News from the Heritage House

This year's calendar takes you room by room through the Heritage House: the kitchen, the pantry, the barbershop, the treasures out on the lawn, and the Douglas family who built the house in 1854.

It also carries the story of Gunner Erwin Hendry, one of the service members profiled in "North Queens: We Will Remember Them", published for Remembrance Day 2025.

Calendars are $12 and available now at local shops in Caledonia and at the museum door. Every sale supports the Society's heritage projects.

Our April 13 open house brought a full house of neighbours, members and friends for tea, coffee and treats, and a frank conversation about the impact of recent provincial cuts to local museums in Nova Scotia.

Small, volunteer-run museums like ours depend on a patchwork of grants, memberships, donations and fundraisers. When one part of that patchwork shrinks, the rest has to stretch. Memberships, donations and volunteer hours matter more this year than ever.

The Annual General Meeting followed at 7 pm. [Placeholder: summary of AGM results, board elections and financial report to be added by the Secretary.]

From all of the volunteers at the North Queens Heritage Society, merry Christmas and a happy new year. Thank you to every visitor, member, donor and neighbour who helped us through another season.

Working with the North Queens Remembrance Day Committee and veteran Chris Charlton, the Society has published "North Queens: We Will Remember Them", a booklet profiling local service members who died in the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War.

Each profile brings together service records, family photographs and newspaper clippings, much of it drawn from our archive and from families who shared what they had kept.

Copies are available to read at the Heritage House and at the community school. The companion website, northqueensremembers.ca, carries the full honour roll.

Each banner carries a service portrait, a name, a unit and the years of a life cut short - among them Lance Corporal John Patterson of the Nova Scotia Highlanders.

If you have a photograph of a North Queens service member that you would be willing to share, please get in touch. We are always adding to the record.

Gold ran through this summer at the Heritage House. On August 5 a second-generation gold prospector brought samples of real gold and a lifetime of stories about finding it.

Our Crayons & Creativity contest invited kids, teens and seniors to colour a gold miner, with entries dropped off at the museum or the Saturday farmers' market. The draw was held August 19.

The rush is part of our story: in 1884 Caledonia served as the hub for the gold rush at nearby Whiteburne and North Brookfield.

Thanks to Kejimkujik for loaning us a remarkable set of photographs by Paul Yates. Taken between 1908 and 1923, they capture the landscape and the experience of visitors during the sporting lodge and wilderness guide era, long before Kejimkujik became a National Park and National Historic Site.

The exhibit ran August 4 to September 3, 10 am to 5 pm, closed Mondays. Entry by donation.

Our traditional ash pack basket, finished with leather straps and a lid engraved with an osprey and a schooner under sail, has found its new home. Congratulations to our winner! [Placeholder: winner's name and draw date.]

Thank you to everyone who bought tickets, and to the maker who donated the basket. Proceeds go directly to the care of the collection.

[Placeholder story] A donation was presented on the front steps of the Heritage House this summer, earmarked for archival boxes, folders and a dehumidifier for the research room.

Paper is the most fragile thing we hold. Gifts like this one are what keep school registers, ledgers and letters readable for the next hundred years. Thank you.