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B Section News August 1, 2013
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Picturing the past at O’Hara Mill on Heritage Day By Diane Sherman
EMC Events - Madoc Township - In 1820 only 20 acres of land were cleared for crops in Madoc Township. It was shortly after that the O’Hara family arrived. Sunday, July 28, was annual Heritage Day at the O’Hara Mill Homestead and Conservation area. Over twenty different demonstrations of early settlement lifestyle were presented by area residents. A new food booth near the visitor’s centre was busy serving visitors with barbecued goodies while children played old-fashioned games. In addition, a small store has been opened in the rear of the 1915 residence which opens into kitchen gardens adjacent to the house. Visitors were invited to reap some of the mid-summer harvest and witness the field being plowed with a horse drawn plow. Chris Budd, from the hamlet of Cooper, gave horse-drawn wagon rides along the logging road behind the log cabin on the hill where the family first lived. Inside the cabin Lorene and Ian Sinclair prepared a full course meal in the hearth, their work lit only by the fire and kerosene lanterns with a bit of light from the windows. By 1860 the population reached 3,950 residents, almost double the current population of 2013. When gold was discovered in Eldorado in 1867, the population briefly doubled. O’Hara’s mill was a primary service to residents during those early days to mill wood and grains. Reconstruction of the early settlement has been a labour of enjoyment for the many members of O’Hara Mill Volunteer Association <ohara-mill.org>. A concluding success to the day was the attachment of the last spoke wheel to the giant rock and stump puller. Wheelwright Bill Doyle finished the wheel earlier in the day and by closing time it had been installed on the huge device. Kim Hadwen hitched his team of Belgian horses to it and a successful rock lifting was demonstrated. The next big event at the Mill is August 15 when they host their annual corn boil from 3 to 7 p.m.
Lynn Cronk of Parham, Ontario, begins removing the yoke from Leroy and Duke after a pass through O’Hara Mill Homestead grounds July 28. The orphaned bulls were hand fed by his wife Leslie and raised specifically to work as an “ox team.” The team demonstrated how farm animals served in clearing land by pulling heavy loads. O’Hara volunteer Dave Little came in to assist. Photo: Diane Sherman
Photos: Diane Sherman Audrey and Graeme Little from Little Britain displayed some of Graeme’s many vintage cycling vehicles on Heritage Day at O’Hara Mill Homestead in Madoc Township on Sunday. Local resident Kent Hamilton was inquiring how one might ride the big wheeled Hy-Bird a circa 1880’s vintage cycle. Please turn to page B3 for more O’Hara Mill photos