Gatineau Valley Historical Society History

This article first appeared in September 05, 2012 issue of the "The Low Down to Hull and Back News". Reprinted with permission. See other GVHS Related articles or search Low Down Articles.

Gatineau Valley Historical Society: celebrating 50 years of promoting and preserving history and heritage in the Hills

by Carol Martin

There's always something new about something old! Over a 50-year period, the Gatineau Valley Historical Society has undertaken a wide and varied range of different projects and initiatives. One thing that hasn't changed over time: the shared energy and initiative to find new ways to promote and preserve heritage have been constant over half a century.

The founders of this activist organization came together to save a historic building - successfully - in 1962. That first project, to stimulate preservation and interest in Moorside at the Mackenzie King Estate, led to organizing a historical society and operating a tearoom in the building for 15 years. The GVHS thankfully turned it back to National Capital Commission management in 1979, but it continued maintaining a small museum there with donated items for several more years.

Its second project - also successful - was to rescue a war hero's unmarked grave in an abandoned cemetery. Now owned and maintained by the society, the Chelsea Pioneer Cemetery is recognized as a designated historic site by the Province of Quebec. The GVHS organizes an annual community Remembrance Day Ceremony here at the Chelsea Cenotaph and site of Pte. Richard Rowland Thompson's grave, now marked with a military headstone.

Saving buildings and historic sites are situations demanding energy, action, and interaction. And then there is the question of "what next"? That informal historically-minded group became a legally incorporated Society in 1965 in order to own and manage the Pioneer Cemetery. And the name has changed, too - to the current Gatineau Valley Historical Society (from the Historical Society of the Gatineau) to avoid confusion with another changed name, when Hull became part of the City of Gatineau.

GVHS membership is now more than 300, a far cry from the 50 or 60 in 1962. Still, from that original group, founding society president Moiya Wright and 50-year charter member Patsy Selwyn continue to be members.

One constant from the very first has been the idea of connecting with a wider public, and the newly-formed society soon began holding events with speakers on topics of historic interest.

Now, the monthly program of public events includes speakers on local to national heritage topics, tours and exhibits, the Remembrance Day Ceremony and an annual auction.

The Pat Evans Archives grew out of this increased focus on preserving historic records and research material about the region, and its office in the Chelsea Library basement is open for public research two afternoons and one evening each week. An outstanding feature of the Archives is the Image Bank, containing more than 8,000 digitized historic photographs of people, places and events in the region, most of them contributed by local or former residents.

The GVHS is a publisher of local history, through its annual journal, Up the Gatineau!, and the society also provides production and marketing support for a range of publications on local historical topics. Now in its 38th volume, Up the Gatineau! has benefitted from more than 120 writers contributing articles to the series.

In recent years, the society has supported other local heritage groups by providing a variety of expertise as well as financial assistance. Children's school groups and scouts from Low, Wakefield and Chelsea have recently undertaken projects using archival material and assistance from the GVHS.

Other outreach examples include a joint event celebrating Low's 50th anniversary, financial and other assistance to the Wakefield Covered Bridge Committee and the Fairbairn House Heritage Centre, and assistance to Cantley 1889.

At the municipal and regional level, society members played key roles in identifying and recording historic buildings in La Peche and Chelsea, and in Chelsea's 125th and 130th anniversary celebrations.

The GVHS website (www.gvhs.ca) now attracts thousands of local history enthusiasts and persons with Gatineau Valley connections from all over North America and beyond.

Digital technology has allowed the GVHS to use the most modern ways to connect with members and offer information about the past, making available thousands of scanned documents, newspaper articles, historic photos and clippings, and responding to research inquiries from a geographically unlimited audience.

Thank the GVHS for bridges, photos and for taking us Up The Gatineau

It's not hard to notice the Gatineau Valley Historical Society's presence in the Hills.

All you need do is open your eyes to see what all the GVHS behind-the-scenes work has brought the region during the past 50 years.

There's a big, yellow heritage home converted to house a museum that opened Sept. 1 in Wakefield.

Its transformation may not have been possible without the help of the GVHS, which took a leading role in converting the Fairbairn House into the first Heritage Centre in the Lower Gatineau Valley.

Have you ever attended the emotional and grand Remembrance Day ceremony at the Chelsea Pioneer Cemetery?

The Nov. 11 observance draws a contingent of soldiers from Canadian Forces Base Petawawa who represent the military unit of Pte. Richard Rowland Thompson, the only Canadian to be awarded the Queen's Scarf of Honour.

What about that giant red structure that spans the Gatineau River and connects Wakefield at its mid-point?

The village may not have its symbolic covered bridge today without the GVHS helping to kickstart it into high gear during its early stages.

