Heritage Farm Show

Join us for the annual Heritage Farm Show on Labour Day Weekend at the Backus-Page House.

Demonstrations over the two day event include threshing, baling, working farm horses and historic farming interpretive displays. There will be an open horseshoe competition with cash prizes on Saturday. Interested parties are advised to register early as only the first 24 entries will be accepted to compete. Teams are recommended and admission and registration fees apply.
A special addition to the show this year is the rare opportunity to tour the nearby Pearce Homestead recently purchased and restored by Cathy and Gary Jewel. The house was built by the Pearce family in the late 1800s and illustrates a distinct historic era within the community.
On Sunday the pancake breakfast starts at 9 am, gates open for the show at 10 am and there's a church service at 11 am on the lawn of the museum. If you weren't able to stop by the Backus-Page House Museum on Canada Parks Day to see licensed trapper Greg Balch and his impressive display, be sure to visit us on Sunday afternoon when Greg will return for an encore presentation. If you have a question about contemporary trapping, the history of the fur trade or you'd just like to pet a stuffed beaver...this display should be on your must see list!
A tremendous amount of work has gone into the restoration of the St Peters Rectory barn (moved to the site in 2005) and visitors to this year’s Heritage Farm Show can finally appreciate the fruits of that labour as the second floor display area will be open to the public. There are a broad variety of implements to be viewed for those who enjoy history, agriculture and changes in technology.
While on site don’t forget to tour the Backus-Page House Museum where costumed interpreters will be available to take visitors on a trip back through time to the year 1850. Exhibits currently running are the Anna (Backus) Docker and Edna Simpson Early Textile Collection and the Wallacetown United Ladies Aide Signature Quilt. The quilt will soon join other Elgin County community quilts to form the Community Patterns Exhibition at the ECM. Visitors are encouraged to take the opportunity to sign the memory book if they recollect a quilt signature and become part of history themselves.
A BBQ lunch will be available on both days. There's a daily candy scavenger hunt and hands on activities for children. Live entertainment will compliment the weekend event and guests can have a bite to eat, take in the sights and learn a little about farming history while enjoying the musical stylings of Bill Graham and Friends. You'll find good food, good friends and lots of fun at the Backus-Page House Annual Heritage Farm Show.

The Heritage Farm Show is presented by the Tyrconnell Heritage Society. For more information about the Heritage Farm Show, the Backus-Page House Museum, the John E. Pearce Provincial Park or Tyrconnell Heritage Society please call the Carriage House Office at 519-762-3072.

Get Your Backus-Page House Polo Shirts

They're comforatble and fashionable...contact the Carriage House at 519-762-3072 to order yours today!*

*Price does not include shipping and handling.

Canada Parks Day

Art in the Park

The Thames River Watershed: A Heritage Landscape Guide- Book Release

Paper Trail

Since its inception in the early 1990s the Tyrconnell Heritage Society has gone through many changes. With the passage of 16 years from the moment the concept was first envisioned many of the original founding members have retired or moved on. Locked within the experience and memories of those individuals is a wealth of information about the Backus Page House site, the organization and the area itself. The opportunity exists to access information from a small number of those founding members who remain in the community while a portion of that information is gone forever. A glimpse into yesterday can be found, on occasion, hidden in the extensive paper work accumulated through the operation and administration of the society business. The current administration is working to compile a complete source of board meeting minutes and have been reasonably successful in doing so. One item of interest that has come to light is a log book kept by A. L. Paterson. The entries are brief but act to give the reader a clear glimpse into the birth pangs of the THS. The first entry in the handwritten notebook reads thusly:

“March 28, 1993- At a meeting of the W.E.G. & Historical Society it was brought up that the Ministry of Natural Resources was considering disposing of Morley Page house in Dunwich Twp. D.C. Mckillop & Don carol were asked to write to the Ministry expressing the opinion of the group. DCM. wrote and submitted a 7 page report.”

Moving further into the notebook another entry notes some progress:

“Wed July 28
Meeting held at Wallacetown Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Several persons were phoned and invited to be present.
14 present
-get acquainted, discussion on how to proceed.”

Later on that year it can be seen that the foundation for the Society was being laid in place:

“Thurs. Nov.18. 7:30 p.m.
Meeting at Wallacetown Hall.
18 persons present
- meeting chaired by DC. McKillop
- decision to ask for rent- free use of hall for meetings
adopted name of Tyrconnell Heritage Centre
-next meetings will be Dec 9, 1993 and Jan 13, 1994 (second Thursday)
-nominating committee named
D.C. McKillop, Anne Lilley, Alice P to bring slate of officers to Jan. mtg.
-Alice to send account of meeting to local newspapers and insert notice of next mtg in paper. “

The last entry for the year is as follows:

“Thursday Dec 9,1993.
Meeting at Wallacetown Hall
-Speaker Henry Valks of Min of Nat resources
-encouraging re our proposal
-would probably give house & 5 acres of land.”

Following entries in the notebook show that 1994 was a very busy year with community members meeting regularly to work out the details of how the organization should proceed. Correspondence and records indicate that in June of 1994 the Tyrconnell Heritage Society became an incorporated nonprofit organization as an affiliate of the Ontario Historical Society. With its incorporation in place the Society was ready to take the next step in fulfilling its mission to restore and preserve the Backus-Page House and the grounds situated in the heart of the Talbot Settlement.

Flat Thomas in Tamarindo, Costa Rica

Flat Thomas Talbot has recently been spotted down beach side in Central America. Flat Thomas accompanied Martin and Magda Harding to Tamarindo, on Costa Rica's Pacific Coast. According to the Hardings "This was his first day, so he hadn't acquired a tan yet"!
According to Wikipedia, the first European to reach Costa Rica was Christopher Columbus in 1502. Costa Rica declared its independence from Spain in 1821. By 1821, Thomas Talbot had managed to acquire more than 65,000 acres for himself , referred to by some as his "palatinate or princely domain", in the townships of Dunwich and Aldborough.