As the 150th anniversary of Frontenac County was approaching, a committee was formed to organize events to mark the occasion. They realized that the best way to mark a year-long event such as as this was to have an event of some kind to provide a focus.

So the planning began for a three-day celebration from Friday to Sunday, August 28 to 30. The location at Centennial Park in Harrowsmith was an obvious choice. Not only is it located on Road 38, the artery that links three of the four Frontenac townships, it is also the largest community park in the county, easily hosting over 1,500 people on Canada Day each year.

However, the decision to locate the celebration at Centennial Park brought more into play than just a location; it also brought the Harrowsmith, Sydenham and Verona-based service clubs, the Portland District Recreation Committee and the public works department of South Frontenac township into the mix.

Pam Morey and Dan Bell came forward to co-ordinate the event, and the first people they met with were the public works department of South Frontenac.

“The park needed some work done to be able to handle the crowds, and to host all the events,” said Dan Bell, who, in addition to his role with the anniversary celebration is the chair of the Portland District Recreation Committee. “We had plans for upgrades to the park through our local Rec Committee and we were also fortunate enough to receive extra help for other improvements to Centennial Park from South Frontenac Township. The public works department, led by Jamie Brash and Mark Segsworth, did a wonderful job, and Harrowsmith will enjoy the benefits of the upgrades to the park for years to come. It will be one of the legacies of the anniversary.”

This is only fitting because the park itself was a Centennial project from 1967, and thanks to the 150th anniversary of Fronenac County, it will be in fine fettle to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Canada in two years' time.

The upgrades to the park include a brand new parking lot, a brand new playground, better integration with the K&P trail, and improved facilities throughout. In order to put together a varied program of events, Bell and Morey looked to the community, and found that everything they needed was just around the corner. They wanted to have a vendors' market, so they went to the Verona Community Association and the Verona Lions Club, who collaborate on events all the time, and have expertise with vendors from the Verona Garlic Festival and other events.

“They know what to do and to make it work and when they agreed to take it on it was a real load off our shoulders,” said Pam Morey, who is also the president of the Harrowsmith Social and Athletic Club

Similarly the Sydenham Lions are handling parking; the Harrowsmith S&A (Social and Athletic) Club the canteen and beer tent; the Oddfellows the Heritage Ball, and the list goes on.

“It is really an old-time community gathering, sort of like a fair or a picnic. Really a chance for us all to look at what we have built and enjoy each other's company,” said Dan Bell.

“One of the rewards of working on this event has been the co-operation with Frontenac County staff members Anne Marie Young and Alison Vandervelde,” said Morey. “Between them, South Frontenac and the local community, we are sure this event will be a huge success.”

The local flavour of the event extends to the performers who will take the stage throughout the three days. A few of the bands come from Kingston, but most of them are Frontenac County acts.

And, there is no charge to enter the festival grounds all weekend. Apart from the Heritage Ball on Saturday Night at the Golden Links Hall, a nominal fee for the VCA train, which will run though the site, and food vendor purchases, the celebration events are free to the public.

Among the highlights of the three-day celebration will be a large-scale historical re-enactment on the Sunday afternoon, featuring the Brockville Infantry. The group, which has been active for 25 years, takes its inspiration from the original Brockville Infantry, which was founded in 1862, when the pre-confederation communities sought to protect themselves from potential incursions by the Fenians from south of the border. The Fenians conducted raids on British-held lands in Canada in order to pressure the British government to withdraw from Ireland. The re-enactors dress in identical British bright red tunics, carry and fire fully functional replicas of the original Enfield rifles with bayonets, and perform the same precision drill manoeuvres that their counterparts did over 150 years ago. In order to present this polished image of precision, the re-enactors practice these drills on a regular basis throughout the year.

They will not only be presenting a full re-enactment from 1:00 until 2:30 on Sunday (August 30), they will be camping in the park all weekend and will also present a “short skirmish” in Dan Bell's words, on Sat. Aug. 29 from 1 - 1:30pm at the south soccer field.

In keeping with the great tradition of music in Frontenac County, the performers who will be performing all weekend are made up primarily of artists who live or come from Frontenac County, supplemented by some from nearby Kingston.

On Friday night, Kingston/Nashville based Rob Carnegie will take the stage at 6pm, following the opening ceremonies, which start at 5pm. Rob is a singer songwriter in the country music tradition. He has been making a name for himself as a songwriter and performer in Canada and the United States, with his 2014 release “Unwind”.

