Day 10, Visiting Kawartha Settlers’ Village
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Our first visit today is to Kawartha Settlers Village. This open-air museum
opens at ten o'clock so we don't have to hurry in the morning.
At eight, I got up and after a shower I made everything ready for breakfast.
Then it was time to relax on the porch, looking over the quiet lake in front
of me while Anneke wakes up and got ready for breakfast.
Relaxing at the lake
We enjoyed our breakfast on the porch and then we got in the car to Kawartha
Settlers’ Village. It was only a few minutes from our houseboat.
Breakfast on the porch
Leaving our houseboat to go to Kawartha Settlers’ Village
Kawartha Settlers’ Village features a variety of local heritage structures
from 1850 to 1930 and many artifacts of that period. It is a community
center, museum and educational center.
The Settlers’ Village contains twenty four historical buildings and thousands
artifacts, mostly donated by local people from Bobcaygeon and the surrounding
area.
The entrance of Kawartha Settlers’ Village
The map of Kawartha Settlers’ Village
The Henderson house
The Henderson house
The Henderson house was build between 1910 and 1913 on Front Street for blacksmith
Robert Henderson. This house was, in October 1990) the first building relocated to
the Kawartha Settlers’ Village site.
The building is used for local arts and crafts activities and community events now.
Boyd Carriage House
The Boyd Carriage House was constructed in the 1840's and was used to house the
horses, carriages and automobiles of the Boyd family.
WOOD A102 automobile from 1902
Newfoundland Taxi Sleigh from 1850
Murphy's Barn
Murphy's Barn
The Murphy family settled in Bobcaygeon in the 1860's from Ireland. The barn's
granary and hayloft are now used to display a collection of farm tools and
artefacts and are used for special events.
A poster in Murphy's Barn
Murphy's Drive Shed
Murphy's Drive Shed
A old Kawartha Diary carriage
Duggan_House
Interior of Duggan_House
The Duggans came to Canada in 1835 and bought this house in 1863. They were
farmers. The house was donated to Kawartha Settlers’ Village and is
maintained by the friends of the Duggan House.
Shanty
Settlers shanty
When settlers arrived, they would often stay in a tent and thereafter they
would build a temporary shanty to survive the winter. later they would build
a 'real' house.
Interior of the shanty
Harry Van Oudenaren Museum
Wooden shoes in the Harry Van Oudenaren Museum
The Harry Van Oudenaren Museum was donated to the Kawartha Settlers’ Village
by the Van Oudenaren family. The museum houses a collection of items collected
and maintained by Harry van Oudenaren himself.
The Fairbairn church
The church in Kawartha Settlers’ Village
Fairbairn church was build in 1885 as a Methodist church. It was donated to the
Kawartha Settlers’ Village in 1996 and restored to its original state after it
had been in use as a barn and chicken coop before.
The church can now be used for weddings and other suitable events.
The church organ
Fire hall
A replica of the orginal Bobcaygeon Fire Company Station
The orginal Bobcaygeon Fire Company Station was build prior to the 1900's
on Bobcaygeon's middle island. There are two fire trucks in this replica
of the fire station. The oldest one is from 1934 and was the first truck
of the Bobcaygeon fire dept. and the second one is from the 1950's.
Fire truck from the 1950's
There was a lot more to see and to tell about the buildings and artefacts
of the Kawartha Settlers’ Village. If you have the opportunity to do so,
go see it for yourself. There is so much to see and to learn.
Lunch and shopping
By the time we finished our visit to the Kawartha Settlers’ Village, it
was lunchtime so we wanted to go to the Tim Hortons restaurant in
Bobcaygeon. We could not find it right away so when we saw a grocery store
we bought some bread and asked for directions to the restaurant.
With the directions of the shop owner it was easy to find it and soon we
were enjoying our cappucino and turkey club sandwich.
The restaurant was situated at a parking lot with lots of other shops. In one
of the shops I bought a magazine 'Guns of the old West', all about the type
of gun I like. A magazine that I can not buy in the Netherlands so I was
happy to find it here.
While I started reading the magazine outside the next shop, Anneke bought some
noodles for dinner in another shop.
