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Museum's new panel installation shares stories of area history

The Museum on the Boyne is situated in Alliston and serves the communities of New Tecumseth, Essa, Adjala-Tosorontio, Bradford West Gwillimbury and Innisfil

The Museum on the Boyne is situated in Alliston and serves the communities of New Tecumseth, Essa, Adjala-Tosorontio, Bradford West Gwillimbury and Innisfil. It recently received a Simcoe County Tourism, Culture and Sport Enhancement Fund grant to create information panels to explain the significance of the structures on the property.

Panels are in place for the main building, the log house and the barn. Panels for the horse trough, the metal jail and for the new reflection garden will come later.

The focus of the museum is on settler history. In an attempt to become better allies with Indigenous peoples and make everyday life better for them, the museum applied funds from a Platinum Jubilee grant to create a reflection garden in a medicine wheel form that incorporates indigenous plants and traditional English garden plants. The plaque will include a land acknowledgement and reference to the initial treaties with the Crown.

The large swing beam barn on the property was originally built on the Jeffery farm in Bond Head in 1858. Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor Rob Keffer has owned the Jeffery property for some time and donated the barn to the museum in 1991.

Keffer explained to BradfordToday that he had two old barns end to end on the property and wasn’t using either of them. The north barn had a large swing beam.

He called Rudy Wiederer to assess them and give him options, as he was familiar with old barns and had the expertise to repair them. Wiederer was impressed with such a large swing beam and knew the museum, then called the South Simcoe Pioneer Museum, was looking for a barn for storage and as an exhibit to celebrate Alliston’s centennial. Keffer agreed to donate the building.

Wiederer was hired by the centennial committee to do the work of dismantling and rebuilding with the help of volunteers. Keffer explained that Wiederer dismantled both barns using ‘primitive’ tools and rebuilt the large one using the best boards from the two. The inside of the barn is held together with wooden pegs and hand-forged nails secure the outside boards.

Katie Huddleston, supervisor, culture at the Museum on the Boyne said the barn was built entirely with white pine at the time the British were building their ships out of white pine. “So, it was actually illegal for people to use it in their personal construction. Should someone have come along, they could have been jailed.”

The inside of the barn is used for storage and is not open to the public now. Huddleston is hopeful that the money the museum has reserved for the barn can be increased and that work on the interior of the barn to create an exhibit space can take place next year. She added, “There's the potential of making it a multipurpose space. We've had interest for people to rent it out for weddings and other events.”

The museum intends to add the barn to the Simcoe County Tourism Barn Quilt Trail. This initiative was originally conceived of by the County of Simcoe and the Simcoe County Federation of Agriculture, with the original idea to celebrate Canada's Sesquicentennial, the 150th Anniversary of Canada's Confederation. Adding the Jeffrey barn seems fitting.

The Museum on the Boyne encourages family visits. It sits next to the treed Riverdale Park that hosts a large new play structure. More open area, a splash pad and picnic tables are across the street. The museum itself has some child-friendly exhibits, activities, and a scavenger hunt.

Anyone interested in donating to The Museum on the Boyne, or specifically to the reserve for the barn improvements is welcome to contact the museum.

www.newtecumseth.ca

250 Fletcher Crescent, Alliston

705-435-4030 ext. 1802

There is no fee for entry and a donation is welcome.

Rosaleen Egan is a freelance journalist, storyteller, and playwright. She blogs on her website rosiewrites.com