The General Store

By Vicky

In the turn of the 19th century, general stores were used as not only a necessary source of supplies like food and clothing to villagers, but it was also a social area to gather.  

In day-to-day use, the general store was used to buy items such as medicine, clothing, and food. In the store, if you made or had something like a hat or eggs, you could give it to the store owner for credit. The credit could be used for anything in the store. This was especially good because at this time, if you weren’t getting paid regularly or had little money, you cold use your store credit in times of need.

Compared to stores today, the general store stands out. Today when you enter a store you usually take a cart and walk around and take things as you please. At the general store, the owner behind the counter served you and there were very little options of items; what the store had is what you got.

In the general store there was also a post office where your mail would be delivered. It took up a very small part of the store but played a key role in its function. Not only were you going to the general store to get your daily needs, you got your mail there as well.

The general store was also a place for travellers and friends to gather and be social. There was a large furnace in the back to the store and lots of room to sit. The store was open early in the morning and closed late at night to allow lots of shopping to be done, as well as give people the time to socialize.

The general store was a very necessary aspect of the village, and significant to everyone’s way of life. 

Vicky is a grade 11 student at Trinity College School and guest writer for the Museum.

In Flanders Fields – Part 6

"Far From Home, Canada and the Great War” An Excellent Series on the History of the Canadian Expeditionary Force

By Joe Corrigan

In preparation for commemorating the centennial of the Great War here at Lang Pioneer Village Museum, I have been researching a number of books and videos on the subject over the past few months. There’s one documentary program that I came across recently which is particularly impressive. It is a series entitled “Far From Home, Canada and the Great War”. There are three episodes in the series; each runs for 90 minutes and covers the evolution of the Canadian Corps from mobilization in 1914 to the final stages of the war and its aftermath.

The series is narrated by Canadian actor Paul Gross who created and starred in the feature film “Passchendaele” in 2008. Borrowing much of its style from the landmark Ken Burns’ documentary series “The Civil War”; “Far from Home” tells its story with contemporary images and film punctuated by passages from correspondence written by the participants and read in character by voice actors. The episodes include “Sam’s Army”, “The Battle of Vimy Ridge” and “The Last Hundred Days”.

Sir Sam Hughes

“Sam’s Army” is an insightful look at how Minister of Militias, Sir Sam Hughes, came to prominence and how he controlled the mobilization of troops for service overseas. In some respects what Hughes was able to accomplish was quite remarkable. In one instance starting from scratch to create the training facility at Valcartier, Quebec and managing to send the 30,000 troops of the 1st Division to England in a matter of months. These achievements were wholly negated, however, in the face of his blatant cronyism and ill-conceived sponsorship of the Ross Rifle and the “Shovel Shield”, the former being ill suited for combat and the latter being useless both as a shovel and a shield. The episode ends with Hughes’s fall from grace as the Canadian Corps and the political leaders of the day are able to distance themselves from this bombastic figure. (Watch Episode 1 here: https://youtu.be/tC3UjtekQsM)

Ross Rifle

Shovel Shield

In episode two we are introduced to the various strategic and tactical innovations that allowed the Canadian Corps to seize Vimy Ridge from the Germans where British and French troops had failed with heavy casualties in the past. We get to appreciate the tactical genius of Arthur Currie with his emphasis of spending shells rather than lives to take an objective. We also are introduced to Andy McNaughton, the brilliant artillery officer whose innovative use of technology helped pave the way for the successful advance of the Canadian Corps on April 9th, 1917 taking their objectives in a matter of hours. (Watch Episode 2 here: https://youtu.be/w2OslpiDVwI)

Vimy Ridge

The final episode deals with the last 100 days of the war, a period in which Canada’s small army became recognized by both the allies and the Germans as perhaps the finest fighting force on the western front. The Canadian Corps gained a well-earned reputation as shock troops and when the Germans learned that the Canadians had moved into their sector that they could expect an attack in short order. One highlight of this episode is how the narrator underscores the skill of the Canadian troops by comparing their statistics over the last 100 days of fighting with those of the American Expeditionary Force. The numbers are quite illustrative:

Categories	American Forces	Canadian Corps
# of Troops	650,000	105,000
# of Days Engaged	47	100
# of Miles Advanced	34	86
# of Divisions Engaged	46	47
# of Casualties Per Division Engaged	2,170	975
# of Prisoners Taken	16,000	31,500
# of Guns Captured	468	623
Total Casualties	100,000	45,830

The Canadian soldier’s retort to American claims that they won the war was to simply state that the American Rainbow Division was aptly named as they had arrived “after the storm”. (Watch Episode 3 here: https://youtu.be/XgzJ9bK-blo)

Canada's 100 Days

I wholeheartedly recommend this series to anyone wanting to know more about the tremendous contribution that was made by the Canadian Expeditionary Force for the allied victory in World War I. 

 Joe Corrigan has been Museum Manager at Lang Pioneer Village since February of 2003. He has been a lifelong student of history. His specific areas of interest are Canadian and world political, military and sports history with a particular focus on biographical works. Joe has been interpreting Sir John A. Macdonald at the Museum's Historic Dominion Day event since 2007.    

Hometown Pride

By Jill Chapman

Peterborough County is a special place. Just ask our friends Neil Morton and the gang at PTBOCANADA.COM , who continually share fun tidbits, facts & features relevant to the culture, social climate and history of the County. Click the link below to view their list of “31 Fun Facts about Peterborough”!

http://www.ptbocanada.com/journal/2014/8/13/31-fun-facts-about-peterborough

Take special note of #18 on the list that references David Fife and the development of the Red Fife Wheat strain. You can visit the Fife family’s original cabin at Lang Pioneer Village Museum and get a feel for what early settlement would have looked like in rural Peterborough County in the early 19th century. It is hard to imagine living and thriving in these conditions while ‘roughing it in the bush’. 

Fife Cabin, Lang Pioneer Village Museum (c. 1825)

From our snowy cabin and historic Village to you, have a beautiful winter day!

Jill Chapman is the Visitor Experience Coordinator at Lang Pioneer Village Museum. She has been a member of the Lang team since May of 2012. Jill is a passionate advocate for education, the arts and fitness. When not at work, Jill might be found running through the North Cavan foothills or on one of the County’s rotary trails.

In Flanders Fields – Part 5

2016 – A year with Many Anniversaries from Canadian Military History

By Joe Corrigan

In planning the topics for my contribution to “Village Vignettes” for the year it occurred to me that 2016 marks a number of milestone anniversaries for battles with significance to our military history. Over the last 150 years, Canada has enjoyed a relatively peaceful existence. None-the-less, this year will see the 150th, 100th, 75th, 65th and 25th anniversaries of some pivotal moments in our collective experience.

The months of April and June will see the 150th Anniversary of the Fenian Raids. The Fenians were an Irish brotherhood dedicated to the cause of Irish independence during the 19th century. Shortly after the American Civil War, the Fenians numbers in the U.S. swelled to 60,000. Most of these men were Civil War veterans from both sides of that conflict. When they were discharged from the Union and Confederate Armies, most were allowed to keep their rifles (in keeping with the U.S. 2nd Amendment rights it would appear). The Fenians decided to flex their muscle and influence international politics by invading Canada and seizing it as a bargaining chip with Great Britain to gain Ireland’s freedom. Typical of most American invasion plans, the Fenians thought it was, as Thomas Jefferson implied in 1812, “just a matter of marching”. Their first “raid”, if you can call it that, took place in April 1866 at the border between Maine and New Brunswick. Despite its small scale and comic opera quality it served to galvanize pro-Confederation sentiment in New Brunswick and thereby helped bring about the union of the British North American colonies just over a year later. A much larger and more successful raid took place on the Niagara frontier, the traditional American invasion route, in June of that year. Lang Pioneer Village has been staging a Fenian Raid re-enactment at our Dominion Day event on July 1st each year since 2009. In 2016, the re-enactment will be an event of its own and will take place on Sunday, July 3rd, 2016. You can check our website www.langpioneervillage.ca for further details. 