Also on Friday night, a family movie, Big Hero 6, will be screened at 8pm, followed by fireworks.

On Saturday, the festival swings into high gear with a parade at 10am. Across the road from the festival site, the Frontenac County Plowing Match also starts at 10 am and runs until 3 pm. Meanwhile, on the site, mini-putt, midway rides, a strong man competition, heritage equipment and numerous other events are running all day.

On stage at 12:15pm, 14-year-old Abby Stewart will be performing. Abby, who first performed in Frontenac County at the Old Time Music Festivals in 2010 and 2011, played on the Upcoming Artists stage at the Boots and Hearts Festival in 2014, and a few weeks ago she played the main festival at the Front Porch Stage and was featured on the festival poster.

She will be followed at 1:30 by Sydenham-based Big 'Mo and the Blues Mission, whose up-tempo rock 'n blues sound is familiar throughout the region. They play local events and are mainstays at the Limestone City Blues Festival as well.

At 2:45, Rudy and Saddle Up will bring their high energy country sound to the stage.

Later, after the plowing match winners are announced, Bellfonix are playing at 5:15pm. Heather Bell got her start singing at Canada Day and other events in Harrowsmith and Sydenham as a teenager and with the Bellfonix, she performs her pop-rock repertoire often at popular bars in Kingston.

The final musical performer of the day at the festival stage, at 6:30, will be Chris Koster, a Kingston-based performer and songwriter. Chris' music has an emotional edge and a contemporary alternative rock feel.

Although Centennial Park closes down at 8 pm, there is one more event scheduled for Saturday, one that promises to be a highlight of the celebration. The Golden Links Hall, on Colebrooke street, will be the site of the Frontenac Heritage Ball. This is the only ticketed event of the weekend. Participants are invited to wear heritage dress for the ball, which costs $20 and features the eight-piece R&B sensations, Soul Survivors. Tickets also include a light buffet and the ball is a licensed event.

While people may be dressing like it's 1865, the dancing will be more like it's 1975. Tickets are available at Nicole's Gifts in Verona, at Nellie's Gas Bar in Harrowsmith and by calling Pam Morey at 613-372-1578. There will also be limited numbers of tickets available at the door, but buying them in advance is recommended.

On Sunday morning, Fiddlers and Friends from North Frontenac and neighbouring Lanark County will be on stage at 10:30. With fiddles, piano, and guitars they play tunes from the 1940s on, and always entertain.

The final band of the event is After the News from Verona, featuring Lee Casement and vocalist Lisa Menard, at 11:45.

The historical re-enactment, as mentioned earlier, will follow After the News. The closing ceremonies are set for 3 pm.

It's a curious title for a book, “In search of the K&P”, as if the one time 112 mile rail line from Kingston to Renfrew (it never made it to Pembroke as originally intended) was some kind of mythic entity.

The title is explained in the preface to the book, which was published in 1981. The writer, D.W. McCuaig, recalls that when he first moved to the Ottawa Valley in the 1950s he was taken for a drive on a back road in Lanark County and came upon a train pushing though the bush.

“I vowed I would travel on that train,” he recalls, but never got the chance because the line closed down shortly thereafter. The book was written as an attempt to recapture the reality of a train that had attained a kind of ghostly status for him.

In the almost 25 years since “In Search if the K&P” was written, those who remember the line, which has now been gone for over 50 years and was in its heyday long decades before that, are also becoming a vanishing breed.

Building a rail line to link Kingston to Pembroke was just an idea in the minds of some businessmen in Kingston in the late 1860s. It was only mentioned publicly in newspaper accounts in 1870 and by April of 1871 it was chartered. Unfortunately the enthusiasm over the line did not translate into instant success when it came to building it. It took 12 years to complete 112 miles to Renfrew.

But in the beginning there was wild enthusiasm in the business press of the day over a rail line that would be able to deliver goods from Kingston to far-flung markets, and bring ore and lumber to Kingston for processing.

An editorial in the Kingston Daily News, published on January 7, 1871, saw opportunity: “The prospect of a railway to Pembroke is so promising to the interests of Kingston that it deserves to be well agitated and considered ... If we can by means of railways communicating with the interior, feed the commerce of the harbour, Kingston would grow and prosper, and might not only become a great commercial but also a manufacturing centre.”

