​On Thursday, May 12th, 2022, local school children from Caldwell Street Public School in Carleton Place, visited the Middleville and District Museum to learn about life in the 1800’s. Last season, Museum volunteers, in conjunction with Lanark Highlands employees, worked to create a bus lane to accommodate large vehicles visiting the Museum. Buses and vans can now drive around a circular driveway and navigate an enlarged parking lot with ease. The Caldwell Street Public School students were the first busload to try out the newly improved access. The Museum hopes to attract more buses and van loads of visitors in the future. Museum volunteers, dressed in period clothes, had planned a full program of activities for the Grade Three students to give them a taste of local history. In the Schoolroom, they practiced math facts, spelling and learned to do some cursive writing on a slate. A visit to the 1830’s cabin revealed how settlers lived their lives without indoor plumbing or electricity. Other activities included the opportunity to do some weaving and learn about the settlers’ journey from the old country. A guided tour gave the students a chance to see and learn about the Museum’s many, many artifacts. Of course, no visit to an 1860’s Schoolhouse would be complete without some traditional outdoor games on the schoolyard where children have played for over a century. Games like The Graces, sack races and musical stumps showed today’s students how children got exercise and had fun with simple, everyday items at hand.
A beautiful spring day in the countryside provided a perfect chance for a picnic lunch under the shade trees in the ideal setting. Although the heat provided a few challenges, everyone worked together to make it a safe and enjoyable day. The Museum volunteers are eager to welcome more visitors to take a step back in time. 

We all have stories that we've heard a hundred times, or so it seems. We heard them while sitting on the laps of our parents, grandparents and maybe even great grandparents. They are the stories of our ancestors that live on through generations. Hopefully, these stories will be told to our children and their children's children. It is important that these oral traditions are preserved and it is incumbent upon us to make sure they are not lost. In some cases, family history is recorded in written form to give life to these tales of survival. In most families, there are dozens of unmarked photographs of people and places that need to be identified before names and dates are gone forever. The Middleville and District Museum works every day to find these stories and photos to give them a place of honour. The reward is the joy of seeing visitors when they discover photos of people they have never seen before or a piece of history that has made its way from the 'old country' and is now nestled into a display at the Museum. In fact, almost every one of the thousands of artifacts has a family connection to the former Lanark Township and surrounding area. These items have their own story to tell in the labels that accompany them tying them to a person or family that came before. It is in an effort to preserve these stories that the Museum has created a new feature on its website. 'Down Memory Lane' is a new page found as part of the Collection page, where family stories can be preserved and enjoyed by all. This page has just been made available in time for Mother's Day. The first stories on the new page are testaments to Mothers who sacrificed so much to build a better life for their families. What better way is there to remember and honour all the Mothers who came before. Check back to the page for more stories throughout the year. 

​Volunteering at the Middleville and District Museum provides opportunities to do pretty much every job possible. In the spring, the task of uncovering exhibits and planning for the creation of new ones gets people excited about a brand new season ahead. The old favourites like the 1830’s cabin, the 1922 Ford car and the 1861 schoolhouse quickly come alive. New ones like the Royal Platinum Jubilee exhibit are just a vision in the heads of volunteers. Materials are gathered and day by day, they start to take shape ready to delight visitors. Of course, planning an opening weekend program gets underway next. Advertisements are crafted and the website is updated to let people know when to mark their calendars. The summer months have a steady stream of volunteers signing up for shifts at the Museum to greet the public who arrive to visit. Volunteers work together in pairs or families to keep the Museum open every weekend from May to October. Board members also welcome weekday appointments arranged for those who can’t visit the museum on weekends. Researchers and writers spend many hours pouring through the extensive resources the Museum holds. This year, The Reading Room’s comfy chairs will welcome those who enjoy a good read. A selection of special events draws volunteers to the Museum all throughout the season. This year, July will have a Live Theatre event not to be missed. There are many jobs needing extra hands to organize, publicize and host this exciting event. The summer also brings outdoor yard maintenance. There’s planning and seeding, watering and weeding to do and green thumbs are always needed. When the leaves begin to suggest the fall season is coming, attention focusses on paint and repair jobs that need to be done before the cold weather arrives in the Highlands. A chill in the wind signals time to ready the Museum for winter snow. Outdoor exhibits are protected from the harsh weather and lawn furniture is tucked away in the shed. The 2022 season brings a new twist for the fall. A large heat pump has been installed on the south side of the Museum. It will provide much anticipated warmth and extend the use of the Museum in colder months. The Board of Directors will be able to continue to meet and plan on site at the Museum building throughout the year. This will improve their ability to respond to enquiries from the public that keep coming year round. So if you like to bake, research, write or create consider connecting with the Middleville and District Museum team. Maybe you like to dig in the dirt and design beautiful outdoor spaces. Why not give us a call? There are always light maintenance tasks to do and some jobs that take a crew to complete. Be sure to check out the volunteer page on our website for ideas about how you might add your talents and time to the care and preservation of The Middleville and District Museum. There are many ways to get involved. Use our social media links to contact us. Give us a call or drop by the Museum during the season to find out how you can get involved. Whether you are looking for a place to spend some time or just want to lend an occasional hand as we gear up to emerge from a challenging time, we need to engage more than ever. We look forward to hearing about your interest in the Museum and its ongoing engagement with its wider community. 

