASH only.

 

For more information, please contact Anita Barnes at engagement.standrewspicton@gmail.com

HISTORY, HERITAGE AND AGING VOLUNTEERS

The future of The County’s many special spaces

When I was growing up in the County in the 1960s, it was a beautiful place. But it was also one of the poorest areas in Ontario. I actually don’t believe the “Good Old Days” were all that good for most families whose parents operated small farms and businesses. As a child, I was oblivious to the many struggles my parents – and generations before them – must have endured.

 

We are now at another time in our history. I prefer it.  Prosperity provides more options even if it brings new challenges. One of those challenges is how we preserve what is “special” – a key asset that attracts people to remain, retire, invest, and to visit here.

 

I’m very familiar with these issues. Over the last 20 years since I returned to my hometown of Picton, I have been engaged in multiple efforts to preserve and promote the County’s many heritage spaces. I’ve served on committees, helped raise money for a wide range of heritage properties and projects, developed heritage products like walking and bus tours, plays, re-enactments, The History Moments series of historical vignettes, which played before movies at The Regent Theatre, and worked to save some irreplaceable buildings like the Glenwood Cemetery Chapel from demolition. I’ve also lost many heritage battles.

 

With so much development underway, the great danger is that we will lose precious farmland, conservation areas, and other special spaces to short-term planning driven by economic considerations alone. But we’re facing another major threat as well – the aging of the volunteer sector.

 

This place runs on volunteers. There are many local groups supporting worthwhile causes all competing for limited sponsorship dollars, donations, event dates, and venues within the community. We have 7 museums; over 100 cemeteries including nearly 60 still in operation; 10 churches in Picton alone; and at least 30-40 groups working in the history, heritage and conservation sectors looking after the many special spaces requiring constant care.  

 

Each year, more groups are cancelling their events because they cannot find younger volunteers to take their place. There has been a herculean volunteer effort over many decades to undertake countless community projects. We’ve achieved great things together. But there are limits to volunteerism. And I think we’re reached it. We cannot continue to do what we have always done. We need to embrace profound change.

 

One thing we could do is sell some of the municipality’s many buildings with the sale revenues invested into a dedicated heritage fund that supports the maintenance of the properties we keep. This is painful I know as some years ago we sold our farm that had been in the family for 100 years. But the farm is still farmed by local farmers. The barn and original house have been respectfully transformed by its new owners. I don’t think it gets much better than that. So, I believe it is a time we let go of our emotional ties to some of these properties – because it is in the best interest of preserving them.

 

Another initiative is to work collectively to package our history into a social enterprise business retailing heritage products and experiences to visitors worldwide – to develop a Heritage Economy.

 

Many communities around the world have adapted to change by retailing their history. We could easily create memorable travel packages including gourmet meals and accommodation, wine, walking and nature tours, re-enactments, plays, and events like the Christmas House Tour, Flashback February, Maple In The County, the Arts Trail, local fairs and other events. These already exist. But they are fragmented and uncoordinated. And most don’t contribute to any central heritage fund supporting maintenance of our special spaces.

 

We need to bring these many capacities together in a collective effort that “upsells” our estimated one million annual visitors to spend more during their stays with a portion of the proceeds donated to the Built Heritage Fund administered by the Community Foundation, or other funding programs supporting local heritage projects.

 

In many places in the world where I’ve travelled, history makes money. We have lots of history, but we are not making any money from it. We’re going to need to soon start making money from it if we are to maintain the many heritage properties currently supported by aging volunteers.

 

We need to develop a Heritage Economy – the notion that history can be a suite of products, services, and experiences retailed worldwide as a community, social enterprise business.

 

Let’s aspire to become a sort of “Gettysburg North” after the small Pennsylvania town that retails its three days of Civil War History. It’s worth nearly $700 million a year to the economy of a town with only 6,500 residents, but with three million annual visitors. Closer to home, The Kingston Penitentiary Museum has transformed a mothballed 1830s prison into a frequent movie set, and tour experience generating about $24,000/day seven days a week during the tourism season. In our community, Base31 is transforming an historic former military base into an event venue and destination as a market-based business. 

 

Let’s embrace change. Let’s think bigger and act more boldly. Let’s create a Heritage Economy transforming local history into a community business and significant economic driver.