Then first step was to secure the support of the community of Pembroke for the K&P over a line that was coming that way from Brockville, which was accomplished, and the second was to convince the communities along the line that a train would be of benefit. Public meetings were held in many of the communities along the Frontenac route, including: Harrowsmith, Hartington, Verona, Godfrey, Parham and Sharbot Lake. Business leaders from each town talked about the potential benefits for trade and the communities; all supported the K&P. Frontenac County even put $150,000 towards the line.

However, there were a number of setbacks as the line was being built, mostly because of finances and geography.

The first contractor that was hired was GB Phelps and Co. who were also investors in the company. Work proceeded slowly, and a worldwide economic depression that started in 1873 did not help matters at all. Phelps defaulted and disappeared and four years after that rosy editorial, there were tracks in place but no train had ridden them.

In 1875, GW Flower from New York entered the picture, and by June of that year the first train had travelled from Kingston to the Glendower mine near Godfrey. By the following spring, the line had reached Sharbot Lake, and by 1878 it had made it to the Mississippi River.

A series of setbacks, including labour disputes, vandalism, accidents causing serious injuries and death to workers, steel rails sinking in the St. Lawrence, and other problems caused problems for the construction of the line as it progressed through more and more difficult terrain towards Calabogie and beyond.

Somehow, however, by 1884, the K&P had reached Renfrew, which was destined to be its farthest reach.

Over the next 30 years, while it was still an independent railroad, the K&P fulfilled, in some measure its promise as an economic driver for the communities along its route, bringing goods and services from the south and delivering iron and other minerals as well as lumber to Kingston and beyond.

And in 1891, on June 11, the K&P delivered its most famous cargo, the remains of Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, from Sharbot Lake Junction to his home in Kingston. Macdonald had been involved in the building of the K&P, in a discreet way, and his law partner in Kingston, Sir Alexander Campbell, was very public in his promotion of the line in the early 1870s.

“In Search of the K&P” describes that ride in the following manner: “The train travelled very slowly, as it passed through Parham, Verona, and all the rest of the locations along the K&P. Farmers working in the fields stood 'at in hands with bowed heads' as the train passed them, and the Kingston Whig of the day tells us that 'crowds at all the stations begged vainly for flowers from the funeral car as a memento. They had to rest content with breaking off scraps of similax from the outside of the car.'”

(End of part 1. In part 2 we look at the CPR years)

While I enjoyed the article about Tom Neal (Thomas Neal: A Son Remembers, Jul 30/15) and knew and respected Tom for many years (7 as an employee of Frontenac County) I feel I must correct a couple of things in the article. The article states that Tom served on County Council for 34 years from 1967 until 1998. This is only 32 years. Also in 1989, 1990 and 1991 William Van Kempen was reeve of Barrie Township.

When he retired in 1991 my father, Tim O'Shea, had served on County Council as reeve of Wolfe Island for 33 consecutive years from 1959 to 1991, serving as Warden in Canada's Centennial Year 1967. As I said I have tremendous respect for Tom Neal's Council legacy, however Tim O'Shea was the dean of County Council .

The Trousdale family is known for the iconic Trousdale General Store, which is still operating as a gift store, as well as for the Home Hardware and Foodland stores in Sydenham.

However, it turns out that although the family has been in the retail business for a pretty long time - longer than either Frontenac County or Canada have been around - they actually started out in farming.

The family arrived in Canada from England sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century. They farmed near Holleford at first, and there are Trousdales who are still farming in that area to this day.

“One brother went to Tennessee and another moved to Holleford,” said John Trousdale when he and his wife Ginny were interviewed at their home in Sydenham.

The changeover from farming to running stores came as a result of a number of family members who were interested in getting into the baking business.

“There were six boys, and they all seemed to get into baking as a core business,” John Trousdale said, “and that involved buying eggs and cream from farmers. If you are buying flour from Lake of the Wood milling, you could also bring in middlings, bran, shorts, other grains. They got into selling grains to the farmer, and the store grew out of serving the farming community.”

The first Trousdale store, which was also a bake shop, was established around 1836, and for many years there were three Trousdale stores as the brothers competed with each other for customers.

Eventually, John's grandfather Percy outlasted his brothers and only his store survived into the 20th Century.

