This morning we took it pretty easy (that holiday thing) and finally mosied out the door around lunchtime. We were eastbound on highway 7 when we approached the Keene Road. "Gee, that came up awfully fast," I thought while turning south. It was the scenic route. No worries, though, we got there eventually.
Once in, we paid our entry fee and started to explore. Each historic building was moved from within 90 miles of the museum. There's a sampling of all parts of pioneer life - the general store, a blacksmith shop, the town hall and a church, several farmhouses, a one-room schoolhouse and the hotel from nearby Keene (where, back in the day, you could get a 'fancy' room with a bathtub for 75 cents and some of the owner's fourteen kids hauled the heated water up in pails). The Lang Grist Mill, originally built in 1846, still sits on the Indian River, grinding grain into flour.
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| The one-room Fife cabin |
One of my favourite buildings is the Fife cabin. Being a sucker for history, especially Canadian history, I love visiting this building. It's a one-room log cabin built about 1825 and sits very near it's original location. This was David Fife's and his wife, Jane's first home. The picture above is taken from the back of the house - there's no second floor and no rooms off to the side.
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| Fife cabin in background (centre); strange unknown children in foreground |
David Fife's story is interesting and important to the wheat farmers and early economies of North America. It was his discovery of Red Fife wheat that gave Canada the title of 'Granary of the Empire' and led to North America's reputation as the breadbasket of the world. He was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1963.
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| Plaque inside Lang Grist Mill |
We wandered around for the rest of the afternoon, taking in the sites and sounds of a living museum. Ri conversed with the sheep. A goat sneezed on Cammy. Nolan picked grass for the chickens. Inside the one-room schoolhouse, we had a lesson in classroom etiquette and possible punishments for naughty children. We all agreed that if you were silly enough to act up (and get caught) then you sure as heck didn't do it again.
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| Lessons in the South Lake Schoolhouse |
And the good news is that pioneer life is part of the grade three curriculum. That means that I'll be back here in the spring as a volunteer during Cammy's class trip! For the sake of the kids, of course.
5 comments:
I'm a sucker for Canadian pioneer history too. Love the photos- thanks for the info on the Fife cabin- I've been buying red fife from local growers for the last few years, and use it as the main ingredient in my breads- interesting to see where it comes from!
What we do for our children. :>}
I wish we had pioneers! Closest I get is the stately homes of the landed gentry....
That is a nice picture of the Fife cabin. It was the first thing I thought of when you mentioned you were headed to Lang Pioneer Village.
It's a shame we didn't have our cameras the last time we went. I'm sure that guy in the deerskin outfit would have posed for a photo..or two...hehehee
What? No Mayberry jokes??
Leah - there's a few farms around here growing red fife as well. I remember visiting Tisdale with my Dad years ago and seeing a similar sized house (although two stories) like Dad grew up in. Ten kids! My poor Grandma.
Anon - I'm a saint, really. ;-)
Sharon - some of those pioneers would have been the tenants of the gentry. One day you'll just have to come for a holiday; oh the places I could show you...
Dorito - I think this year's voyageurs weekend was a couple weekends ago. Perhaps we should pencil it in for next year. Or we could go to Black Creek.
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