CREATING A HERITAGE ECONOMY: HISTORY AS AN EVERYDAY PRODUCT

For many years we have advocated that history needs to matter in communities across Canada. And it will matter most if it makes money – as it does in many places in the world. Our view is that we need to develop a “heritage economy” developing locally-made products and services showcasing our history while generating new revenues for heritage organizations.
 
This month we’re pleased to be part of the product launch of a line of canned goods by Sprague Foods of Belleville celebrating the history of the canning industry in Prince Edward County, once the centre of the trade in Canada. The company’s soups, peas, corns, and beans are packaged in heritage labels originally designed for County canning companies. Profits from the sales of these specialty foods will be donated to a group of heritage organizations in Ameliasburgh to assist them in their projects. We are excited about this innovative initiative because it is a practical example of our “heritage economy” social enterprise business model.

**MEDIA RELEASE**

SPRAGUE RELEASES NEW LINE OF HERITAGE CANNED GOODS

February 7, 2022

Sprague Foods of Belleville is introducing a new line of canned products showcasing the history of the canning industry of Prince Edward County, Ontario – once the centre of the industry in Canada. The new line of canned soups, peas, corn and beans features heritage labels originally designed for local companies during the heady days of the industry from 1880 until the late 1960s when the area was known as the “Garden County of Canada.” Profits from the initiative help support The Ameliasburgh Heritage Hub, a collective of heritage organizations in the village. 

Sprague Foods has its own rich history. The company started in 1925 and is the sole local survivor of the dozens of canning companies that once operated in the region. The company is now in its fifth generation as a family-owned and operated local business. 

“Over the decades, we have kept innovating new products to keep up with an ever-changing market,” says Keenan Sprague, a great- great – grandson of company founder, J. Grant Sprague. “This project continues that tradition of innovation. These vintage labels are beautiful and remind us of a time when local vegetable canners and farmers were thriving. Profits from the project support the work of several local heritage organizations to celebrate and preserve this history. We believe this is a way for consumers to purchase an everyday quality product while learning more about an industry that once meant everything to Prince Edward County.” 

The Ameliasburgh Heritage Hub is a newly – formed alliance of community organizations in the village of Ameliasburgh including the Marilyn Adams Genealogical Research Centre (operated by the 7th Town Historical Society), the Ameliasburgh Heritage Village (one of the five County museums), History Lives Here Inc., and the Quinte Educational Museum and Archives. 

“We’re very excited about the Hub project,” says Janet Comeau of the 7th Town Historical Society. “Over the last year, we and our heritage neighbours have come together in a collective effort to promote the history that is all around us. Partnering with a local business like Sprague Foods to create consumer products which showcase the past, is a novel way of engaging residents and visitors in community history while raising funds to support our efforts.” 

The project features heritage labels from several Prince Edward County canning companies including the Lion Brand produce of canning pioneer, Wellington Boulter, the father of the canning industry in Canada, and other long-established companies like the Sunset Brand produce of John W. Hyatt and Sons. Each product includes a short history about the original canning business.

A launch event at the 7th Town Historical Society office is planned for Tuesday, February 22nd, 2022 starting at 9AM. 

The sale of these goods will be limited to the local Bay of Quinte area and adjacent counties.

Penny Baxter penny@spraguefoods.com

Sprague Foods
385 College St.
Belleville, ON K8N 5S7

www.spraguefoods.com
Tel: 613-966-1200
OR
7th Town Historical Society
528 County Road 19
Ameliasburgh, ON K0K 1A0

info@seventhtownresearch.com
Tel: 613 – 967- 6291

PICTON’S ICONIC ROYAL HOTEL

Beginning in the 1830s, the colony of British North America began a whirlwind love affair with railways and canal building to open up the land to settlement, to promote trade and economic development, and in some instances, to ensure alternative military routes in case of American invasions. These massive infrastructure investments were considered status symbols by nearby communities, tangible signs of progress signalling a bright industrial future.

The Murray Canal, built between 1882 – 1889, provided an alternative shipping route around the treacherous shoals of Prince Edward County in the great days of sail and steam. And after nearly a decade of heated community debate, Prince Edward County’s own railway line was completed in 1879 with the tracks ending at what is now Lake Street on the western edge of downtown Picton.