Lang Pioneer Village's Dominion Day Re-enactment. Photo by Dawn Knudsen

100 years ago, the Canadian Expeditionary Force was engaged in combat on the Western Front as part of the British Army. After their baptism of fire in Flanders in the spring of 1915, the Canadian Corps (as now our troops numbered up to four divisions) had been moved to a relatively quiet sector. They were fortunate not to be chosen for the initial wave of the Somme Offensive which began on July 1st, 1916. This became known as the blackest day in British military history as over 50,000 of the troops who went over the top on the first day of the battle were either killed or wounded. The Canadians would participate in the battle but not until September. The Royal Newfoundland Regiment (Newfoundland was a separate British Colony at the time and did not become part of Canada until 1949) did take part in the initial attack and were virtually wiped out. Of the 780 men who went forward at Beaumont-Hamel that morning, only 68 were available for roll call the following day. The effect on Newfoundland was devastating. In some communities, every soldier who went overseas was either killed or wounded. In Newfoundland today they temper their Canada Day celebrations with the commemoration of Memorial Day. This year, Newfoundland’s provincial museum, The Rooms, will be marking the 100th Anniversary with events and exhibits. I’d invite you to visit their website www.therooms.ca for more details.

Later this year, we will be marking the 75th anniversary of the sinking of the Bismarck in May and the Battle of Hong Kong in December. The defense of Hong Kong from Japanese invaders marked the first major combat for the Canadian Army in WWII. Despite a dogged defense, our troops were forced to surrender and spend almost four years in captivity under brutal conditions in prison camps. The 24th and 25th of April will mark the 65th anniversary of the Korean War’s Battle of Kapyong in which the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry held their position against overwhelming odds and helped prevent a rout of UN forces. Finally, 2016 will mark the 25th anniversary of the 1st Gulf War in which Canadian air and naval units supported the coalition forces in driving the Iraqi army from Kuwait.  

The Bismarck

Sherman Tanks- Korea

Gulf War

Over the course of the year the “In Flanders Fields” series will explore each of these events in greater detail.


 Joe Corrigan has been Museum Manager at Lang Pioneer Village since February of 2003. He has been a lifelong student of history. His specific areas of interest are Canadian and world political, military and sports history with a particular focus on biographical works. Joe has been interpreting Sir John A. Macdonald at the Museum's Historic Dominion Day event since 2007.       

A Love Letter to Lang

By Elizabeth King

This year marks my seventh year at Lang Pioneer Village Museum, eight if you count the summer I worked here as an Interpreter when I was in University. That’s a pretty significant chunk of time for me, a person who has moved 13 times in my life, and lived in 11 different cities/towns. To commemorate the beginning of another year here, I’ve decided to make my first Village Vignettes blog of 2016 a love letter to Lang, a place that has garnered commitment and stay-puttedness, from a tried and true commitment-a-phobe.

"Time passes swiftly, but is it not joyous to see how great and growing is the treasure we have gathered together..." ~ Winston Churchill

 My dearest Lang,

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”  I’ve started this letter with a quote from another Elizabeth, one who attempted to define her feelings through the use of written word. It’s a good way to start, as I try to put into verse, and quantify, the feelings that I have for you, my home away from home. I spend hours upon hours with you, and you are always in my thoughts (Read: “Langziety!”  or “how to wake up at 4 am worried you haven’t sent Mrs. Smith a Get Well Card for Fluffy”).

As in most love affairs, we’ve had our moments. You’ve made me want to pull out my hair, scream at the top of my lungs, throw things and walk away. You’ve caused me grief and anger and yes, heartbreak (a story for another time- and a box of cookies). But then I realize that without ALL of the emotions, the good AND the bad, I’m not really all in. And there have been many, many instances of the good. You’ve taught me so much, helped me to grow, and have offered me experiences and friendships that have made me who I am today.

So do let me count the ways you have made me smile, and the things that I think of fondly.  The things that get me out of bed in the morning to come to work each day.

