The Hallen family of Penetanguishene produced watercolour images of the area in the early half of the 19th Century. Their works not only showcase their considerable skills as artists, but also offer a glimpse of the social geography of the region. Huronia Museum hosts an extensive collection of Hallen paintings. Museum Director Jamie Hunter tell us more.
Author: Bryan
Heritage Dinner 2012
About this year’s speaker
Dr. Alan Taylor graduated from Colby College, in Waterville, Maine, in 1977 and earned his PhD from Brandeis University in 1986. Dr. Taylor is currently a professor of American and Canadian history at the University of California, having taught previously at Boston University.
Dr. Taylor’s current research includes a borderlands history of Canada and the United States in the aftermath of the American Revolution. His other books include The Divided Ground, Writing Early American History, American Colonies, and William Cooper’s Town, which won the Bancroft and Pulitzer prizes for American history. He also serves as a contributing editor to The New Republic.
In his most recent book The Civil War of 1812 American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels and Indian Allies. Dr. Taylor tells the riveting story of a war that redefined North America. During the early nineteenth century, Britons and Americans renewed their struggle over the legacy of the American Revolution. Soldiers, immigrants, settlers, and First Nations fought in a northern borderland to determine the fate of a continent. Would revolutionary republicanism sweep the British from Canada? Or would the British empire contain, divide, and ruin the shaky American republic?
Dr. Taylor will provide this year’s attendees at the annual Huronia Museum Heritage Dinner with a balanced perspective of the events and participants of this War and how it shaped the identity of Canadians.
Tickets can be purchased at the Huronia Museum
549 Little Lake Park Road, Midland Ontario 705.526-2844
Conversation with a Copeland descendant
curator Jamie Hunter with Paul Copeland
On February 14, 2012, Paul Copeland visited the Huronia Museum and had an interesting conversation with curator Jamie Hunter about the Copeland family and its important role in the business history of the area (the Copeland Flour Milling Company Ltd). Mr. Copeland is a descendant of George Copeland. The family is sorting through the papers of a family member who recently passed away and is considering sharing some of the family history material with the museum.
Coldwater Mill 1833 grist mill, Coldwater, Ontario — on the mill you can read this historic plaque text: In 1830 Indians of the surrounding region were gathered on a reserve along a newly opened road connecting The Narrows (Orillia) and Coldwater. The superintendent, Capt. Thomas Gummersal Anderson and a band of Ojibwa under Chief Aisance, settled in Coldwater. Land-hungry settlers influenced the government to move the Indians to Rama and Beausoleil Island 1838-39. This grist-mill, financed with Indian funds, was constructed by Stephen Chapman, Jacob Gill and others in 1833. The mill was sold to George Copeland in 1849 and has been in operation for over 125 years.
Coldwater grist mill 1833
Today, a small cafe operates in the mill at the end facing the camera.
Both photographs by William J. Gibson
Huronia Museum 