Railways nurtured the creation of railway hotels – modern, luxurious establishments catering to upscale travellers – businessmen, wealthy visitors, and important dignitaries. In 1881, Jonathan Mottashed, an experienced Picton innkeeper, opened an impressive new business on Picton’s Main Street, The Royal Hotel.  The new hotel was on the preferred north side of the street bathed in sunlight most of the day.  It was an imposing brick building three stories high with ornate exterior details including an iron balcony along the full length of the building and an elaborate octagonal cupola that established The Royal as the dominant heritage fixture of the town’s skyline.

Inside the lobby, a grand, wooden staircase led to the spacious upstairs suites.  Reception was immediately on the left. The dining room with its linen-covered tables and handsome cutlery was at the rear of the building. There was also an entrance to the popular tavern.

There were other hotels along Picton’s Main Street. Mottashed’s previous hotel, The North American, was perched at the top of the town hill, and boasted the longest bar in the area. The nearby Globe Hotel built in the mid – 1820s, served as the arrival and departure point for stage coach passengers. Every hamlet throughout the County offered at least rough lodgings with a watering hole to compensate for the poor food and limited accommodation. Heavy drinking was so widespread, businesses serving alcohol faced a persistent campaign from local churches and temperance advocates. Picton became “ground -zero” for the temperance movement as the hometown of temperance pioneer Letitia Youmans (1827 – 1896), who waged a life – long war against the liquor industry across the country. Ironically, the Prohibition era (1920 – 1933) only bolstered the booze business as local fishermen and entrepreneurs risked their lives against weather and the U.S. Coast Guard to run liquor into an insatiable American market.  

Mottashed’s new enterprise was short-lived. The railway struggled financially. He had bet the bank on his new venture borrowing $18,000 for a mortgage. By 1883, the hotel was in trusteeship, and soon after, The Royal was under new management. Mottashed seems to have disappeared into the mists of time perhaps unable to recover from a mountain of debt. And in the decades which followed, the hotel’s fate mirrored the rise and fall of the local economy.

There were some good times. From 1860 to 1890, a period known as The Barley Days, county farmers shipped their lucrative grain harvests year – round across Lake Ontario to brewers in New York State. When that trade died, a new business canning fruits and vegetables began. Up until the late 1950s, Prince Edward County was such a dominant centre of the country’s canning industry, it was known as “the Garden County of Canada.”

Friday and Saturday nights brought farmers to town to buy their groceries and other supplies, and to spend their hard-earned dollars on a rare luxury like a dinner at The Royal. The insatiable demand for food during two world wars brought boom times, which offset the ten lost years of the Great Depression. The construction of Camp Picton, a Commonwealth air training facility built in 1939, swelled the town’s population with a substantive military presence. These were the great days of The Royal as the hotel hosted dinners and dances, military balls, birthdays, weddings and anniversaries, election nights, and served as a meeting space for service clubs, warden’s banquets, and other community events.

There were also some lean years. In the 1950s, the canning industry rationalized and shifted to the more fertile land and longer growing season of southwestern Ontario. Heinz built a new factory in Leamington, Ontario making that community the “Ketchup Capitol of Canada.” The military base closed in the mid-1960s, and the local economy struggled to recover from these devastating blows.

The great days of the Royal were also over. Hotel patrons were now a totally different clientele, and The Royal was a rough and tumble local tavern. In 2008, its sparse contents were auctioned and this landmark building was boarded up to begin a rusting retirement as a likely candidate for demolition, the fate of many County heritage properties during the period.

In September 2010, an 1875 former church on Picton’s Main Street was demolished, an event rated as one of the top ten heritage losses of that year by the National Heritage Trust of Canada. The demolition created a loud public outcry within a county that prides itself on its Loyalist roots. Yet, some good resulted from this shocking loss as it prompted local government to establish a Picton Heritage Conservation District in 2013. And it also prompted the Sorbara family to purchase the Royal, a neglected heritage treasure.

