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Article 27 of 49
This article first appeared in the May 29, 2013 issue of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.
Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.
o o o
Low Down publisher bares all in historical booklet
By Lucy Scholey
Nikki Mantell is naked in a bucket.
The publisher of the Low Down to Hull and Back News bared all in the latest edition of "Up the Gatineau!" a popular, historical publication.
At fi rst glance, it's not exactly the type of viewing material one would typically associate with the booklet.
question is merely that of a three-year-old Nikki Mantell taking a bath in a water-fi lled bucket. With that photo, Mantell - like hundreds before her - is going down in history in "Up the Gatineau!"
The latest edition of the booklet was unveiled during the Gatineau Valley Historical Society's (GVHS) dinner May 27. More than 100 people gathered at the Wakefi eld Mill for a night of volunteer awards and presentations.
Being the Low Down's 40th year, Mantell and her mother, Kitty, each wrote a story about the newspaper's history, starting in 1973 when the younger Mantell was just a-year-old.
The 39th edition also features a cover story about Dr. Mark Froimovitch's 34-year-old veterinary clinic, as told by his wife, artist Carol Polonsky Froimovitch.
She highlights their personal history with anecdotes of emergency animal calls around the Hills, including a New Year's Eve cattle C-section at Vince Hendrick's Chelsea farm.
This year's publication is heftier and starts with three stories about Kingsmere in the early 20th century. Carleton University professor and former Kingsmere resident, Andrew Johnston, writes about the Chelsea community's fame as an artistic hub in the Hills, and another article about an early real estate venture along Barnes Road.
Frances Curry, also a former Kingsmere resident, contributes an article about the "Hermit of Kingsmere" - Miles Barnes.
Charles Hodgson, an Ottawa resident and founder of the nowdefunct guidegatineau.ca Gatineau Park guide, shares skiing anecdotes dating back to the early 1900s, when skiing fanatics had to venture through tollbooths to get to the Gatineau Hills.
Poems about Chelsea by Arthur Bourinot (and dug up by Paull Leamen), tie this issue together.
Louise Schwartz, who just completed her second edition of "Up the Gatineau!" as editor, called this edition a "labour of love," for the fact that it had seven fi rst-time contributors and an additional seven-person production team.
"Up the Gatineau!" costs $10 and is available at select vendors in Chelsea, Wakefi eld and Low. Copies can also be ordered at www.gvhs.ca.