Country roads

When Oxford-on-Rideau was first surveyed in 1791, a grid pattern was used to divide the land into concessions and lots. That sounds simple, doesn’t...

Larry and Anstace Esmonde-White

Long before the current interest in local food initiatives, two residents of North Grenville were spreading the word on television across North America and...

The Great Coalition

The politicians and the people of the United Province of Canada looked with something close to despair at the apparently hopeless state of affairs...

Heritage – Oxford Mills

Oxford Mills is a place that was nearly the main centre of Oxford-on-Rideau, then became the main centre, and then lost its position as...

The Settlement that passed us by: part 6 The importance of the Military Settlement...

The importance of the Military Settlement project between 1815 and 1820 cannot be exaggerated. Although the actual numbers of those who settled in Leeds...

Bishop’s Mills

It could have been called Doyleville, or even Bassville, but the hamlet of Bishop’s Mills was eventually named after the family that built the...
Ferguson Forest Centre

How the Ferguson Forest Centre was saved

The announcement, when it came, was like a bolt from the blue, bringing shock and dismay to the residents of North Grenville. Of course,...

Local newspapers of the past

A viable local newspaper only really became possible with the advent of the telegraph from the 1840's, and the development of good roads and...

The man who made Ontario

For twenty-five years after Britain took possession of New France, they had faced continual challenges in administering the new Province of Quebec. Finding themselves...

Orlando Bush: Genesis and Exodus

In the last years of the Nineteenth Century, a strange exodus took place, residents of Kemptville and surrounding area moved in large numbers to...