“They brought in everything that the farming families needed. There were 100 acre farms everywhere on the back roads around here, one after another, and the farmers wanted to get everything in one store so we brought it in - boots, bolts of cloth, hardware, dry goods; it all came in by train when the train came.”

In 1927, Percy Trousdale decided to do a major renovation on the family store.

“Once he got into it he realized that the store was pretty shaky. The renovation turned into a demolition and he built a brand new store. When you look at that building today you see that it was quite a lot of store for 1927.”

The store was built out of concrete, and that is maybe why it survived a fire that burned down a number of buildings across the street, where the Sydenham One Stop, the hair salon and bank are now located.

Percy Trousdale was also the last baker in the family. He used to take his son Nobel on the bread runs in a wagon. There is even a box under the seat of the wagon, where, according to family lore, Nobel used climb in to get out of the rain while his father drove the wagon. Percy also kept up a grain grinding business across the retail store until the 1950s.

After returning from World War 2, Nobel came into the family business and he ran the store until he died in 2004 at the age of 90.

A passionate supporter of the Conservative Party, and the Trousdale family connections to the party go back to its very beginnings when John A. Macdonald did business in Frontenac County, Nobel once credited Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien with helping him to recover from an illness. Chretien called an election and Nobel got himself out of bed to get to work trying to get Chretien out of office.

John, who was born in the early 50s, grew up working in the store.

“I remember when I was six or seven, with my older sister and brother, we used to work in the store all the time. It wasn't a hardship or anything, it was fun, I never wanted to go to school. Everything came in bulk. We used to bag the tea, split 50 pound bags of potatoes into 5 or 10 pound bags - all that kind of stuff. And when people came to shop they stood at the counter with their list and called out the items. We would run and get the items from the wooden shelves behind the counter and put them out for them, and after they paid or marked down what they owed to pay at the end of the month, we would carry their groceries and whatever else they bought out to their car. It was that kind of store.”

At some point, in the early or mid-60s, “farmers were no longer able to sell milk in cans, they had to sell it in bulk. That was a huge change and a lot of farmers went out of dairy. Farms were consolidated and got larger and they began to order grain in bulk, which changed our business and we eventually got out of grain.” John recalls.

In the 1970s and 80s when John came into the business with his father, he realized that Sydenham and the area around it had changed completely. It was no longer a farming community; the train was long gone, and more and more of its residents travelled to Kingston every day for work.

“I realized there was not enough business in the store to support two families, and I also realized that Sydenham was now a bedroom community and the shopping was different.”

In 1985, the property where the Foodland and Home Hardware stores are now located was up for sale. At one time it had been the location of a very large dairy and milk condensing factory where powdered milk was produced, but the factory had been torn down and a dance hall been put up. The dance hall was a free-standing structure, 60 by 100 feet, and John thought it would make an ideal store. So he bought it and opened an IGA store. Three additions later, the store is still selling groceries, under the Foodland banner.

In 1989, the Home Hardware building had been completed and had its grand opening, with a blue ribbon being cut instead of a red one, at Nobel Trousdale's insistence.

As the two stores were running at one end of town, Nobel Trousdale's store was still open, so the Trousdales were competing against each other again, but this time John was really competing against himself as he was still spending most of his time working for his father, and having managers run his own stores.

When his parents died, just three weeks apart, John's business focus shifted to the newer stores, and at that time Ginny became involved.

Although she had been married to John for 25 years at that point and the couple had raised a family, Ginny had never been involved in the family business. She had pursued a career in social work until then. She decided that, instead of letting the General Store go, she would reinvent it as a gift store.

A lot of creative work has gone into bringing in new products and displaying them in the confines of what still looks much like the store did 80 years ago. There are still products from bygone days around, now as display items, and in many of the back and side rooms the old bolts of cloth and crates of soap are still tucked away.

“I don't think they threw anything out,” said Ginny, “and now how can you, since much of what is there is so unusual today?”

John and Ginny's son, Will, has come into the Home Hardware business now, and as Sydenham continues to change, look for Trousdale's to follow suit.

Family businesses do not survive almost 200 years and five generations without seeing around a few corners to always end up in the right place at the right time.

In the Trousdales' case, however, the past is carried along as a reminder.

“One thing that has never changed - from delivering bread to delivering and fixing appliances, it's a service business,” said John Trousdale.

Last year, Wayne Robinson stepped back from his role as CEO of Robinson Asset Management, a company that manages money from across the globe out of an office in Sharbot Lake.