And many of the designated heritage houses in the area may not be standing today without GVHS help.

While the society doesn't identify them, it does help municipalities with documenting heritage properties. It also helped create Cantley 1889, a heritage organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the municipality's 123-year history.

Now imagine the Hills without the GVHS.

Disturbing, isn't it? No old photos to look up from a past life, no historical talks, tours or paddles, no antique auctions and no real paper trail to prove that we had all been here.

There are too many things to thank the GVHS for, but here is a list of 10 impressive accomplishments that it should surely pat itself on the back for.

The Wakefield Covered Bridge

Have any of you launched yourself from the Wakefield Covered Bridge for a plunge into the Gatineau River? Watched a late-night movie under cover above the river? Taken in an Afro beat concert or even had your wedding ceremony at the iconic wooden structure?

If you acknowledged that you have done one or more of those fun things, the Gatineau Valley Historical Society deserves your thanks.

In April 1987, the GVHS endorsed the idea of rebuilding the original Gendron bridge that was destroyed by fire in 1984, promoting it as a site of historical importance.

Shortly after, a group that included the late Norma Walmsley formed the Wakefield Covered Bridge Committee and took on the dual task of fundraising and reconstruction. The GVHS, in lending a big hand to the effort, made perhaps its greatest impact in funding, giving the bridge committee charitable status during its reconstruction.

This allowed donors to claim their contributions as charitable and tax free, easing the way for donations to flow in for the project that literally brought the village together. The GVHS also gave the bridge committee a $6,000 interestfree loan in order that the builders could complete the roof before winter in 1996. While the GVHS isn't solely responsible for the rebuilding of the covered bridge, it did give the project the stature and boost needed to complete the job. It was inaugurated in 1998.

Cantley 1889

When Bob McClelland and Margaret Phillips wanted to set up an organization to promote and protect Cantley's heritage, they went straight to the Gatineau Valley Historical Society (GVHS) for help. They weren't turned away.

In just two years, the GVHS has helped Cantley 1889 establish a legitimate heritage organization, now a vital part of Cantley's 123-year history.

The GVHS helped the group to first establish its presence. It publicizes its many events - from the cemetery tours and talks to its historic photo presentations, including Cantley Century Homes, which showcased two old churches and 11 of the area's oldest homes, some more than 100 years of age.

Currently, the GVHS is assisting Cantley 1889 to digitize its bank of images and helps with documentation.

For more information, visit the website at www.cantley1889.ca.

Cemeteries

If you have walked about the Chelsea Pioneer Cemetery, you might know that the Gatineau Valley Historical Society is responsible for its upkeep.

In 1965, the GVHS bought the cemetery for $1,000 and took over ownership, causing some to wonder why. The society learned that a soldier who fought in the Boer War, one of only eight recipients of the Queen's Scarf of Honour, was buried there.

After tracking down Pte. Richard Rowland Thompson's grave, the society became officially incorporated in order to take over ownership. Today, Remembrance Day ceremonies are still held at the Chelsea Pioneer Cemetery. The GVHS also has a cemetery committee that guides the municipality on matters related to the Old Chelsea Protestant Burying Ground. Recently, the society has helped a student track down mapping information about the Rielly Cemetery in Masham.

Digital Resources

Many of you might wonder what life was like in the Gatineau Hills 50, 80, 100 years ago. What did the people wear? What did automobiles cars look like?

While it's difficult to imagine life here more than a century ago, you might visit the Gatineau Valley Historical Society's Image Bank and Digital Resources to take you back pictorially.

The image bank has more than 7,000 scenes in its database, all of them scanned at high resolution and tagged with descriptions and dates explaining when and where the photos were taken.

If you're searching for a picture of Aunt Wilma doing the jive at the Rupert Fair 50 years ago, for example, the image bank is the place to look. The digital resource centre also gives users free access to GVHS presentations, monthly historical talks and even archived Low Down articles. Search the image bank or digital resources, at: www.gvhs.ca.

Remembrance Day

There's no more stirring way to honour those killed in battle than at the Chelsea Pioneer Cemetery on Remembrance Day.

The ceremony, organized by the Gatineau Valley Historical Society, is arguably the most notable event of its kind in the region, drawing hundreds of spectators, dignitaries and even soldiers to the small burial ground on Hwy 105.

A few hundred soldiers from The 2nd Batallion Royal Canadian Regiment from Petawawa, travel to the site every year to participate.march the grounds of the cemetery and line up in front of and around the gravesite of Pte. Richard Rowland Thompson, the only Canadian to receive the prestigious Queen's Scarf of Honour.

The emotional day features poems, speeches, an annual performance by the Chelsea Elementary School choir and a flyover by planes from Vintage Wings of Canada.

