Merrickville and District Historical Society
PO Box 294 K0G 1N0 Merrickville, ON, Canada

Thank you for posting Rideau Township Historical Society.

While doing some local research, we turned to Thad. W.H. Leavitt's venerable History of Leeds and Grenville. First published in 1879, it is a wonderful resource and includes many local references. Below is a picture of the George Newman's seed farm located on Lot 4, Concession B, in Wolford Twp (2 miles below Merrickville on the Rideau River). According to Leavitt, Newman not only prepared seeds for sale, but also did an extensive business in fruit. In 1878, his four ton crop of grapes included Hartford, Concord and Delaware varieties.

Parks Canada has just confirmed that the chimney on the Merrickville Blockhouse is scheduled to be capped on Thursday, November 26. This means that the snow will no longer accumulate in the 2nd floor fireplace over the winter. This in turns, means that we won't have the usual meltwater running through the building in the spring. In the past, this meltwater has contributed to artifact damage and we are glad that Parks Canada has scheduled this work for this week before too much more snow flies.

Several members of our community have asked us about enslavers and enslaved people in our local area. There was, undoubtedly, enslavement in our region. In 2018, as part of Merrickville and District Historical Society's MW225 lecture series, we invited Jennifer Debruin, Historical Researcher, Writer, Speaker to speak on this topic. We appreciate the courage of those who are willing to ask questions about some of the lesser-known and acknowledged parts of our local history.... #keepcurious #notjusttheBlockhouseMuseum #localhistorymatters #MerrickvilleWolford

With a view to keeping our volunteers, staff, and visitors safe during this time of COVID-19, the Executive Committee of the Merrickville and District Historical Society has taken the decision not to operate the Blockhouse Museum for the 2020 summer season. The current guidelines set out by the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit are clear about the needs for social distancing and hygiene regimes that are not easy to implement at the Merrickville Blockhouse. We a...re hopeful that as the Province of Ontario begins to implement its roadmap for re-opening, restrictions will ease and, in time, we will understand better what the new normal may look like. So what will MDHS get up to in the meantime? We are thinking of how we can use our newfound time to reach out to our volunteers and partners to plan for a 2021 season, so please stay tuned! And as always, we are looking for local historical content that we can share with our community. If you have a photo or information that would lend itself to a Facebook or Twitter post, please let us know by contacting us at [email protected].

It hasn't quite snowed yet (but it WAS a bit chilly first thing this morning). With the recent refresh of the corner of St. Lawrence and Main St. we wanted to share a similar view of the Blockhouse from another era. (Credit: Archives of Ontario) #MerrickvilleBlockhouse #jewelontheRideau

Missing our monthly public lectures? Need to round out your knowledge of Ontario history? Prepping for the next trivia contest? The The Ontario Historical Society has put the back issues of its Papers and Records on its website for all to enjoy. These 13 issues contain over 2,000 pages of tate documentary sources for the history of the province. Happy reading!... https://ontariohistoricalsociety.ca/ontario-history-journal/

To help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the Merrickville and District Historical Society is cancelling the meeting scheduled for March 31, 2020. We are monitoring the situation and our speaker series will resume once our public health organizations let us know that it is safe to do so. Please watch our websites and our FaceBook page for updates.