Time Warp

This week, tells the story of making the most of winter in the Highlands and how in the 1960's and 70's there was a huge winter festival, including the festival's mascot - ToquePic. Plus, Canadians tend to downplay our history and it often seems to pale when compared to our colleagues from south of the border in the US. It may surprise our listeners to hear that Canada had its share of great train...

This week, Kate has the story of the Golden Slipper Dance Hall just outside Haliburton Village from the mid-1930's to the late 1970's. It was a happening place with live music and open late 7-days a week. Plus, Paul has a brief history of bodysnatching in Canada in the 1800's. There was a catch-22 at the time. Medical students were required to do dissections of cadavers in order to learn to be sur...

This week, as Kate explains, a momentous event happened on November 26, 1878 - the building of the railway finally reached its destination - Haliburton village. But it seemed to take forever to actually get there and anticipation had been building for a couple of years. So here's some of the behind-the-scenes happening. Plus, Paul has the story of the day in Sptember in 1925 when a huge crowd atte...

This week, Kate talks about Winnipeg Fever in Haliburton County. In the 1870's and 1890's many local settlers found that trying to farm in the area was difficult with thin top soil that wore out quickly. Once the railroad came to Haliburton people had more mobility and an exodus started for greener pastures and land grants out west. Plus, WW1 was a new experience for Canadians on the home front wh...

This week, Halloween is 2 weeks out so Kate has brought a preview with an 1870 Highlands Halloween story. Plus, Paul has the tale of George McCullagh . In the 1930's and 40's George was Canada's first media mogul who was hugely influential with politicians, in the sports nworld, and in publishing with 3 major Toronto newspapers in his portfolio. Yet you've probably never heard of George. He had a...

It's Women's History Month! So, Kate brings a story about how women contributed to the betterment of the Haliburton County community in the early 1900's through the Women's Institute. Plus, Paul tells the tangled tale of John Colborne - Lieutenent General of Upper Canada in the 1830's, the Family Compact, festering frustration and grievances, and the rebellions that resulted in Upper and Lower Can...

This week, Kate has the story of a teacher in a one-room, multiple grade, pioneer era school. It wasn't always easy. Plus, Paul has the story anti-semitism in Lower Canada (Quebec) in the early 1800's and The Hart Affair. Ezekial Hart was a successful businessman who developed a passion for politics and won a provincial legislative seat in a Trois-Riviere election - twice. The legislature refused...

This week, Kate tells the tale of Samuel Peck - a United Empire Loyalist who settled near Minden in Haliburton County and was an early community leader. Plus Paul has the fascinating story of Gerald Bull - a brilliant engineer during a time of leading edge aeronautical research in Canada It's also a story of international intrigue; assasination; and maybe even a hint of a James Bond villain. Kate...

This week, Kate describes the long tedious trip for early settlers to journey to their new homes in Haliburton County. Plus, Paul has the story of the American Convention of Colored Freemen held at Toronto's St Lawrence Hall in September 1851. It was an opportunity for North American Black and White leaders to gather and discuss issues facing free and escaped Blacks from the US. Canada was a safe...

This week, Kate delves into the pages of the Echo newspaper and Marjorie Clark's column where she shares her reminisces of life as a child in 1890's Hakliburton County. Plus Paul tells the story of Peter Easton - a privateer then a pirate who was active off the east coast of Canada in the early 1600's. Peter was arguably the most successful pirate of all time, and who retired to a life of leisure...

This week, Kate tells the tale of the 1910 Haliburton Hockey Ball clebrating a toournament win by the local heroes. Plus. Paul has the story of Edwin Baker who was blinded by a sniper in WW1's trenches, but who overcame his personal adversity to become a world-renowned advocate working on behalf of the visually impaired. Edwin became a co-founder and long-time Managing Director for the Canadian Na...

This week, Kate delves into some of the changes students faced returning to school in 1949's Haliburton County. Plus Paul tells the story of late 1800's-early 1900's architect EJ Lennox and the over 70 iconic buildings he designed in and around Victorian Toronto. Today's tale Includes the drama, disputes and revenge centred around one of those buildings - what's known today as Old City Hall. Oh ye...

