Tag: kingston ontario
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Horses, Hucksters, and Hogs
Written By: Helen Cutts, Kingston Association of Museums Visitor in Residence I love looking at vintage photographs in Kingston and area museums, especially scenes with horse-drawn wagons and carriages. While the scenes look peaceful, anyone who knows horses knows the potential for chaos to be unleashed. In the 1850s when Kingston’s streets were filled with…
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Let the Farmerettes Pitch In
As a city slicker, I can’t carry on much of a conversation about farming, but after a recent visit to the South Frontenac Museum, I now know what a farmerette is. I’ve also learned something about educational toys, wartime nurses and Sunday dinners. These seemingly diverse topics all make sense once you know that the…
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Murney Tower’s Connection to the Republic of Genoa
When I visited the Murney Tower before the COVID-19 pandemic, I was only vaguely aware of its Mediterranean connection. Recently, I’ve looked into the details. It’s tied to the Republic of Genoa, which was a maritime republic from the 11th century to the late 18th century, based in what is now the northwestern coast of…
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Eastern Canada’s Himalayas
Why might the Himalayan mountains be featured in a geology museum in Kingston? At the Miller Museum of Geology at 36 Union Street, you’ll learn about an ancient mountain range in eastern Canada that was once the same scale as the current Himalayas. The Grenville Mountains were formed a billion years ago but were eroded…
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The Penitentiary and the Prince
Had there been Twitter in the summer of 1860, tweets in Kingston would have been about the upcoming visit of Queen Victoria’s son, the 18-year-old Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII. Kingston was one of several planned stops on the Prince’s tour of Canada and the United States. He and his entourage…
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Ontario Street: Brewers, Bakers and Boilermakers, 1830-1970
I liked it. I liked the alliteration. It drew me to the PumpHouse to see what their special exhibit was all about. Did they ever make beer at the PumpHouse? What about bread? I had visited the PumpHouse when I was a university student at Queen’s many years ago, but I don’t recall anything about…
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There’s more to the RMC grounds than you’d expect
With the sun shining brightly, I set off with photographer Sean McEvoy to explore the grounds of the Royal Military College (RMC) in Kingston. Having visited before, I knew that this was really two trips in one. The first trip was taking us to the site of the Royal Naval Dockyard, significant for its role…
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Miller Museum of Geology @ Queen’s University
By Elizabeth Cashman The Miller Museum of Geology is named after Willet Green Miller, a member of the Canadian Institute of Mining and metallurgy 1898-1923 and President 1908-09. Provincial Geologist for Ontario 1902-25. Learn more about him in a Kingston Whig-Standard article by Susanna McLeod here. It is with pleasure that I am taking up the…
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Canada’s Penitentiary Museum
Written by Emily Manson I’ve been to Canada’s Penitentiary Museum a few times, but I learn something new each time I visit. The site is small but picturesque and packed with fascinating history. It is located directly across the street from Kingston Penitentiary, in the former Warden’s residence. The building of a house for the…