Before we went to the next activity, we went back to the houseboat to bring
our groceries home and leave the car there for the day.
We left the car at the parking near our houseboat
Trent-Severn Waterway Lock 32
On foot, we went to Trent-Severn Waterway Lock 32. It was on the other side
of the water and we had to cross two bridges to get there. While we were
walking on the bridge, we saw a Can-Am Spyder. a three wheel motorcycle. I
have already seen a few of these riding here.
A Can-Am Spyder
From the bridge, we had a good view on 'our' houseboat, the third from
the left.
The houseboats
The Trent–Severn Waterway is a 386 kilometer long canal route connecting
Lake Ontario at Trenton to Georgian Bay at Port Severn. Its major natural
waterways include the Trent River, Otonabee River, the Kawartha lakes,
Lake Simcoe, Lake Couchiching and the Severn River.
Lock 32 of the Trent–Severn Waterway is located in Bobcaygeon and that is
where we went to.
Getting ready to let a rented houseboat through.
A holiday houseboat leaving the lock
A view from the swing bridge
A little harbour behind the lock
It was interesting to see the ships go through the lock. While we were looking
at the activity at the lock, we chatted with a lady who has her lunchbreak.
She told us her family came from Nieuwkoop in the Netherlands.
At the shop near the lock, I saw a nice T-shirt that I wanted to buy but the
did not have it in my size (XL) but the friendly lady in the shop called her
collegue in their other shop in mainstreet. Fortunately they had one in my
size so we crossed the bridge and walked to that shop to get my T-shirt.
Kawartha Life, the shop with the T-shirt
When I was paying for the T-shirt, the lady at the counter started talking
Dutch to us. her family was also from the Netherlands, from Tilburg and
Arnhem and she visited family in the Netherlands every year.
Her maiden name is Van Oudenaren en the Harry Van Oudenaren, from the Harry
Van Oudenaren Museum in Kawartha Settlers’ Village, is her father !
We explored Bobcaygeon mainstreet a little farther and saw a shop called
'Londen Trading'. In the shop, they sold all kind of typical British
clothes, cotton jackets, hats and all kind of lady's and men clothes in
British style.
Londen Trading in Bobcaygeon
We see a lot of motorcyclist, enjoying the nice weather and wonderful roads
here. Lots of Harleys but sometimes you see a rider on the best bike you can
have on this side of the Atlantic, a Honda GoldWing
 .
GoldWing GL1500
At Kawartha Coffee Co. we bought two cappucino's. It was a nice looking
restaurant but the music was to loud and the coffee very expensive and
too bitter.
Kawartha Coffee Co.
Also on mainstreet is Bigley's Sweet Treats. A nice ice cream parlour
with a very friendly lady. We could taste a flavour before we could
choose. The spoon with ice cream to taste, was almost as much ice cream as
a small ice cream in the Netherlands.
Bigley's Sweet Treats
When we both ordeed a baby-ice cream, the smallest they sold, it was as
much as three or four scoops of ice cream in the Netherlands.
That is me, halfway my baby-ice cream......
I liked the ice cream I got now, much better then the ice cream at
Kawartha Dairy yesterday.
Just when we had finished eating our giant baby-ice creams, I saw a
hotrod parked opposite the ice cream shop. While Anneke was shopping
for a hat, I checked the hotrod out.
Beautiful hotrod in Mainstreet
From Mainstreet, we walked back to our houseboat but before we got there,
close to our houseboat, we visited a shop called The Gallery. Anneke
wanted to check it out so we went in.
The Gallery
In the shop is so much to see. Lots of secondhand books, clothing, posters
and jewelery and much more. I did like the poster about unattended children
very much.
Unattended children
From the Gallery, we walked back home to the houseboat. It was only two
or three minutes walking to our houseboat. For dinner we had our noodles
and bread on the porch, enjoying the wonderful weather.
Later that evening we saw the sky turn red with the sunset.
Sunset in Bobcaygeon
Tomorrow we will stay in Woodhaven Country Lodge on 97 Fire Route 51 in
Buckhorn but first we will visit the Whetung Ojibwa Centre on 875
Mississauga St. in Curve Lake First Nation, Ontario.
|
