Time Warp

This week, it's an all-Valentine's episode. Kate has love in the pioneer Highlands while Paul has a a light look at how Canadians have tended to have a more laid-back attitude about Valentine's Day then maybe some other countries where it's seen as a time to make grander more extravagant demonstrations of affection. Maybe it's the influence of our British origins? Kate Butler is the Director of th...

This week, Kate is back with more love & romance stories from pioneer Haliburton County. Makes one wonder what she has up her sleeve for next week with Valentine's Day coming up. Plus, Paul has the story of the founding of the Hudson's Bay Company that recently folded after 355 years of existence - making it historically the world's longest living corporation. It goes back to two French fur tr...

Haliburton County recently hosted a fur trapping workshop and it got Kate thinking about historical fur trapping when it was more significant in the community. Plus, Paul went down a rabbit hole thinking about all the kitschy "world's biggest" road side attractions that were part of road trips when people starting driving the roads on family vacations. For example there's the world's biggest lobst...

This week, Kate has a prelude for Valentines Day coming up soon - it's love & romance in the Highlands. Plus, Paul has the story of the 1993 Battle of the Medak Pocket - Canada's largest military engagement since the Korean War. And it wasn't supposed to happen since it was a UN Peacekeeping Mission. The Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry was the unit assigned to monitor a ceasefire b...

This week, Kate has some stories of mourning practices during pioneer times where things were more formality and social practices surrounding the loss of a loved one than today. But there was still room to let your hair down and engage in....antics. Plus, Paul has the history of beer brewing in Canada from a domestic kitchen staple that everyone including kids drank because you couldn't trust wate...

This week, Kate has the story of a local doctor in pioneer Haliburton in the late 1800's. Plus Paul has the story of an American invasion of Canada in 1775, early in the Revolutionary War. It was a 2-prong attack, one led by Benedict Arnold, that had the goal to capture Quebec from the British. Part of the planning was the assumption that the French inhabitants would join them in a popular revolt...

This week, Kate talks about early Haliburton Highlands Christmases plus Paul has 'Christmas on the edge of the world'. Early Hudson Bay trading posts wereisolated, snowbound, frozen places with the clerks, traders, and labourers far from home and their normal family-oriented festive traditions. So how did they adjust? They adapted in ways that created new northern Christmas traditions that have la...

This week, Kate brings some more early childhood memories from early Haliburton County history. Plus, Paul has some stories of early Canadian Christmas traditions and their origins. They include "is Santa Claus Canadian?"; "the annual Christmas tree that Nova Scotia donates to Boston"; and "the world's first Santa Claus parade". Kate Butler is the Director of the Haliburton Highlands Museum. Paul...

This week, Kate'dips her toes' into some Christmas cheer and a tale of childhood sledding. Plus, Paul has the tale of Giavannie Caboto, an Italian navigator who came to be known as John Cabot. Cabot came to age at a time when Europe was speculating that there might be a route to Asia by sailing west into the Atlantic. He tried to convince Spain to take a chance on him, but lost out to Christopher...

Haliburton County has a well known reputation as an arts and culture centre. This week, Kate has the story of some of the early origins of theatre in Haliburton County going back to 1907. Plus, Paul has the history of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), a post-WW2 binational partnership between the US and Canda. It was designed during the Cold War as an early warning system in case of...

This week, Kate has some stories about getting one over on the game warden plus Paul tells the tale of Canada's most unusual Prime Ministers - William Lyon Mackenzie King. King had two sides. He was Canada's longest serving prime ministers and accomplished a lot during his tenure. He also had a public persona as a skilled negotiator who could find practical solutions to problems, but privately was...

This week, Kate has a follow-up on Remembrance Day and the additional story of a lucky local WW2 pilot who crashed while flying with the RCAF, but managed to survive. Plus, Paul has the tale of Ken Leishman who pulled a record gold-theft from the Winnipeg airport on March 1, 1966. Ken was often described as an intelligent, charming, and charismatic man who always had a smile and was liked by every...

This week, Kate has some thoughts about Remembrance Day and how people on the home front tried to carry on life during WW1. Plus, Paul has the story of Ukrainian migration to Canada since the late 1800's, how they contributed to the cultural and social mosaic in Canada, and why Canada tends to support Ukraine in their war with Russia. Kate Butler is the Director of the Haliburton Highlands Museum....