This week, in 1918 the small community of Wilberforce in Haliburton County wanted a church. They came up a simple solution - repurpose an already existing building. A huge challange came up a short time later - moving the 2-story church to a new loaction. Plus, the story of John Murray - who became Ontario's first Provincial Detective. His sensational cases, innovative investigative techniques and...

This week, Kate talks about Haliburton businessman and character Frederick Freeman that ran a store in Haliburton village for 69 years. Plus Paul reminsces about an earlier romantic and nostalgic time before mechanization when horses were everywehere - for better and worse. Including the main focus for today, fire-horses. Kate Butler is the Director of the Haliburton Highlands Museum. Paul Vorvis...

This week, Kate tells the tale of landscaping problems that happen when cows roam free in early Haliburton County. It caused problems similar to what you get with deer these days. Plus Paul talks about early Canadian automobile inventions in the late 1800's including a steam driven buggy, a hybrid gas/steam vehicle, and a battery operated car. To wrap it up there's the depression era Bennet Buggy...

This week, Kate brings a tale of the macho culture in late 1800's lumber camps. Plus Paul has the story of Black veterans of the Revolutionary War who fought for Britain then migrated to Canada to take advantage of freedom and land grants. There were also Black slaves who had accompanied Loyalists who fled to Canada. Well, when the War of 1812 broke out these individuals were concerned about an Am...

This week, Kate takes a look at alcohol in Haliburton County during Prohibition. Plus, Paul tells the story of Canada's Merchant Marine during WW1 and WW2. The Merchant Marine was a fleet of ships owned by the Canadian government and was an unofficial branch of the Armed Forces. The merchantb sailors were constantly exposed to danger as they helped keep the Allies in the war in Europe, and deliver...

This week, Kate points out that summer has officially started, as has cottage and camping season. What better than a story that could be told around a campfire? Plus, Paul has the story of Montreal's Louise Armaindo - trapeze artist, circus strongwoman, marathon walking competitor, and professional high-wheel (penny farthing) bike racer in the late 1800's. Louise has been described as the greatest...

This week, Kate talks about an early account from 1870's Haliburton County from the diary of a teenager on what life was like in pioneer rural Ontario. Plus, Paul has the story of the late 1700's connections between the British colony of Newfoundland and Ireland, and the 1800 United Irish Uprising in Newfoundland. Kate Butler is the Director of the Haliburton Highlands Museum. Paul Vorvis is the h...

This week, Kate delves into the pages of the Haliburton Echo from July 30, 1953 to bring us stories about the local efforts of the Rotary Club. Plus, Paul talks about the Constitution Act of 1791 - one of the steps in the long evolution of Canada from being a colony to an independent country. Under the Constitution Act Britain split the former colony of New France into Upper and Lower Canada. The...

This week, Kate tells us the story of the Canadian Land & Immigration Company's promise to provide early settlers with certain amenities to ease their transition. One of those was the Company Store. Plus, on the 80th Anniversary of D-Day (as of today's recording), Paul recounts how a scrapy army of young largely untested Canadian soldiers were assigned a significant role to invade Normandy on...

This week, Kate talks about the Freeman family who came from Leeds, England to the Haliburton area. They brought with them little social graces that brought a taste of home for the pioneer family. Plus, Paul tells the story of how cynical eugenics started to promote birth control in Canada in the early 1900's. On the other hand was Dorothea Palmer. She was an altruistic social worker who was couns...

This week, Kate talks about the origins of the Victoria Day long weekend and why the traditional first long weekend of summer doesn't necessarily fall on her actual birthday any longer. Plus. we've done a series of episodes on how a few battles in New France over a couple of years near the end of the Seven Year's War radically shaped today's Canada from a French to an english colony. Today's episo...

This week, Kate brings the story of a depression era relief project that helped families survive by providing work, but also opened the Haliburton Highlands further to tourism and cottaging. Plus, Paul has the story of Winnipeg entrepreneur and proud Canadian Philip Kives who created the iconic K-Tel company that hawked dozens of items ranging from kitchen products to compilation record albums. K-...

This week, Kate talks about the Leatherby family that settled in Haliburton County in 1867 and uses them as an example of how families had to diversify to make ends meet. Plus, Paul talks about the Battle of Sainte-Foy. Sainte-Foy took place pretty much on the grounds where the Battle of the Plains of Abraham had taken place just months earlier. but this time the roles were reversed. The British h...