Time Warp

This week, Kate talks about how people tended to get around in pioneer Haliburton County when roads were.....rustic at best and options were limited. Plus, Paul tells the story of Louis Oliver Gamache who lived on Anticosti Island at the mouth of the St Lawrence River in the late 1700's to mid 1800's. He chose to live a solitary existence but grew concerned about his personal security while living...

Pioneers in the late 1800's and early 1900's were very social people that wanted to get together with their friends and neighbors. But with large spaces between people and no phones or social media, what were the entertainment options and opportunities to gather? Kate talks about a few items from the pages of a 1907 Minden Echo newspaper. Plus, when Laura Secord made her trek through the wildernes...

This week, Kate talks about William Nichol who arrived in Haliburton County in the 1860's. His story was pretty typical - until he diversified into something a little unique - prospecting in the County and beyond. Plus, Paul talks about the development of canals in Canada in the early 1800's and how they were so impotant to the mobility and the economic growth of a young Canada. And there was a pr...

This week, Kate talks about secondary school education in Haliburton County as the Haliburton Highlands Secondary School turns 70 this year. But what came before the HHHS? Plus, Paul has the story of Canada's significant involvement as a United Nations partner joining 20 other countries deployed to the Korean War. It became Canada's 3rd bloodiest conflict. But, despite the sacrifices, it's become...

This week, Kate talks about how early churches in Haliburton County tended to welcome all faiths and to be non-denominational because there just wasn't the population to support and build churches for each faith. As a result Hal;iburton County has always been a very religiously tolerant community. Plus, Paul talks about Willie O'Ree - the first athlete to break the color barrier and play hockey pr...

This week, Kate talks about camping in pioneer times. Of course, there were professionals like surveyors, trappers and hunters. But, maybe counter-intuitively, there was recreational camping as well. Plus, Paul talks about Manny McIntyre - an exceptional multi-sport athlete who competed in hocky internationally and who became the first Black Canadian to sign a professional baseball contract....jus...

This week, Kate talks about the evolution of summer tourism in the Haliburton Highlands once school was out. Plus, Paul takes an individual from last week's episode on the Battle of Ballantyne pier - Victoria Cross winner Mickey O'Rourke - and does a deeper dive into his story. Kate Butler is the Director of the Haliburton Highlands Museum. Paul Vorvis is the host of the Your Haliburton Morning Sh...

This week, Kate talks about John and Caroline Williams who came to Haliburton County in the 1860's from England. They were from well-to-do families that had fallen on financially difficult times and decided to come to Canada. But in Haliburton County they were part of the 'upper-crust'. Plus, there's many stories of the difficult evolution of unions and worker rights in Canada starting post WW1 an...

This week, there's old time occupations that are very rare today. Kate takes a dive into the topic of boot and shoe making and repair for example. Plus, Paul takes a nostalgic look at a bygone era - the history of Toronto's Sunnyside Beach Park with roots that go as far back as the 1850's. Kate Butler is the Director of the Haliburton Highlands Museum. Paul Vorvis is the host of the Your Haliburto...

This week, Kate talks abouthow boom and 'bust' led to the rise of communities in Haliburton County, and how times led to some of those becoming 'ghost towns'. This is the story of one of those - the hamlet of Gelert. Plus, WW1 in many ways gave rise to Canada becoming a country. Here's the story of the Battle of Mont Sorrel in June 1916, the first battle in WW1 that was independently planned and e...

This week, 2 items from this week in history. Kate talks about how Haliburton marked the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II seventy years ago today (as of this broadcast). Plus, Paul talks about Canada's worst nautical disaster - the sinking of the Canadian Pacific Railway's trans-atlantic luxury liner the Empress of Ireland 99 years ago this week (as of this broadcast). Kate Butler is the Director...

This week, Kate talks about Haliburton village in the early 1900's. It's a small pioneer town with limited accommodations. But where do temporary workers and visitors stay when they don't have a place of their own? Plus, it's the 1700's and the 13 colonies in the US are in rebellion against Britain. Paul talks about why an American army invaded Canada - their neighbours to the north - in 1775 tryi...

This week, Kate was looking through archived back issues of the Echo newspaper - and went down a rabbit hole again. This time it's about milestones in the of one Haliburton County man. Plus, Paul talks about the unbelievable conditions that early Arctic explorers faced in general, and specifically about the tragic expedition of one small flotilla led by Jens Munk in 1619-20. Kate Butler is the Dir...

