As I was photographing the interior of Christ Church this beautiful August day, I could hear children singing from the house next door.
The house is the former manse of the St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Riverside, Ontario and was erected in 1842 a few miles west of its current location as the home for the Lutheran pastor William Sharts.
The staff and interpreters at Upper Canada Village are wearing period clothing representing the 1860’s. For ladies, crinolines and hooped skirts were fashionable at that time and although bustles would be becoming the rage in larger centres about this time period and toward the end of the century, they would not be common fare in these farming communities. (If vintage dresses of the 1800’s interest you, see my recent U.S. Civil War post.)
For every nice dress, it would be nice to have a pair of shoes so it was not uncommon for each small village to have a shoemaker in the village or within easy traveling distance.
The typical settler’s house of the time would be a one room log home with a loft for sleeping. Nothing too fancy but capable of keeping the rain off and easy to heat in colder weather. The shoemaker’s house at Upper Canada Village is but one example of this style of early architecture. This particular log home was built by John Grant in the 1800’s near Martintown in Glengarry County and moved to its Upper Canada Village location in 1964. Although not common, such homes can still be found in use in parts of Eastern Ontario. (see our Ashton, Ontario entry – page 2)
Although many, if not most, of the buildings in Upper Canada Village are original buildings moved to their current locations from nearby communities in Eastern Ontario, a few of the buildings have been built on site as replicas of buildings typical of the time. The Tin Shop is one such building that was modeled on an existing structure in Merrickvale. Complete with commercial facade typical of small community enterprises, the interior of the Tin Shop provides a glimpse of the many types of metal products that would be in demand in farming communities. From stove pipes to candle holders, the tinsmith would be called upon to fashion and fit the piece of tin to his customer’s needs.
In some communities, groups of Freemasons would meet regularly. The building below has been moved to Upper Canada Village only four years ago (2008) and is now restored and furnished to represent a 19th Century Masonic Lodge. The building was erected in 1863 in Kars, Ontario. There, it served as the meeting hall for the Loyal Orange Lodge #35 for many years. In 2008, it was donated to Upper Canada Village by the Masonic Association Eastern District.