This week, both Kate and Paul have tales of Halloween spookiness. Kate has stories from Haliburton County - especially in regards to the museum buildings. Plus, Paul has a personal anecdote and 3 stories that cover Canada from the east coast to the west coast. From Halifax there's strange happenings from a funeral home that housed victims of the Titanic and the Halifax Explosion where thousands di...

This week, Kate brings 3 separate quirky stories about modes of transportation in early Haliburton County - therefore, planes;trains; and automobiles. Plus Paul has the story of the 1789 Nootka Sound Crisis that determined that Canada's west coast became British territory and eventually Canada could stretch from coast-to-coast. Otherwise British Columbia could have been Spanish or even Russian ter...

This week, Kate brings the story of loggers and the spring log drive down Haliburton County's rivers and lakes. Who do you call when you het a log jam? Jam crackers! Plus, Paul has the story of Louis Cyr, a farm boy born from the late 1800's Quebec who earned the title of the 'Strongest Man on Earth' through prodigious feats of strength like using his back to lift a platform with 18 men standing o...

This week, Kate riffs on Canadian Thanksgiving and segues into stories of 2 early pioneer families in Haliburton County. Plus Paul has a brief overview of Scotland's Highland Clearances in the early 1800's, the migration of Scots to Canada - in particular Reverend Norman McLeod and his congregation - and the lasting impact of Scots on Canadian culture that still exists today. Kate Butler is the Di...

This week, Kate has Part 2 of the story of Thomas Mason, an early pioneer in Haliburton County. Plus, Paul has the history behind how the world has had different systems of measurement and how Canada evolved to having a hybrid system of measurement - partly Imperial and partly Metric. It's created a bit of a muddle and doesn't always make sense, but by and large it works. Except maybe in the case...

This week, Kate has the first half of the story of Thomas Mason - a world traveller and resilient character who came to be an early settler in Haliburton County. Plus, Paul has the story Canada's 'boy wonder', shy teenager Percy Williams, who overcame his 5'7" and 123 lb stature and rheumatic fever to become an unlikely double gold medal sprint winner at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. Percy...

This week, Kate has a 'lighter topic'. It's the back to school time of year, so here's a couple of school stories from yesteryear. Plus, Many Canadian servicemen have earned Britain's Victoria Cross Medal since its creation during the 1850's Crimean War. But, it's no longer awarded to Canadians. It has to do with Canada's evolution from a colony to an independent country. So, who was our first, an...

This week, Kate has the story of one of Haliburton County's many characters - R.H. Baker who was the one time owner of the Haliburton Echo newspaper. Plus, Paul has the rise and fall of Canada's only Canadian-born boxing heavyweight champ, Tommy Burns - the Little Giant of Hanover. At only 5'7" and 175 lbs he was an unlikely heavyweight who beat opponents who were many inches taller and much heavi...

This week, Kate has the story of late 1800's lumber camp cook George Roach. Plus, Paul has the life and gangland death of Besha (Bessie) Starkman, a Canadian female crime boss who together with her partner Rocco Perri ran crime in eastern Canada and the Northern US during the 1920's. Kate Butler is the Director of the Haliburton Highlands Museum. Paul Vorvis is the host of the Your Haliburton Morn...

This week, Kate has the story of the significance of Fall and agricultural fairs in a rural community and how they became popular during pioneer times. Plus, Paul has the story behind women stepping up to work outside the home in support of the WW2 effort, and how Canada's Ronnie the Bren Gun Girl, who was a real person, came to symbolize all her sisters working in factories. And she preceeded her...

This week, Kate has the story of Miriam Holland, a 17 year old woman who settled in Haliburton County in 1860, ended up living there into her 90's, and seeing an huge arc in community change. Plus, Paul has the life-story of Mona Roberts who was born in Nova Scotia, ended up in WW2's Dutch Resistance, and became the only Canadian woman to be tried by a Nazi tribunal and sentenced to death by firin...

This week, Kate has the story of horse racing in Haliburton County in the early 20th century, the local racetrack from 1909-1925, and a local race horse of some renown - Guilford Boy. Plus, Paul has the seafaring tale of the 'I'm Alone', a rum-running schooner out of Lunenberg, Nova Scotia during prohibition. The I'm Alone was chased over several days by the US Coast Guard who, out of frustration,...