Historical Society of South Dundas adding Digital Archive

Get ready to take in some great toe-tapping, hand-clapping good times at Iroquois Point this weekend. The annual Bluegrass Festival, sponsored by the Galop Canal Committee, is running June 18-21 at 6020 Carman Road. This year, the Festival is even bigger and better.

Four days of music provided by outstanding live bands, will thrill dedicated bluegrass fans, and win new fans to the genre. And this year, there’s a special session, Friday, June 19, 2 to 5 p.m. only, of country music, featuring Ralph and Brenda Country. 

Following the Festival opening ceremonies at 5:45 p.m., held at the Lions Bandshell, audiences can just sit back and enjoy some outstanding bluegrass for the rest of the weekend.

 “We already have reservations for 200 campers right on the site,” said Geraldine Fitzsimmons, manager of the South Dundas Chamber of Commerce. “The chair of the Galop Canal Bluegrass Festival, Joey Vankoppen, and his team of dedicated volunteers, have been working a lot of hard hours to make this Festival a runaway success. And we have a great musical line-up for audiences, due in large measure to the efforts of Melissa Sherman, who helped put the band line-up together. And the word is definitely out there, since our advance sales are really good this year. I know that people simply love this South Dundas area.”

The bands featured this year are Grassy Fiddle Time, County Road 5, Maple Hill, County Road 44, Hard Ryde, Monroe Sisters, Barrel Boys, Canucky Bluegrass Boys, Georgian Blue and the Schotts. 

Not only will people be able to enjoy the best of Bluegrass performances, the Festival also offers free workshops to those interested in learning more about playing traditional bluegrass. On Saturday, June 20, members of the band, Hard Ryde, will be offering an 11 a.m. mandolin workshop, a 12 noon banjo workshop and a 1 p.m. guitar workshop. All participants need is an interest and an instrument. All ages are welcome from novices to experienced players.

And there will be plenty of good eating all weekend to go along with the fun and music. The Iroquois Legion is offering a delicious breakfast on Saturday morning: tickets will also be on sale (reserve in advance with Barb Rabideau at 613-543-3114) for a Legion steak supper Saturday night. Halees at the Point will also be open for the entire Festival. Watch for interesting vendors on site as well. 

In between acts, on Saturday, visitors to the Festival can also enjoy viewing some special cars, antique, muscle and modern, right on site with the members of the Golden Gears Car Club. “This is simply going to add to the interest and to the excitement of the weekend,” said Fitzsimmons. 

Events like the Bluegrass Festival bring many visitors to the South Dundas area, helping to boost the local economy. “We are certainly very grateful for the sponsorship we have received,” Gerri Fitzsimmons said, “but since the Festival impacts the entire municipality, we hope to work more closely with the municipality in the future. Funds raised will go back into developing the Bluegrass Festival into one of the biggest festivals of its type in Canada.”

Passes for part or all of the weekend events, and additional information, are available by contacting galopcanalbluegrassfestival@gmail.com. There’s something for everyone at the Iroquois Point Bluegrass Festival June 18-21: come out and enjoy four great days.

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“This topic deals with my favourite topic, hewing. To that end I am asking those that can square timber by hand the ‘old’ way to drop by for a chat,” wrote ‘Northern Hewer’ on the Timber Framing Guild website’s forum.

Richard Casselman, otherwise known as ‘Northern Hewer’ first started this thread about four years ago. Since that time over 500,000 interested people have visited the site, proving that interest in the historic art of hewing is still alive and well in the world.

“It does seem to me that there is much interest in the preservation of the old ways and methods,” said Casselman, a long time resident of the area. He was introduced to timber framing by his father, Ross, many years ago. 

Interestingly, both men were previously employed by Upper Canada Village (UCV). According to Richard, his father “was in charge of the restoration of many of the log and timber frame structures at Upper Canada Village during the time frame 1958 to 1961. These structures include the Saw Mill, the Woolen Mill, both Craft houses, the Fort, the Cheese Factory, the Bakery, both Dutch barns” and more.

As for Richard himself, he “was involved in maintaining these structures and in overseeing the addition of the Grist Mill, two Drive sheds, one three-bay English barn, the Tin Shop, the Smoke House, and the Harvest Barn.”

Richard worked at UCV for approximately 30 years before he finally retired.  “During my tenure at UCV, I was very fortunate to have been chosen to work closely with many great artisans. My group put together yearly and daily events that not only showed the old techniques but, in the process, we managed to bring to life many types and styles of the early building and construction styles that were disappearing in this area, thereby preserving them for future generations.”

