North Grenville Historical Society

03/25/2026

NEXT PUBLIC MEETING - 22 APRIL 2026

American eel (Tiawerón:ko) abundance has decreased over 99% in the rivers and streams of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa watershed over the past 50 years. Dr. Mary Ann Perron, Liber Ero Postdoctoral Fellow on the Research and Community Engagement team at the River Institute, in Cornwall, and Abraham Francis, a Mohawk from Akwesasane and Vice-President/Director of the Aronia Collective, will speak on this endangered species once plentiful in our waters and an important food source for indigenous peoples throughout history.

Meeting starts at 7:00 pm, 22 April, doors open at 6:30. All welcome. Refreshments.

03/11/2026

Hub closed today and Public Meeting tonight postponed due to unpredictable weather. We regret having to make this decision, but freezing rain is tricky..

03/03/2026

Once again this year, the Society will be participating in the Downtown BIA Bunny Hop. This year the craft will be assembling and decorating a traditional pinwheel. There will also be candy for the kids, of course. The event lasts from 10:00 am to 12:00, but we will be glad to see you anytime after 10:00 am while supplies last. See you then.

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02/27/2026

Public Meeting 11 March 2026

Dr. Forrest Pass, of Library and Archives Canada, will give a talk on John Condell. This local cabinetmaker also had a side gig inventing and making artificial limbs: he took out two Canadian patents in the 1850s and 1860s, won prizes at provincial exhibitions, and even engaged an agent in Montreal to market his prostheses there and in the United States. Eventually the side gig became his main occupation and he relocated to New York City, where he manufactured artificial arms and legs for maimed veterans of the American Civil War. His company passed to his son, Kemptville-born Archelaus, who kept it going into the 1920s. A neat convergence of craft and disability history, with some unusual asides.

The meeting will start at &:00 pm (doors open at 6:30 pm). Refreshments. All welcome.

02/27/2026

02/02/2026

The next public meeting of the Society will be held later this month than usual to co-incide with Heritage Week. The theme of the importance of all aspects of heritage will be explored by our Historian Emeritus, Dr. David Shanahan. The meeting will start at 7:00, doors open at 6:30. Refreshments. All welcome.

12/27/2025

Our first public meeting of the year will feature a talk by our own Director of Archives, Amanda Gould, and Mylène Leroux. For months, these two professional paper conservators have been working on restoring an issue of Kemptville's earliest newspaper, The Progressionist. You will see an image of the front page during the restoration process in the centre of the attached poster. The newspaper was dated 20 October 1858, a mere four years after the first printing press arrived in town, The other two images on the poster show details from the only other copy of this publication known to exist, now in the collection of Library and Archives Canada. Amanda and Mylène will tell us how they rescued this rare document revealing Kemptville's past.

Talk begins at 7:00 pm, on 14 January 2026; doors open at 6:30; all welcome; refreshments.
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11/12/2025

REMINDER

A QUICK REMINDER THAT OUR NOVEMBER PUBLIC MEETING WILL BE HELD ON WEDNESDAY, THE 12TH OF NOVEMBER. Life next door to a great power like the U.S. has not always been easy. We have tried to be a good neighbour, but this is not the first time that emotions and aggressiveness have spilled over our southern border. Dr. David Shanahan, our Historian Emeritus, will trace our current unstable relationship back through numerous times of tension to the War of 1812-14 and perhaps its most humiliating episode for the U.S., when the British burned the White House and the Capitol Building in Washington in retaliation for the burning of York (Toronto) and Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) as shown on the poster. Meeting begins at 7:00 pm, doors open at 6:30 pm, Refreshments. All welcome.

10/31/2025

NOVEMBER 12 PUBLIC MEETING

Life next door to a great power like the U.S. has not always been easy. We have tried to be a good neighbour, but this is not the first time that emotions and aggressiveness have spilled over our southern border. Dr. David Shanahan, our Historian Emeritus, will trace our current unstable relationship back through numerous times of tension to the War of 1812-14 and perhaps its most humiliating episode for the U.S., when the British burned the White House and the Capitol Building in Washington in retaliation for the burning of York (Toronto) and Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) as shown on the poster. Meeting begins at 7:00 pm, doors open at 6:30 pm, Refreshments. All welcome.

10/22/2025

NOVEMBER 12 PUBLIC MEETING

The featured speaker at our next Public Meeting will be Dr. David Shanahan, our Historian Emeritus, The meeting will be held at 7:00 pm, at The History Hub, 148 Prescott Street in Kemptville. The topic of the talk will be The North American Civil War, the ongoing difficult relationship with the U.S., aggressive threats to outright invasion. Doors open at 6:30 pm. refreshments, all welcome.

10/20/2025

FACE PAINTING CANCELLED

Due to a competing face painting event sponsored by the BIA, the North Grenville Historical Society has decided to cancel (or at least postpone) the face painting activity that was scheduled for 25 October 2025, as part of Kreepy Kemptville. There will be face painting, but it will be organized by the BIA. We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion that this change of plans has caused. Perhaps we will be able to reschedule the activity at a later date.