While most of the other Ontario companies that do that kind of work are based in Toronto, and perhaps Ottawa, Robinson's remains based in a small rural community, where it is one of the larger employers.

The company had its genesis managing the retirement income of local teachers by investing in real estate, but has grown into global markets over the last 30 years.

When we interviewed Wayne for this article, we talked in his office, not so much about his company, but about his upbringing on a farm in the Bradshaw area outside of Tichborne, and also about the prospects for communities in Frontenac County and elsewhere in rural Ontario.

Wayne Robinson was born at home on the farm in the late 1940s, the seventh son of a Catholic farming family. When he thinks back to his childhood he considers that he came along at a 'relatively prosperous time' in the history of the region, even though it has always been an economically disadvantaged area.

“There was work off the farm for my father, so while we sort of made a go of it as a dairy and mixed farm, there was other money coming in, which was not the case a generation earlier. My father worked for McConnells and my brothers all got jobs in construction before they went off to do other things.”

He also remembers the way the family finances were handled.

“My brothers brought their pay envelopes home unopened and laid them on the table. My mother made sure they had everything they needed, and spending money on the weekend, etc., and that was that.”

In those days, the small towns in Central Frontenac, such as Parham and Mountain Grove, were self- contained small communities unto themselves

“Tichborne was prosperous, because of the railroad station and the junction between two railways. There was a hotel, a bank, a theatre, four stores. It really catered to travelers.”

With the loss of the railroad and the resulting tendency for people to drive to Kingston or Ottawa to work and shop, the towns in what is now Central Frontenac have maintained their community ties, but are not as strong as they once were.

“Economics have no morals. People will always buy the best product at the lowest price, or what they think is the best product at what they think is the lowest price; there is nothing anyone can do about that. So they drive off to Costco, and while they are in Kingston they have a day out as well.”

But, he says, rural centers can and will survive, even if some of the back room operators in Toronto and Ottawa privately think that there is no future for rural Ontario.

“You take Sharbot Lake, for example. You can live here, and live a good life here. I think it has a future, but it concerns me when I talk to people who are connected to the top levels of government who think that Toronto is the only center of growth in Ontario and that it should be some kind of city-state.”

What they don't understand, according to Robinson, is that goods are created outside of Toronto; food comes from farms and is not made in the store.

“The thing that makes me feel that there is a future is that people can make a go of business here, and what other business people need to do is to let people who are thinking about doing something know that there is support here; that the township is willing to help out. And there are people doing that, with an Internet connection and a good idea and a sense that this is a good place to live.”

One problem is that those businesses cannot be sold easily when the owner decides to stop or to retire.

“We see that with farms and with other businesses like that. There is no one to take over. But still I feel optimistic that there is a future in rural communities as long as we keep encouraging each other to keep going and make sure that people feel we will support them if they take a chance.”

Municipal amalgamation brought the end of an era for many long-serving local politicians. None served longer than Thomas Neal, who sat on Frontenac County Council for 34 years and was reeve of the former Barrie Township from 1967 until amalgamation in 1998. He served as warden in 1972, and sat on Barrie Council for two other terms in the 1950s.

According to Neal's son, Thomas Jr., his father's 34 years as county council member is a record and he was also the only county warden to ever come from Barrie Township.

Thomas Sr. was born in 1913 and moved to Harlowe from Kingston as a young child. He ran the general store in Harlowe, and kept the store going for over 50 years. It closed after he died in 2001, as he had wished.

Among the sundry goods that were sold in the store, they sold moccasins that were made in St. Emile, Quebec.

“We sold moccasins to people from all over the world, tourists from everywhere, and Dad loved selling moccasins. We took deliveries sometimes three days a week,” said Thomas Jr., who now lives in Northbrook. “And he ran the township out of the store. It was the kind of place where people would come in and buy groceries and talk to Dad about whatever problems they were having. For him municipal politics was a seven-day a week commitment,” said Thomas.

In those days there were no paved roads in the area, and under Thomas Neal, a tar and chip program was initiated. He was also able to convince the province, with the help of J.R. Simonett, to build the Harlowe Road to join Henderson Road with Highway 41.

Later on, when the Barrie hall and municipal office was built at Highway 41, the township became more centered around the business center of the township at Cloyne.

“Dad had a lot of help from my mother, and us kids, in the store, which was a real going concern, because he loved being there for the people of Barrie Township. He was also the president of the Legion,” Thomas Jr. said.

