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Tourists soak up Townships history: A doll and old books |
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History really does sell the Townships to tourists. Seeing the antique desks, carved with the initials of students of a century ago, and charters signed by Ascot’s first settlers, gives visitors of the Milby one room school house a real feel for the past, and it’s a time warp that lured in 40 residents of Hamilton, Ontario earlier this week.
According to the history theme trip’s organizer Margaret Firth, the Milby lunchtime visit is an annual favorite.
“We visited an abbey, a cheese factory, and a winery on our trip,” said Firth as her charges enjoyed cool refreshments on the humid and hot afternoon. “The school house has nice surroundings and because of this stop we will have a more meaningful and valuable tour.”
Their stop allowed them to see the 1873 St. Barnabus Church, the Milby Covered Bridge (constructed in 1872), and the McVety Road schoolhouse.
The tourists included three-year-old Lily Lewis and her grandmother, Mary-Jane Detzler. The elder admitted that her travel companion mostly saw the back of her eyelids during the visit — but the little one was
nonetheless experiencing more history than most others her age.
Lewis was the first of the bunch to visit the fully restored school house (it’s on the building’s second floor), play with an original-era doll and sit in an authentic desk surrounded by old books, slate, and mannequins wearing attire worn by teachers of years, years past.
As noted on the granite monument on the school’s front lawn, the settlement of Milby dates back to the 1790s.
This schoolhouse was built on land originally granted to Loyalist Abraham Hyatt Sr., located in the Hyatt Settlement, now known as Milby. Two brothers, Cornelius and Abraham Jr., settled here, while another, Gilbert, settled first at Capelton and later moved to Lower Forks (now known as Sherbrooke) in 1796.
The building boards came from the sawmill, located on the river, owned by Cornelius.
This tour was the third tourist group to visit the historic building so far this year, and according to Bev Loomis, who is a member of the United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada along with her husband Milt, the history of the circa 1811 school is worth preserving.
“We just maintain the school. We are just following our mandate,” said Bev Loomis, referring to the association’s mandate to restore and protect historic buildings and heritage. “We wanted to be able to give receipts for donors so we needed to give (the school) a name. With the help of Jean Charest in 1994 we registered as Ascot Heritage, and when it was sent to Quebec City they added Patrimoine.”
The couple formed the local Loyalist group, the Little Forks Branch, in 1990.
The couple estimates about $4,000 is needed annually to maintain the building. This year saw the building of a new storage shed. While the couple undertook most of the labour, the $4,000 to build the shed is almost paid for.
“Monique Gagnon-Tremblay [the St. François MNA] donated $1,000, Townshippers’ Foundation gave us $500, and Etfs donated another $500. We appreciate that help so much. We depend on people’s support. Without it the school house wouldn’t be here and the history of it would be lost forever,” Loomis said. “We usually store the big, huge tent that we need for events inside the school house, but during the summer we need to use the upstairs for visitors and we had nowhere to keep the tent. We can also use the shed for other things that people donate to us too.”
By Jen Young
June 12, 2008 |
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Montreal Canadiens