The Sorbara family are established Toronto developers and former Ontario Liberal finance minister, Greg Sorbara, had moved to a farm in the County with his family years earlier. As he walked by the ruins of the Royal one day, Sorbara felt strongly somebody should save the building. By the time he had walked its length, he concluded that “somebody” would have to be his family.

 

Extensive restoration of The Royal began in 2016. Without any maintenance in its retirement years, the building’s roof had allowed torrents of rain water to destroy the once elegant central staircase. The floors were unsafe and green mold now served as an eerie interior wallpaper. Restoration efforts were hampered by the collapse of the eastern brick wall of the building after heavy rains undermined its foundation. Despite the setbacks, the work continued. The Sorbara family purchased a nearby building that had once served as the horse stables for the hotel. Over subsequent years, they have purchased additional neighbouring heritage properties as part of their hotel project.

 

In December 2021, The Royal opened its doors again as a boutique hotel and dining complex.  

 

Its restoration has helped establish a renewal of interest within the community in restoring – rather than demolishing – significant heritage properties. And its construction has coincided with a resurgence of the local economy through the establishment of wineries, breweries, restaurants, and visitor services making Prince Edward County a major tourism destination.

 

The stately Royal Hotel is once again a centrepiece of Picton’s Main Street.

  

MY GREAT FOLLY: ADVENTURES IN RESTORATION

MY GREAT FOLLY: ADVENTURES IN RESTORATION

In the beginning, it sounded like such a good idea!

As the owner of a small business promoting heritage, it only made marketing sense to develop a strong, iconic brand – like a vintage truck – to shout out to the world that we were in the history business. Miraculously, there was such a truck.

Through a relative living north of Winnipeg, we learned there was a GMC farm vehicle that had been purchased new from Carter Motor Sales in Winnipeg in 1954. It had faithfully served its original owner, a grain farmer from Whitemouth, Manitoba for decades until his passing. Now, it was living a rusting retirement in a barn on the property. The farmer’s son was looking to sell it – for $800. This was fate.

I have owned old vehicles before. My first car was a 1954 Chevrolet purchased for $75 by my Dad who I think felt it was a wise investment since it kept me from driving his car. It was simply awesome – even if the heater remained on high all year round. When it could carry on no longer, and I was asking again for the keys to my Dad’s Buick, he found a 1956 Plymouth, a very sleek, two-tone car. The lower half was painted a kind of snot-green colour. The upper half was a darker green I called gangrene. Aside from its distinctive looks, that car refused to go into reverse. This required advanced driving skills, as you had to plan your parking spots carefully.

So during a spring not so long ago, my life partner and I started driving out west as part holiday and part mission to return this vintage 1950’s farm vehicle to our hometown of Picton. Some of the trip was made through the northern United States, something that was possible in the Obama era when Canadians were not considered a national security threat. Within a few days, we arrived at our cousin’s place where the holy grail of trucks rested stately on a front lawn.

It was green, rusted, and big – much bigger than anticipated. A one-ton rather than a half-ton, a fact that proved to be very significant during our return journey home. And yet, it worked. Pressing on the starter pedal on the floor, with just the slightest touch on the trombone-like choke, and a robust push on the gas pedal, its mighty engine started with a deep, throaty rumble and we were off driving down a dirt side road. Despite the considerable amount of engine exhaust that came up through the floorboards, the hand-cranked windows worked well and I was in love.

Love – especially in its earliest days – can be oblivious to a great many things. So when we were gliding into our relative’s driveway and his garage, I overlooked the small matter of the brakes that didn’t work. And of course, it wasn’t my garage anyway! But it seemed timely to leave soon after that unfortunate incident, and we loaded this metal behemoth onto a U-Haul rental trailer to head home.

I should state at this point that I am not a very mechanical person. I am actually something of a hazard with power tools. I once had a job as an apprentice working in a machine shop. I broke their industrial saw the first day on the job. The next day, my overalls caught fire on the pilot lights for the shop’s welding torches. Later that week, my newly – acquired welding expertise turned a small car part into a tiny, red glowing ball of burning metal that is likely still attached to a work bench in the shop.

I am hopeful that the owner of that car part has mellowed over the intervening years.