To call him a timber framing enthusiast would be an understatement. Richard Casselman is passionately devoted to preserving local heritage, especially with respect to structures and buildings.

“Since retirement, I have tried to carry on helping and showing many people the old ways, both on the Internet and locally. I take great pride in striving to retain heritage buildings in this area,” he said. As an example, he pointed to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Morrisburg. The Church, he said, was built in 1875 and “exhibits, on its exterior facade, hand made bricks of various colours set in lime mortar and, on the interior, the original paint graining on the pews (as well as) the plastered walls set on wood lathes with nicely rounded ceiling edges to enhance the sound distribution.”

As for Casselman’s forum thread, he said he “mainly talks about historic woodworking, hewing, timber framing, and, at times, strays away to other historic subjects.” He admits that he likes to talk about “life in the days gone.” People are interested, he believes, because “it’s not coming from a book; it’s coming from a person. I’ve lived that transition. I’ve seen both sides of the equation,” he said. Here, Casselman referred to his early days, before modern inventions and technology, when, for instance, people “hunkered down” for winter. 

“There is a real interest out there for true historic talk and displays,” said Casselman. “There’s an awfully big movement in the States and in Europe, too, to learn the old ways again.”

Through the forum thread, “I have been asked on many occasions to solve problems that deal with the old trades, especially historic timber framing, but discussions might lead into other associated topics like historic millwrighting, paint graining, and water and steam powered mills,” said Casselman. “The interest in this site shows that public support and interest is there to retain and reconstruct examples of our heritage that we are losing.”

“I hope that we can retain our local historic structures as well as other out buildings like the only surviving swing beam barn that remains in this area. There were two about 20 years ago, (but) now only one remains. With its demise, we will lose a great part of our heritage for future generations.”

Richard continues trying to preserve the old techniques at home and on the Internet. His thread on timber framing is still going strong with an average of 2,000 views per day.

Forums and Threads

“A Web forum is a website or section of a website that allows visitors to communicate with each other by posting messages. Most forums allow anonymous visitors to view forum postings, but require you to create an account in order to post messages in the forum. When posting in a forum, you can create new topics (or “threads”) or post replies within existing threads.” (www.techterms.com)

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Dr. Paul Simoncic joined the St. Lawrence Medical Clinic Group this month.

The McGill educated doctor will work out of the Morrisburg office three days a week, the Ingleside office two days a week and has a regular rotation at the Winchester District Memorial Hospital.

Simoncic, who has lived his whole life in Toronto and then Montreal, was looking to come back to Ontario to practise family medicine. He said that he is a little older than most new doctors because he first completed his Ph.D. at McGill in Biochemistry and Immunology, and worked in the research field for a couple of years before going to medical school. 

It was during his time in research that he worked with a rheumatologist who sparked Simoncic’s interest in medicine. So, he decided to go back to McGill for medical school. 

Simoncic did a couple of rotations at Montreal hospitals, which he enjoyed. But, what he enjoyed most was his time at a small rural hospital, Cotes des Neiges, in Quebec. 

“I wanted to come back to Ontario and I wanted to work in a smaller community,” said Simoncic. “I really like the large variety of patients you get to see in a small community,” he said explaining that as a doctor here you see patients in the clinic, in the hospital and in long term care facilities.

“You really get to build relationships with your patients as you follow them through the years,” said Simoncic. “When we talk about continuity of care, this is it.”

“I really like that we are so close to major centres like Ottawa here,” said Simoncic. “That’s really good for referrals.”

When Simoncic started looking for a practice to join he met with Doctors Coolican and Domanko and learned about the SLMC and the communities it serves through them. He visited several places but decided on the St. Lawrence Medical Clinic. His first visit here was in February and this month the joined the SLMC group.

“This place had all the characteristics I was looking for,” said Simoncic. “I really like that it’s on the river, has such a relaxed lifestyle, offers all kinds of unique and outdoor activities and is close to all the major centres.” He plans to move into the area once he is settled into the practice.

Of the SLMC Group, Simoncic says that all the other doctors have been very supportive and welcoming. “It’s great as a new doctor to be part of a group. There’s always advice available close by to ensure that patients receive the best care possible in a timely manner.”

Simoncic. who is 38 years old, has a great interest in emergency at the hospital, and said that the Winchester District Memorial Hospital is beautiful and provides a great environment with wonderful personalized care that results in a great level of patient satisfaction. 

Simoncic is accepting new patients.

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