Grey Highlands Museum

10/14/2026

The Grey Highlands Public Library is looking for your support.

Our community has an incredible history, filled with fascinating people, remarkable places, and stories that deserve to be shared with future generations. Now, we have an exciting opportunity to bring those stories to life in a whole new way!

Connecting Culture is an innovative project that would introduce interactive touchscreen experiences throughout Grey Highlands Public Library facilities, giving residents and visitors an engaging new way to discover the photographs, memories, voices, and stories that make our community so special.

But to turn this vision into reality, they need our support!

The project is seeking funding through The Commonwell's L.E.A.F. initiative, and demonstrating strong community interest is an important part of making their case.
Please take a moment to visit the link below, learn more about Connecting Culture, and leave a comment expressing your support. It only takes a few minutes, but your encouragement could make a meaningful difference.

Learn more and show your support here:

https://leaf.thecommonwell.ca/projects/connecting-culture/

Every voice matters. Please share this post and help The Grey Highlands Public Library spread the word!

Connecting Culture will create a network of touchscreen stations that provide residents and visitors with interactive access to local history, heritage and culture.

10/12/2026

Museum Monday

As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend, today’s Museum Monday takes us back 105 years to a Thanksgiving greeting sent to a farm family in Ceylon.

This wonderfully colourful Thanksgiving card is part of the Grey Highlands Museum’s Purdy family collection. Mailed in 1921 and addressed simply to “Mrs. E. Purdy, Ceylon,” its recipient was Rebecca Purdy.

Rebecca Stone married Edward Purdy in 1894. Edward had come to Canada from Wayne, Michigan, in 1874, while Rebecca was the daughter of William Stone, an early settler on the 4th Line. Following their marriage, Edward and Rebecca settled on part of the Stone family property, where they farmed and raised their son, Russel Frost Purdy. Edward also worked for the CPR in Ceylon.

More than a century later, this little card survives as a wonderfully personal connection to a Ceylon family and to a Thanksgiving celebrated long ago.
The cards may have changed, and thankfully Thanksgiving turkeys are no longer expected to pull pumpkin carts, but the sentiment remains much the same: a chance to reach out to family and friends and let them know we're thinking of them.

From all of us at the Grey Highlands Museum, Happy Thanksgiving!

Reminder:

The museum will be open this Thanksgiving (Monday, October, 12, 2026) from 12:00 - 4:00. Come experience the history and heritage of Grey Highlands.

10/09/2026

Reminder:

The Grey Highlands Museum will be open on Thanksgiving Day - Monday, October 12th, 2026 from 12:00 - 4:00pm.

To celebrate the day we’ll be offering guests a 10% discount on our best selling 4oz Soy Candles, handcrafted by our friends at Serendipity Candles in Heathcote. Each is designed to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the formation of Grey Highlands. From the stunning trails at Feversham Gorge, to the unique beauty of Eugenia Falls, each candle is scented to represent a piece of our breathtaking landscape.

If you can’t make it to the museum on Monday, come in today before 7:00pm and say “Happy Thanksgiving” for the same 10% discount! And if this post gains 50 likes, our candle sale will extend through Friday, October 16th!

Enjoy the upcoming long weekend with family and friends.

10/08/2026

Join us on Thursday, October 15, 2026 as acclaimed Canadian actor, producer and director Anthony Sherwood presents Honour Before Glory, his award-winning documentary exploring the remarkable story of Canada's only all-Black military unit during the First World War.

Presented by the Friends of the Museum as part of their 2026 Speakers Series, this special evening offers an opportunity to discover an important and often overlooked chapter of Canadian history.

7:00 pm | Annesley United Church, Markdale

Admission by freewill donation. Everyone welcome!

10/07/2026

Every second Wednesday for the rest of the year, we’ll be sharing a moment in Grey Highlands history, paired with a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork. Just as our shared history never truly breaks, our anniversary art will be created by a single, continuous line… pen never lifting from paper.

Each drawing will weave together familiar landmarks, quiet rural moments, and defining milestones from the past quarter century, forming a visual tapestry of Grey Highlands and the remarkable people who call it home.

Twenty-five stories. Twenty-five uninterrupted lines. One community, traced thoughtfully across time, and this week we’re featuring a place built for prayer and contemplation.