When I buy a vehicle, I do look under the hood as it seems expected – part of the etiquette of the purchase. I may gaze intently, and maybe even fiddle with some wiring. But I have no idea what I am looking at. I am quite satisfied to know that my car does come with an engine and I’ll let it go at that. I don’t think I am alone in this. I believe there are many men who don’t possess this expected mechanical ability. They just aren’t writing about it.

So, in loading my prized antique truck onto the U haul trailer for the trip back to Ontario, I was oblivious to the great forces that can be unleashed when a weight is not sufficiently distributed on the ball of a trailer. This is likely something Isaac Newton wrote about centuries ago. But I never knew the guy. I discovered these great laws of nature for myself as we drove down a steep hill near Dryden, Ontario, when the trailer decided it wanted to be the lead vehicle, and we were thrown violently from one side of the road to the other as my F -150, a heavy vehicle in its own right, was simply no match for this pitching trailer and its heavy load.

My partner observed that we were on a bridge with a steep ravine below us, and that there were transport trucks heading in our direction. She speculated that this just might be the end of things. This, of course, was very helpful to know. As a much older and wiser man now, I have learned there is a time to speak up – and a time to say nothing. Somehow in these moments of eerie silence occasionally punctuated with her screams, I did manage to get the trailer back into position and we drove slowly into Dryden. The next morning, the old truck was on its way via commercial transport to its new home in Picton. We enjoyed the rest of our leisurely, stress – free drive home. With meals, gas and hotels, it had been a bargain adventure for only $4,500.

I decided to have the truck restored. Now, I wouldn’t say you have to be crazy to do this. But it helps, because you are about to begin a long and perilous journey into the unknown – the sort of great abyss of restoration.

An early indication of this soon came from the guys at the garage. It turned out there wasn’t a whole lot worth restoring on my 1952 GMC one ton. Useful parts seemed limited to the side mirrors, a couple of fenders, and the throaty motor. However, it wasn’t all bad news. They knew of another truck that was partially restored – a 1954 Chevrolet half-ton, which I could –  and did – purchase for $8,500. The theory at the time was that a 1952 GMC one-ton and a 1954 Chevrolet half-ton were highly compatible and could be blended together. As it turned out, this was fake news.

We moved forward: “In for a penny, in for a pound.”

Given my mechanical abilities, the garage guys prudently kept me away from welding torches, and the mysterious inner workings of their shop. My job was to make frequent runs to the U.S. and to Bill’s Truck Shop near Oshawa for parts. I also wrote cheques on a regular basis.  I’ve forgotten how many. Somewhere along the way, I simply lost track. I focused on the positive – the original $800 purchase price had been a bargain; an absolute steal.

Over the next two years, the spread of innumerable parts on a shop floor gradually evolved into something that looked like a truck. And after a few months of intense negotiations with the licensing vehicle department who were initially not satisfied with a bill of sale, the original VIN registration form, and paperwork documenting the import of the Chev truck into Canada in the 1970s, the day finally came when I could legally drive my most prized possession (and retirement fund) onto county roads.

It was awesome – close to a religious experience really. The stick shift on the floor, the rumble of the original GMC engine, the wind through the windows, and the looks of other drivers and pedestrians along the road. At my age, I wouldn’t call the truck a “chick magnet,” but safe to say it is a “seniors magnet” that draws a crowd wherever I stop.

My 1954 Chevy

My only issue that first driving season – really a small concern within the sheer ecstasy of this dream vehicle – was its fuel consumption. After a short 15 – minute ride, I needed to fill it up again. Rocket ships get better mileage. Turned out it was a leaking fuel pump. This seemed to cause considerable excitement from the garage guys when I left the truck running outside their establishment. It was somewhat reminiscent of the excitement I caused when I caught fire in the welding shop many years ago.

To be fair, this seems to have been the last of the mechanical issues I have endured. (Of course, it’s early in the season yet. But I am a “glass is half full” kind of guy.) So, I’ll be on the roads of Prince Edward County again this summer. And when the touring season ends, and the vehicle goes back into winter storage, I will still love my truck – perhaps even more – as it is so much cheaper to own then.

THE GUNSHOT TREATY

THE GUNSHOT TREATY

It is easy to pass by the stone cairn at the stoplight in the village of Carrying Place bordering Prince Edward County and Quinte West. But the cairn at this busy intersection of Highway 33 and Portage Road marks a crossroads in history. On September 23, 1787 hundreds of Indigenous Peoples from the Mississauga Nation met with representatives of King George III to negotiate an historic land deal known as The Gunshot Treaty.

