Buxton Historical Society Newsletter

August 2006

In Memory of John Duane Newby

The Buxton Historical Society and the Community of North Buxton were saddened by the death of Duane Newby in February of this year. Duane was the past chairman of the Society and continued to be an advocate for the site. He was the developer of the Buxton Museum website. Duane continued to serve as the webmaster of our website until the time of his death. Duane is greatly missed by the Board of Directors of the Museum as well as by the entire community.

Fred Dixon is updating our web site and preparing it so that Museum staff can maintain it.

Joanne Hartley, Joyce Middleton, and Lori Gardner have developed a new school program at the primary level.

We have had several people working on restoring the 1852 log cabin that was donated to the Museum. The workers were supervised by Darrell Shadd and Audrey Prince. Here Rob Gillings is checking the chinking on the outside of the cabin.

Inside the Museum, we have had several people over the past year working on updating our archives, digitizing our family trees, interviewing seniors who grew up in Buxton, and researching the early settlers in Buxton.

Project Cabin Restoration

We have been very fortunate at the Museum to have received a number of grants in the past few years. During the past year we have had the support of grants from Services Canada, as well as a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. These grants have made it possible to make many improvements to our facility as well as many upgrades within the Museum collection. The work was done with financial assistance from both Services Canada and the Ontario Trillium Foundation. and was guided by the Log Cabin Steering Committee- Bryan Prince, Keenan Thomas and David Middleton.

Landscaping at the Buxton National Historic Site & Museum

We have been fortunate to receive a number of grants to improve the landscaping at the site. We first received a grant of $2131 to assist with improvement of the landscaping around our signage at the site. Improvements were made to all of the signs on the site.

We also received two grants from Union gas for a total of $2650 to landscape around the log cabin and improve landscaping around the Museum. Several Union gas employees along with their families, as well as Museum staff, board members and their families, spent two Saturdays making these improvements. Although everyone found it to be hard work, it was a fun time for all, and the improvements are fantastic.

Visitors to the Museum and Park

The museum has hosted numerous tours, drop-in visitors as well as family reunions and has hosted meetings providing a room for secondary school teachers for PA day workshop; Senior Management Staff from the Municipality; Ministry of Culture, Recreation & Citizenship regional consultants. Some tours also request luncheons that are provided by the Buxton's Ladies Auxillary which enhances the tour. Several groups have used the park facilities for picnics and family reunions. Our tourist have come from across Canada and the United States as well as England. This year our Canadian visitors are outnumbering our American visitors. For tour information, to book the park or a meeting contact the Museum at 519-352-4799.

Heritage Day Camp

A new initiative by the Buxton National Historic Site & Museum is our heritage day camp. This camp has been organized and is being run by our summer students Blair Newby and Roderick Robert. For five Thursdays this summer the children will experience a series of activities through which they will learn about the early Buxton Settlement and the Underground Railroad. This program has been sponsored by the Buxton Historical Society with the support of services Canada, and the North Buxton Community Club. For more information contact Blair or Roderick at 519-352-4299

Volunteers

Kevin Shadd Volunteers at the log cabin Earl Prince volunteers in the school program

The museum is always looking for new volunteers to help with our many programs. Do you have extra time that you would be able to share your talents at the Buxton Museum? Whether you would like to help with the gardening, tours, in the gift shop, in the office, on the phone, in our school programs, with an exhibit, fundraising, or as a host or hostess

To offer your time and talents just contact us at the museum at 519-352-4299

or email us

We have a special need for volunteers on our homecoming weekend with:

set up of fences, tables, chairs etc. on Thursday and Friday
clean up on Monday and Tuesday
snacks and lunch for the conference
assistance at the ball tournament or the party in the park
reenactors, wagon drivers and conductors for the historical reenactment
selling buttons, attending the gate, helping in the museum, etc. on Monday

Education at the Buxton Museum

We had several school classes through the museum during the past year. Many of those were grade 7 classes who were participating in our Intermediate "Voices of Freedom" program. Three schools with the Lambton Kent District School Board Indian Creek Road Public School, Queen Elizabeth Public School, and Winston Churchill Public School have piloted our recently developed programs. Our curator and assistant curator have made presentations at a number of schools, both local and at a distance. We are looking forward to incorporating our newly renovated cabin into our existing programs and piloting our newest program "A Day in an Early African Canadian Settlement", is a primary level program that incorporates the log cabin and uses the book "Henry's House" that tells the story of the Buxton Settlement through the voice of Henry Colbert who built it, and through the voices of the children of his neighbours.

Our Newest Initiative

In March we received an Ontario Community Bruilders grant from the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. This grant was presented by Minister Mike Colle at the Museum in early March, at which he commended the Buxton Historical Society "for the important work we are doing in promoting cultural sharing and understanding of our diverse heritage".The award was given to cast and erect a replica of an 1850 "Liberty Bell" , a symbol of freedom to the community of Buxton, and to the ancestors of those early settlers who heard the original bell ring as they arrived to their new life in freedom in Buxton. This bell continues to hang in the steeple of St. Andrews United Church. Our plans for the erection of this replica is proceeding, with a target of having it in place before the end of 2006.

Passage To Freedom

Ottawa Citizen reporter Chris Lackner is making a 93 day trek,800 kilometre trek , mostly on foot, across the territory covered by many fugitive slaves on their journey to freedom. Along the way Chris is staying in historic buildings, and is documenting his journey in word and by photographs. Chris Lackner and his photographer will end their journey here and will stay in the log cabinthat has been restored on the Museum grounds. They are expected to arrive here on Friday September 1, at the beginning of the Homecoming celebration. Pictured here is Jerry Gore and his granddaughter Quiera Chambers outside the log cabin where Chris Lackners journey will end. At the beginning of his journey, Chris stayed in the 200 year home of Jerry Gore in Kentucky. His home has a slave jail in the basement that is still standing and was used by its first owner who was a slave owner. It was later used by a subsequent owner in his work on the Underground railroad. We are looking forward to hosting Chris Lackner and hearing about his unique journey on Homecoming weekend.