For nearly 160 years, St. James' Anglican Church has offered worship, fellowship, and comfort to the rural community of Fairmount.

The first church was built here in 1867. The present red-brick church followed in 1907 and has been a familiar landmark at the crossroads of Grey Roads 7 and 40 ever since. Generations have come through its doors to celebrate marriages and baptisms, to mourn loved ones, and to gather on Sunday mornings.

Small rural churches are about more than walls and steeples. They are places of friendship, memory, faith, and belonging.

10/06/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us last night at the Grey Highlands Museum for the opening of our newest exhibit, Stones, Brooms, and Belonging: The Markdale Curling Club and the Power of Community Sport.

It was wonderful to see such a great turnout. So many people come together to celebrate the history of curling in Markdale, and the important role community sport continues to play in bringing people together.

Last night also marked the FINAL CHANCE to enter our draw for a 2026–2027 one-day-a-week curling membership at the Markdale Curling Club. Today Club President Jeff Wilkinson drew one lucky name from the ballot box…

Congratulations to PAULETTE VANCE!

Paulette has won a one-day-a-week membership for the upcoming curling season, and we understand she may be upgrading her prize to a full membership before the season begins.

A huge thank you to everyone who entered the contest, to Jeff and the entire Markdale Curling Club for their support, and to everyone who helped us celebrate the opening last night.

If you weren't able to join us, there is still lots of time to see the exhibit. Stones, Brooms, and Belonging will remain on display in the main gallery of the Grey Highlands Museum throughout our 2026–2027 season.

Come discover more than a century of stones, brooms, friendships, competition, and community in Markdale.

10/06/2026

The Grey Highlands Museum will be open on Thanksgiving Monday from 12:00 - 4:00. Come celebrate the history and heritage of Grey Highlands, and the people who call it home.

Explore our newest exhibit “Stones, Brooms, and Belonging: The Markdale Curling Club and the Power of Community Sport” - now open in our main gallery.

As always, admission is free. Donations are warmly welcomed.

10/05/2026

Monday, October 5, 2026

Tonight is the night!

You are warmly invited to the opening of “Stones, Brooms, and Belonging: The Markdale Curling Club and the Power of Community Sport,” a new gallery display at the Grey Highlands Museum.

Explore artifacts currently on loan, meet members of the Markdale Curling Club, and fill out a ballot for your chance to win a free One-Day-a-Week curling membership for the 2026/2027 season.

If you’re a new curler or new to Grey Highlands, it’s the perfect opportunity to meet some new friends. If you’re a current curler or plan to play in Markdale this year, it’s a great chance to get your 2026/2027 membership for free!

The celebration starts at 6:00 tonight and runs until 7:30 p.m. Coffee and assorted treats will be on hand.

We hope to see you at the Grey Highlands Museum tonight!

10/05/2026

Museum Monday:

Malcolm MacDonald and his wife Jessie migrated to the Priceville area from Scotland's Isle of Mull in the mid-1850s. Malcolm was a skilled craftsman who showed off his work by building the family's beautiful stone cottage by hand.

The MacDonald clan was comprised of 5 sons, Dan, Sandy, John, Malcolm and Hector, and three daughters, Bella, Maggie and Mary. It appears that most of the family chose to stay in the area their entire lives, taking work as far away as Eugenia.

Their sons, Dan, Hector and John, all learned to play an instrument, with Hector (shown here) and Dan focusing on bagpipes in an homage to their Scottish roots. Both Hector and Dan won numerous trophies for their playing, giving them the unique opportunity to showcase their talent at the Chicago World’s Fair.

In this image we see Hector in full performance attire, posing for the camera inside his parents' Priceville living room circa 1890.

09/30/2026

We’re getting ready for something new!

The Grey Highlands Museum will be closed this Friday, October 2nd, as we put the finishing touches on our newest gallery display, Stones, Brooms, and Belonging: The Markdale Curling Club & the Power of Community Sport.

Join us Monday, October 5th from 6:00–7:30 p.m. for the official gallery opening!

Come explore the new exhibit, meet members of the Markdale Curling Club, talk curling, enjoy some coffee and snacks, and fill out a ballot for your chance to win a curling membership for the upcoming season.

We hope to see you there.