This week, Kate talks about how summer is special and how a couple of Haliburton County traditional summer events were just the thing to lift winter-weary spirits. Plus, Paul brings a sad story from the months leading up to WW2 when a ship-load of 937 German-Jewish refugees sailed across the Atlantic in the MV St Louis to a hoped-for sanctuary in North America, only to be turned away - including b...

This week, Kate talks about an event that was momentous enough in Haliburton County to qualify for a local-only public holiday. It was something significant for any small pioneer community. Plus, Paul talks about the deadly collapse of the Turtle Mountain mountain rock face onto the community of Frank, Alberta, inundating parts of the town causing devastation and numerous deaths. Kate Butler is th...

This week, Kate completes the story of Maria Gilmore who came to Haliburton County from Ireland in the 1870's to join her estranged father. It's a story of a resourceful pioneer woman who learned to cope with very difficult circumstances. Plus, from the 1870's until the turn of the century was the 'Gilded Age' of industrial and economic expansion. A few elite did extremely well through often ruthl...

This week, in the 1860's Haliburton County didn't have electricity or indoor plumbing so how the heck do you make a garden fountain work? Plus, the Canadian army's contribution at the start of WW2 was still small, so what might be a small symbolic way to support the war effort. The answer seemed to be to send just under 2,000 soldiers to help defend Britain's colony of Hong Kong. There wasn't a wa...

This week, Kate talks about Haliburton village's annual tradition of guessing what day winter's ice would finally disappear from Head Lake. But when did the tradition start? Plus, Paul talks about Newfoundland's Indigenous people - the Beothuk - and the sad disappearance of the Beothuks starting with the arrival of Europeans in the late 1400's. And the story of Shawnadithit who's been called the l...

This week, Kate talks about how it wasn't always a one-way trip for pioneers in the late 1800's - it could be a two-way trip, or even back or forth several times for different reasons. And it wasn't often an easy trip, so why do it? Plus, Paul talks about Edward P. Doherty, a Canadian who enlisted in the US Civil War and at war's end was assigned to lead the hunt to track down US President Abraham...

This week, Kate talks about the Haliburton County of Tory Hill in 1914 and negotiations with the Ministry of Militia and Defence to purchase a local facility as a drill hall. Unknown to all concerned WW1 was just around the corner, which likely would have made a huge difference in the negotiations. Plus Paul talks about the riches to rags tale of Francis (Ratz) Rattenbury - an outstanding architec...

This week, Kate talks about Burleigh Wallace. Burleigh was a Haliburton County resident who was inspired to write poetry about local daily life and inadvertently ended up writing stories that gives us an historical perspective of the times. Plus, Paul talks about John Fauquier who was Canada's most highly decorated and successful WW2 bomber pilot including tours of duty commanding and flying with...

Last week Kate talked about pioneer women in Haliburton County in general. This week, Kate talks specifically about one woman - Isabella Hutchings. Plus Paul talks about the terrible impact of famine caused by the potato blight in the mid-1800's on the Irish. Millions emigrated with many coming to Canada. Unfortunately, many died enroute and there were many orphans as a result. Here's the story of...

This week, Kate recognizes International Women's Day and talks - broadly - about what lifestyle changes must have been like for pioneer women emigrating to a rural community like Haliburton County. Plus, Paul takes us back to Quebec in the mid-1800's and the integration of church and state at the time. The Guibord Affair was one of the first indications that the relationship was about to change wi...

This week, Kate talks about the tragic - but ultimately heartwarming - story of young Alice and Bill Smith who were orphaned twice in the late 1800's, and how the community responded to look after them. Plus Paul talks about what historian and journalist Peter C Newman called 'the greatest Arctic sea battle in North American history' - the Battle of Hudson's Bay. Kate Butler is the Director of the...

This week, Kate talks about dentistry in the early decades of the 1900's in the Haliburton Highlands. You have a terrible toothache - what do you do? Maybe wait for the travelling dentist who comes around twice a year? Or maybe take matters into your own hands. Plus, Paul talks about the the origins of Canada's Redpath family.....and the 1901 Redpath Mansion Murder Mystery - one of Canada's most n...