When some Crown Land opened up there were lots of cottages built in the townships and Thomas Jr. remembers his father working on the committee of adjustment and helping develop new lots and new cottages in the township.

“A lot of business came into the township in those years. He also sat on all the committees of the county, and eventually they called him the Dean of Frontenac County because he had been there for so long.”

Neal also worked very closely with Kaladar township in Lennox and Addington to bring homes and businesses to the area and build roads and a fire department to support that.

“I remember that when amalgamation came on he wasn't in favor of it. He thought that the way things had been operating would be changed. Under him the township never had to borrow money from the bank; it was always taken from reserves. He would say that way the interest was paid to the township instead of the bank. He also was the welfare officer in the township, and if someone was able to work he found them a job instead of giving them welfare.”

According to his son, Neal also favored joining with Kaladar because of the business and service connections between the two townships, but the province insisted otherwise.

Thomas Neal carried out the final negotiations for amalgamation on behalf of Barrie Township and retired from politics at the age of 85. He kept his business going until his death in 2001.

The County of Frontenac marks its 150th Anniversary this year, a milestone that will culminate in a three-day celebration at Centennial Park in Harrowsmith, August 28 – 30. Admission and all activities are free.

Volunteers and vendors are needed in order to ensure this weekend is a success. Interested volunteers and vendors should email Pam Morey at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more info and to register. Download the Vendor Application Form at www.FrontenacCounty.ca/150.

“I encourage all residents of the county, and our neighbouring municipalities, to bring their family and friends out for this once-in-a-lifetime event,” says Warden Denis Doyle. “This will be a wonderful time to celebrate our past, present, and bright future, and for visitors to discover our region. I hope you will join us, starting the week on Wolfe Island at the Canadian Plowing Championships, and capping off your summer at Frontenac County’s 150th Anniversary Celebration!

Friday night festivities include the opening ceremony, midway rides, family activities, live entertainment, beer tent, IceStock Curling, family movie, and a huge fireworks show.

Saturday starts off with a parade, and the Frontenac County Plowing Match, Strongman Competition, bingo, and family activities – midway rides, bouncy castles, petting zoo, train rides, magic show, and mini putt – will go all day. Food and drink will be available for purchase from the beer tent, canteen, a BBQ, a collection of local food trucks, and other vendors. The heritage and antique displays will offer insights to the county’s colourful history. The evening will end with the Heritage Costume Ball at the Golden Links Hall (tickets cost $20 per person); come dressed in period costume, get your photo taken with Sir. John A. Macdonald and dance the night away with a live band. Tickets are available for purchase through Pam Morey and at Nicole’s Gifts in Verona.

Sunday morning brunch will be followed by more family activities, heritage and community displays, a huge historical re-enactment, live entertainment, and closing ceremony. A full schedule of activities is available at www.FrontenacCounty.ca/150.

For more information, please contact Alison Vandervelde, Communications Officer, at 613-548-9400 ext 305 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

(Many readers of the Frontenac News will know that for 13 years Wilma Kenny has been covering South Frontenac Council just about each week for us at the Frontenac News. Each week she attends the Tuesday night meetings and then crosses the street to her house and writes them up, often working until after midnight. Wilma has a lifelong history in Sydenham and Loughborough Township and we sat down to talk about the village and some of her experiences)

Wilma Kenny grew up in Sydenham, on a 50-acre farm just outside the village.

“I guess you would call it a subsistence farm. We grew all our own food, anyway. Dad was a beekeeper and he always worked out because the farm couldn't support us. He worked in the mines and then in the mill, until it burned down and after that he did shift work,” she said when interviewed earlier this year in the home that she shares with her husband Cam.

The home, which is attached to the former Mill property, was owned by the Anglin family until the 1970s.

The mill had been used as a grist mill, a sawmill and a veneer mill. The veneer was used to make cheese boxes for Sydenham and surrounding communities which all had cheese factories at one time, serving the small dairy farms that dotted the landscape.

Wilma's grandfather was a cheese maker. She tells one family story about a day when her mother fell into a tank of milk. “Grandfather pulled her out, boots and all, and marched her home to grandmother to dry her off. Then he went right back and turned the milk into cheese. He wasn't going to throw away all that milk.”