Here they are, in no particular order, some of the things we’ve shared that I wouldn’t trade for anything:

·         The "Thank You for Being a Friend" dance and skit at the Volunteer Appreciation event in 2012. Even the guys were dancing – I think, you’d call that dancing, right?

·         Learning to drive a tractor, in a dress! And this year, learning to drive the NEW plow/tractor in the snow (which is even better!)

·         The way the costume portable smells – when I started here again in 2009, I had been gone since 2002 – the smell of the costume portable took me right back.

·         Making pies with Ruth, to use up leftover Applefest apples. And can I say that girl does not make slapdash pies, these were pieces of art! Ask her for a lesson – you won’t regret it!

·         The shopping trip to Irocrafts for the Aabnaabin camp. It was a loooooooong drive, but I spent it in great company.

·         The feeling of complete and utter satisfaction when all the paper files in the Museum were finally compliant with the TOMRMS system (that’s the Ontario Municipal Records Management System). That’s a lot of files, yo!

·         Volunteering on the County’s United Way Committee and helping to organize the County Jail tour fundraiser. A major highlight, hands down.

·         The excitement leading up to event days (in the morning) and the sense of satisfaction – and exhaustion! – following an event (in the evening).

·         The cake obsession, while I myself don’t eat cake, and sometimes it can be downright annoying, I DO love the joke that has become OLCD (Obsessive Lang Cake Disorder). For those of you who don’t know, we joke that we bring staff and volunteers in based solely on when their birthday lies, so that we can have cake, as often as possible. This is a love hate. But isn’t most work related humour…

·         Sharpie Problems! Again, love/hate. While the inability for us to keep Sharpies can be extremely aggravating, it’s become something we can all laugh about. My new mantra when handing out Sharpies is “Treat this like your babysitting my child, I want it back.”

·         Staff Development Trips – where we talk about playing with tanks, sing Neil Diamond songs and learn about all the things other museums might judge us on (Oatmeal Cookie anyone?).

·         Temperature Control Wars – a very serious matter (Jill likes it cold, I like it hot) that makes office life at Lang, what it is.

·         Legitimately talking about underwear at work – because its important foundation garments like corsets and petticoats that make or break our historical look. See what I did there…lol…

·         The seasonal staff coming and the seasonal staff going. I mean this both in terms of the number of amazing people I have gotten to meet, and also just in terms of being lonely all winter, and then overwhelmed all summer, and enjoying some peace of pace in the autumn.

·         Walking through the Village in the Fall, the colours and the crunch of the leaves on the ground. Priceless!

·         Yoga outside on the Village Green after work - a staff Health and Wellness initiative – was bliss! Period.

·         Everything coming to life in the Spring.

·         Hearing Volunteer stories. This is definitely a perk. Might be the BEST perk. I collect these stories like buttons and I cherish them all.

·         Audrey's lost keys – terrifying sometimes, but funny all the same.

·         Laughing until my guts (heehee) hurt.

·         Crying because someone from here is sad or hurt, and I can’t help but feel it too.

And this list wouldn’t be complete without…

·         The stray dogs (and cats), like Grace and Binx, who come right into the kitchen and love us, unconditionally. And who come back…even though we kick them out. All. Of. The. Time.

With Love,

Elizabeth

xoxox

Elizabeth King is currently filling the role of Interim Assistant Manager at Lang Pioneer Village Museum.  She has been working at the Village since May of 2009.  Elizabeth is passionate about history, costuming, reading, vegan culinary crusades and environmental pursuits. When she isn’t in the middle of a project at Lang, she is often found with her head in the clouds.

T'was The Day Before Christmas Break

By Karis Regamey


T'was the day before Christmas break and all through the Village,
The staff were a-bustling closing down houses

The school kids gone, the final event over
Are signs of the imminent winter break closure

The fires extinguished, the artifacts covered,
waiting until next season to be rediscovered

The Village will soon lie as still as a photo
Nostalgic and beautiful with sparkling snow

With preparations for next year well underway
The countdown begins until opening day

So as we close up for Christmas and drive down the driveway
We say Merry Christmas and have a wonderful holiday!

