Bancroft - North Hastings Heritage Museum

06/21/2026

This will probably be our last post on this platform for a while.
To start with, the Mastodon is now available at Mack Attack Outdoors, For The Halibut Fish & Chips*(they have a copy you can read on display), the Bancroft - North Hastings Heritage Museum, with a thousand more copies soon on the way to be distributed in more locations. We'll update this post with new locations as they come. The Mastodon will be published quarterly, with a few special editions being more or less "permanent" (these special editions will be short guides to local areas of interest).
I want to thank you all for your kindness and support. This coffee paper will be the main way you will hear from us from now on until the book is ready. Of course if you want to reach us or if you have any questions or concerns you can always send us an email. But for now, back to work...

06/14/2026

06/11/2026

St. Paul’s Annual Plant & Yard Sale is back this Saturday in Bancroft!

Stop by St. Paul’s United Church on Saturday, June 13 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for perennials, annuals, tools, collectibles, and plenty of donated treasures from the church and community.

You’ll find it outside the church and in the church hall at 1 Hastings Street. Show up early for the best selection!

06/09/2026

60th Anniversary Calendars are now available at the Museum. They are filled with 18 months of local history in photo form. Also available at MacDougall Insurance, Bancroft BMR PRO, Posies’s Flowers and Fashion, Card’s Rona Bancroft, Country North Quilt Shoppe, Old Hastings Mercantile and Gallery in Ormsby, Lavender Family Maple Goodness, The Clear Water Shop.
A huge thank you to all our local businesses for their support.

06/07/2026

We recently framed the inaugural issue of The Mastodon, Bancroft’s natural history newsletter, and hung it here at For the Halibut.
Most people come here for the halibut. Some come for the poutine. A select few may now leave knowing about smallmouth bass, loons, sodalite, and the natural history of North Hastings. We consider that a bonus.
These displays are a small tribute to The Natural History of North Hastings, a local group doing some pretty incredible work preserving and sharing the stories of our backyard. From wildlife and geology to local history, they’re helping all of us understand what makes this area so special.
If you’re waiting for your order, take a few minutes to have a look. You might learn something new. If nothing else, you’ll have something to read while pretending you’re not eyeing the fresh fish coming out of the fryer. 👀🐟
Give The Natural History of North Hastings a follow and check out what they’re doing. In a world full of doom-scrolling, learning something interesting about where you live is a pretty good alternative.
Thanks for all you do for our community. ❤️

06/01/2026

The Anniversary 18 month Calendars are in. You can pick one up at Museum and at the following locations: The Old Hastings Mercantile & Gallery in Ormsby, and in town at The Clear Water Shop, McDougall Insurance, Posies Flowers and Fashion, Rona Bancroft, Bancroft BMR PRO, and Country North Quilt Shoppe. A special THANK YOU to all the businesses that supported the Bancroft NH Heritage Museum with the printing of this anniversary calendar.

05/25/2026

The 2026/2027 60th Anniversary Calendar has arrived. Available at the museum. Drop in and pick up a copy or two.
Museum now open Tues to Friday 10 to 4.

05/24/2026

Did you know that the Bancroft Gem & Mineral Museum is located in an old train station?

The building, now housing the Town of Bancroft Municipal office and Gem & Mineral Museum, used to be Bancroft’s train station. It was built in 1899 and was a stop on the Central Ontario Railway (or COR) when the first train arrived in Bancroft in 1900 (1). There is a model of this train at the entrance to the museum. It was made by Jim Smith and added to the museum in 2000.

Source:
(1) Town of Bancroft. (n.d.). Historical. https://bancroft.hosted.civiclive.com/visiting/about_bancroft/historical.