She remembers the sight of the mill burning, which she saw from outside the farmhouse where she lived. Someone from down the lake told her later that it completely lit up the sky.

“The wind must have been blowing the other way because this house is right next door to it,” she said.

In the 1950s she attended Sydenham Public School (later renamed Loughborough Public School) and then Sydenham High School. She recalls, in retrospect, that the 1950s and 60s were not kind to the village of Sydenham.

“I think with the changes to the economy, the proximity to Kingston, the end of the mills and cheese industries, Sydenham was hurting in those years. Everyone who had any money was living outside of town and the town suffered.”

In the mid-1960s, Wilma left for Queen's University, and eventually met her future husband, Cam. They made their way to Toronto and Vancouver and back to Kingston and both became trained social workers.

Cam took a job in Inuvik as a manager of social services, and, now a family of four, the Kennys lived up north for four years. When they came back to Sydenham, the old mill house was up for sale and they bought it.

“It had been neglected but it was not in bad shape,” she recalls.

As they restored it, Cam and Wilma took great care to maintain the character of the building and that is evident in the feel of the house to this day. They found it had certain unique properties. There were taps that were no longer attached to anything, which they determined had been attached to a holding tank on the roof. Rather than a cistern, the tank was fed by water that came from the intake to the dam that powered the mill, and then was gravity-fed through the house.

There was also electrical equipment in the basement of the house, because the water also powered a turbine to produce power, which Frank Anglin sold to village residents.

“They used to run it in the evenings and Monday morning to power washing machines, but I think they did not run it during the day. I'm not sure why they did it that way, but that's what I've been told,” said Wilma.

One of the reasons they came back to Sydenham was because a job was available that suited Wilma's skill set and interests. In the late 1970s, St. Lawrence College was hiring someone to do community development in Sydenham.

Wilma took on the job, which included, in part, helping and working at The Triangle, a community newspaper that was already up and running, and served Storrington, Loughborough and Portland Townships. She also worked with groups in Perth Road and in other parts of the township to organize and establish services.

By the time the funding for the job dried up she had taken an interest in seniors' housing.

“I felt very strongly that seniors needed housing in Sydenham. So we did a survey through the township to gauge interest and need. We showed enormous need and we got the funding. Using the township as a flow through, we set up a not-for profit corporation and got one building built, and then a second.

“The first building was called Meadowbrook, and had 25 units. We had property for the second one but could not find the funding. At that time I was back at the School of Urban Planning at Queen's and Chaviva Hosek, who was the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for Ontario, came to speak at the school. I knew the professors and got myself invited to the reception afterwards. I brought our administrator with me, and we talked to her and presented her a letter. Twenty-four hours later we had the funding for Maple Ridge, which has 30 units.”

There are a certain number of low market rent units and a certain number of subsidized units in the two buildings, which have been a great success over the years.

“There are two things about them that are important for the community. One is they are located within the village so people can walk to anything, and the second is that a lot of the people who moved into them came from large houses in the village, which they did not need anymore. Young families moved in to the houses and instead of making the village older, it made the village younger.”

A total of 13 locations opened their doors to curious history buffs at the special Doors Open event, which took place on June 13 to celebrate 150 years in Frontenac County.

At the Railway Heritage Park in Sharbot Lake, members of the Central Frontenac Railway Heritage Society greeted visitors to the caboose, which offers visual and written information about the area’s unique railway history. They served guests lunch and refreshments and want to get the word out that they are looking for new members and volunteers to assist them with their many ongoing projects. For information please call 613-279-2777

At the Bradshaw Schoolhouse near Tichborne, guests had a chance to meet former teachers and their relatives at the quaint and lovingly preserved one-room schoolhouse where Richard Webster greeted guests. Visitors included Marilyn Meeks, who supply taught at the school for one year in the late 1960s, filling in for a teacher taking maternity leave. She remembers the school with fondness and recalled how the older students assisted the teachers by minding the younger students while the teacher did her best to cover school curriculum for all ages. Also visiting was Daniel Hayes, whose grandmother Daisy (Margaret) Hayes taught at the school between 1916 and 1919, prior to marrying Edward Hayes, who at the time was a telegraph operator at the CP Station in Tichborne. Daisy trained as a teacher at Sharbot Lake's Normal School (teachers’ college) prior to taking the post at Bradshaw.

Other locations included in the Doors Open event included sites in and around North, Central, and South Frontenac and the Islands.