Pen and ink drawing by Lang's Museum Specialist, Audrey Caryi

Karis Regamey is the Marketing Consultant for Lang Pioneer Village Museum, She has been with the Museum since February of 2009. When she is not busy overseeing the advertising of the Village, she can be found chasing after her two little ones.

An Interview with Kathy Hope, Ritzy Rust

By Jill Chapman

Just as Lang brings rural history to life, Kathy Hope creates works of art for sale that re-purpose items in new and exciting ways to give them an invigorated spirit and fresh look.

Read below as Kathy shares a bit about herself in this segment of ‘meet the maker’, focusing on artisans with pieces in our Museum Shop.

How long have you lived in Keene? Are you from this area?

Kathy:  My family moved from Lakefield to Keene in 1962 and I have been in the local area ever since as my husband is also from the Keene area.

Where is your favourite place (or places of inspiration) in Peterborough County?

Kathy: As long as I can remember, my father collected antiques of one kind or another and haunted auctions, fence lines, barns ~ just about where ever there was a rusty piece of equipment to be found. I feel like I have just carried on from there as my favorite haunts are farm auctions in the local area, driving the backroads looking for rustic pictures to take or that odd fabulous find in a fence bottom and just generally loving the country life. 

You can always find my husband and I at the Father’s Day Smoke and Steam Show at Lang Pioneer Village with a display of a gas engine, John Deere Bicycle and numerous other vintage pieces.

In fact, in my younger days you could quite often find me swimming at Hope Mill (which used to be run by my husband’s Great Uncle) or at the pier and beach at the Lang Grist Mill.

What got you started independently creating articles?

Kathy: I was trying to come up with a somewhat different idea for a birthday gift and remembered seeing a sign made with rusty tools on barn board at a shop somewhere (can’t remember where) & thought “well, I have all kinds of board and rusty wrenches ~ why not attempt a name sign”  and things just progressed from there.

What is your inspiration? or… What are you inspired by?

Kathy: I just love rusty goodness! If I see something that I love, whether I know what I will do with it or not, I just have to have it.  I may collect things that sit for a couple years, before I find just the perfect creations that it can be used for. That usually comes with my house decorating as well.  Whenever I hear someone say "oh my, I just love that but I’m just not sure where I would put it", my first reaction is, "well, if you love it, buy it….it will find the space it was meant for!"

What is your favourite material to work with?

Kathy: I use mostly barn board, but also pallet wood or pieces of wood from different farm machinery ss the base and any type of article from rusty wrenches, insulators, gadgets, vintage jewellery combine to make the word or creation. Also vintage window frames, doors, chicken wire are often utilized as well.

How long have you been creating pieces for sale?

Kathy: I have been creating items since June of 2013 for sale.  

Where do you generally sell your pieces? 

Kathy: I have a Facebook page - www.facebook.com/ritzyrust and a small booth at Cedar Lane Home and Garden in Lakefield. Taylor’s Country Store in Bailieboro buys creations from me and of course the Gift Shop at Lang Pioneer Village. I host an Open House out of our garage a couple times a year with pieces for sale as well. One of these Open Houses last winter featured a photographer who you could book with and have your family photos taken in our “One Horse Open Sleigh”.

Do you have a home studio? Where do you create?

Kathy: I started off using our Garden Shed that we built in the spring of 2013 as my supply storage and work studio, but I soon out-grew the space for the storage of items I have on hand so recently have been utilizing the unfinished space in our basement.

Kathy's Shed Studio

  

Some examples of Kathy’s Pieces:

Drop by 10-4pm Monday to Friday until December 17th to see Kathy’s work and other great giftware. We thank Kathy for taking part in our spotlight interview, and for bringing her inspired work to the Lang Pioneer Village Museum Shop!

Jill Chapman is the Visitor Experience Coordinator at Lang Pioneer Village Museum. She has been a member of the Lang team since May of 2012. Jill is a passionate advocate for education, the arts and fitness. When not at work, Jill might be found running through the North Cavan foothills or on one of the County’s rotary trails.