The treaty was spurred by the urgent British need to find land for thousands of United Empire Loyalists looking to re-settle after their flight from their homes in The United States during and after the American Revolution. The Gunshot Treaty was one of a number of hastily arranged ne­gotiations with Aboriginal peoples along Lake Ontario, drawn up to secure title to land for survey and settlement, and to develop alternative water routes for commercial travel and military use. The Gunshot Treaty would be­come the 13th in this series of land negotiations.

Carrying Place has always been a significant site. Long before French explorer Samuel de Champlain journeyed through the area, and before the fur traders and missionaries of the 17th century, Indigenous Peoples portaged their vessels across a narrow neck of marshland to the gentler waters of the bay that would one day be named Quinte. The Mississauga called this place “de-ga-bun-wa-kwa” meaning “I pick up my canoe.” Europeans called it Carrying Place and the name stuck. In the decades which followed, the site became a major commercial corridor connected by a stagecoach service and later, the Murray Canal. But in the 1780s it was simply a well – known landmark ideally suited as a gathering place for treaty talks.

Treaty discussions were guided by an over-arching British approach dictated by The Royal Proclamation of 1763, which attempted to standardize administrative policies in acquiring land from Indigenous Peoples in North America. Implicit in the policy was the notion that they retained traditional hunting and fishing rights, and that settlement lands had to be secured from them through purchase agreements.  Although the policy fell short of recognizing Aboriginal ownership of the land, it was for its time a surprisingly enlightened diplomatic departure from the usual land grabs by Europeans claiming title by simple discovery or conquest. Despite the good intentions, The Gunshot Treaty and its sister agreements proved to be both landmarks and landmines in relations with First Nations.

The September 1787 land talks were first experiments in cross-cultural communications. Despite the presence of an interpreter, the British desire to firmly secure land title was foreign to a communal society where individual ownership was unknown. The translation of words such as “surrender” of land title was more broadly understood as “shared” in the Ojibway language.  The retention of the right to hunt, fish and travel undisturbed throughout the waterways of the region with yearly ceremonies and gifts from the British sounded like an annual rental of land rights rather than a purchase. And because it was not possible to complete surveys until a treaty was finalized, the description of the lands covered by the treaty were left blank.

The Gunshot Treaty took its name from its terms. It covered the lands as far as a gunshot could be heard on a clear day. In time, this came to mean to the British all the lands in present day Eastern Ontario and beyond. In return, First Nations received a payment of approximately 2,000 pounds, and goods such as muskets, ammunition, tobacco and clothing. The agreement was to last as long as “you see the sun in the sky, as the rivers flow, and the grass grows.” Even today, The Gunshot Treaty is a bewildering read, and remains a contentious issue despite repeated efforts to clarify its terms.

In a twist of history, this early treaty and other land claims reverberated across the country in 1969 when the Nisga’a people of northern British Columbia took the federal government to the Supreme Court to press for settlement of their land claim. They argued they had never surrendered their land through a treaty or been defeated by conquest. And they claimed that even the earliest treaties – like The Gunshot Treaty – clearly indicated the British government recognized that Aboriginal Peoples had at least some traditional rights to the land, and this territory had to be purchased to secure title.

The Nisga’a didn’t win their case. But they didn’t lose it either. The split decision of The Supreme Court was enough to force the federal government to begin to negotiate land claims. After decades of talks, the federal and provincial governments signed a final settlement with the Nisga’a in May 2000 that featured a cash payment, self-government, and ownership of land and resources including timber, salmon stocks, and sub – surface resources.

Land claims are now a fixture of government policies. They remain slow, complicated processes – and highlight an often-painful history. But early treaties like The Gunshot Treaty set important legal precedents. They continue to be re-negotiated to this day. Their resolution is part of a new path forward towards reconciliation.

Perhaps one day The Gunshot Treaty cairn can be moved from its current site at the stoplight in Carrying Place to a safer and more prominent area like The Murray Canal so this forgotten history can be better explained and understood by a new generation.