Local dignitaries also lay wreaths to pay tribute to the fallen in war. For the past two years, Chelsea Mayor Caryl Green has read Doug Cowden's poem, Just a Piece of Cloth - verses dedicated to Pte. Thompson, who was Cowden's uncle.

With its beautiful rustic forest setting, the GVHS Remembrance Day ceremony is always one to remember.

Fairbairn House

It was built by William Fairbairn, it survived two demolition threats and now the 151-year-old house is a heritage centre. The Wakefield pioneer's homestead has the Gatineau Valley Historical Society to thank for its survival.

When the building was almost torn down in 2005 to make way for a planned condo development, the society helped kick-start an organization to raise funds for renovations. The house had also already survived a 1993 demolition threat, when a new road to the bridge over the Gatineau River was in the planning stages. The GVHS initiative spawned the Fairbairn House Solidarity Co-operative. Seven years later, the co-op has raised $525,000 for renovations. Now that the Fairbairn House has opened as a heritage centre, the GVHS will continue to be involved - this time with preserving and accessing historical information.

Contributing writers

More than a few writers have sharpened their pens or exercised their typing fingers via the Gatineau Valley Historical Society. That's because the society offers a program to help people write about history in the Gatineau Hills.

Wakefield resident Norma Geggie has published books with the help of the society, including A Place Apart: A Search for the Pioneer Cemeteries of the Lower Gatineau Valley, Wakefield Revisited, and she revised Dr. Harold Geggie's journals in The Extra Mile - The Journals H.J.G. Geggie, MD.

Carol Martin, a former editor of Up the Gatineau!, wrote a book about Chelsea's burial grounds entitled In Memory of Chelsea's Historic Cemeteries back in 2005. The GVHS also funded Catharine Fletcher and Gunda Lambton for their books and had Brian Doyle write a piece about Low.

Other notable writers who frequently contributed to Up the Gatineau! include Archie Pennie, Don Hogarth, Duncan Marshall and Ernie Mahoney.

Up the Gatineau!

You see them stacked at the grocery store counter as you're about to check out. Every spring, a new Up the Gatineau! history booklet hits the stands with stories, essays and, recently, poems by, of and about people of the Gatineau Hills.

These treasured snippets of regional flavour first started in 1975, and more than 120 writers have since contributed pieces for publication.

In 1984, the Arthur Davison Award was created, named after a former president, and it's awarded to the most outstanding contribution to Up the Gatineau!

Carol Martin holds the record for longest-serving editor: 21 years (from 1990 to 2011). Today, the editor is Louise Schwartz, who regularly dusts off literary Valley snapshots that live again in the Low Down feature, The Way We Were.

Every year, society members claim first dibs on the well-reputed historical journal at the GVHS awards gala. Anyone else can check out their grocery store newsstand or depanneur for a copy of Up the Gatineau! You can also order online at www.gvhs.ca.

Moorside Tearoom

It all started from a cup of tea.

In 1961, Moiya Wright and her friend, Judy Crawley, wanted a place to stop and have tea while they were strolling about the Kingsmere Estates grounds. Back then, the Moorside Tearoom was boarded up and closed to the public.

Wright and Crawley's little craving led to the creation of the Gatineau Valley Historical Society. After their first meeting with National Capital Commission (NCC) officials, Crawley and Wright formed a group, then named the Historical Society of the Gatineau, to get the tearoom running again.

As the society's first president, Wright led the group of volunteers in cleaning up the building, baking scones and organizing china teacups. Now, the Moorside Tearoom is open from May to October and it still offers tea and light refreshments.

The Gatineau River Heritage Paddle

Floating down the Gatineau River is much more fun if you have a knowledgeable guide on board.

For its second year, the Gatineau Valley Historical Society has helped organize Gatineau River Heritage Paddle: A Guide, a comprehensive book of maps, photos and stories about old homes, legends and dated boating stories along the Gatineau River.

Better yet, in June, those keen on river lore can launch their canoes and kayaks and join in the Gatineau River flotilla - all the way from Wakefield village to Chelsea - for a large group historical excursion.

GVHS wins Richard Evans nod

Along with celebrating the milestone of its turning 50, the Gatineau Valley Historical Society should also be patting itself on the back for winning the 2012 Richard Evans Award handed out by the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN).

The award is given each year to volunteers who have contributed to preserving or promoting their given community's historical identity.

The GVHS was selected as winner for its continuing support of local heritage projects like the Fairbairn House Heritage Centre, the Gatineau River Heritage Paddle and the production of Up the Gatineau, a history journal which has featured submissions from more than 120 writers from the region over the past 38 years.

The QAHN is a independent non-profit organization dedicated to helping advance the history and culture of English-speaking society in the province.