The Middleville and District Museum sits in an idyllic setting in the heart of Lanark Highlands. It is flanked by stately trees. The yard boasts an old apple tree that still bears delicious fruit in late summer. A sprinkling of bird houses provide a welcome space for feathered friends. Of course, being part of the Highland landscape means lots of hills and rocks. The surrounding fields are home to a herd of cattle and our favourite neighbourhood team of Clydesdales, Bonhomme and P'tit Guy. Several picnic tables provide visitors a shady rest stop. The expansion of the Museum grounds last season inspired plans for future flower beds and other interesting features. The installation of a pair of old doors on the end of the Museum, last year, laid the groundwork for a country motif. Plans for a farming vignette will take shape this season. Be sure to check it out when you visit the grounds. A rock garden will be planted with traditional flowers to provide a pop of colour on the hillside. 

The landscape is indeed inspirational. One of the Museum's volunteers, Mary Beth, loves to garden and she was inspired by the Museum and its surroundings. 
The following is Mary Beth's vision:
When I first discovered the Middleville Museum, I was impressed by the displays and the familiar names that took me back in time. I was so excited to make this wonderful discovery in my own back yard. After exploring the past, I left the building and walked the property along the split rail fence, seeing the neighbouring cows and horses, the lilacs and the meadow. All these brought back memories of my childhood on the farm.
Because I was captivated by the Museum, I volunteered to work there and help maintain the memories of those strong pioneers who had the courage to start over again. The inside displays are imaginative and have stories to tell and I thought wouldn’t it be wonderful to bring some of that to the outdoors. Just imagine, there could be wild roses and sunflowers along the split rail fence. Birdhouses built by children mounted on the posts and the whole fence line alive with colour, fragrance and birdsong. Then perhaps a scarecrow garden at the corner of the property – children could design and dress the scarecrows. Then after they visit the scarecrows, they could run along the paths cut through meadow grass, climbing on rocks and hay bales.
Picture a Memory Garden planted with flowers and shrubs rescued from the homesteads, or perhaps planted by an ancestor in a spot on the grounds. We could label the plant recognizing who owned it and where it was grown. What a wonderful way to honour our pioneer grandmothers, who always found time to plant flowers. We could plant a heritage vegetable and herb garden surrounded by rail fencing. The plants and herbs would all be labeled to describe them and explain how they are used and stored. Then to have a large flower garden beside the Museum. The garden could be perennial and grow wonderful old plants like daisies, black-eyed Susans, phlox, columbine, hollyhocks and asters. There could be a walkway through the flowers with a bench for a visitor to sit and just breathe. Perhaps a willow trellis covered with climbing roses or ivy or morning glories- someplace beautiful to stop and take a picture. The perfect way to complete any visit to the Museum could be to roam around the yard. What a wonderful, magical place to spend an afternoon. I have big dreams for the Middleville Museum yard and with the support of the volunteers and the community we can do it. It all starts with one small seed.
If you share Mary Beth's love of gardening, consider joining us in our planting projects, this season. Contact us through our social media, e-mail, telephone or just drop by when we're open. Hope to see you soon, trowel in hand. 

​The Middleville and District Museum is a place of learning for visitors of all ages. The 2022 season will begin with five new activities waiting for children to explore. Young visitors can guess and check at three stops along the way in their tour. Two other stops encourage children to engage with an activity specially designed for them. 

​The Museum has a series of QR Codes sprinkled throughout its exhibits. Visitors of all ages can use their phones to scan and enjoy additional content. Maybe they will learn more about the traditional harvest of wild rice in the Indigenous Exhibit or enjoy the sound of a tin flute in the Music Exhibit.

On the way out the door at the end of their visit, children are encouraged to pick up a ‘Grab and Go’ bag that includes a few activities to enjoy at home. We are excited to welcome visitors of all ages to the Museum as we strive to provide something for everyone. ​

​The Middleville and District Museum is pleased to announce a new focus coming this season. The Museum has a treasure trove of reading material to share with visitors. In the midst of the historic 1861 stone building, a pair of comfy chairs will await those who like to immerse themselves in a good read. So, why not spend a few leisurely hours lounging in a chair while browsing through a scrapbook or leafing through an old magazine? Maybe you have a special interest in traditional carpentry methods or old fashioned arts and crafts. Our shelves are full of books about local history and community life. We have over 75 family histories represented on our genealogy shelf. These histories contain many surprises such as photos and documents hidden in the pages. See our online Resource Library on our Collection page for a full index of the Family Histories. 
Reading Room visitors are welcome to drop in when the Museum is open to the public on weekends or schedule an appointment during the week. To schedule an appointment outside Museum hours, simply fill in the form found on the new Reading Room page on our website beginning in May and staff will be in touch to confirm your visit or phone 613-259-5462. 
Each week, the Reading Room page will feature a few selections to spark your interest. With so many titles, we’re sure to have something for everyone. 
So, if you have a few spare hours, come by and sit a spell. Spend some time perusing the vast collection of reading material the Museum has to offer.
Hope to see you as soon as the Museum opens for the season on Victoria Day Weekend. 
Note: Reading Room visits during the week do depend on volunteer availability, but most days and times can be accommodated.

A few good books found on the shelves at The Middleville and District Museum.

50​The Middleville and District Museum is the caretaker of many original documents that chronicle the history of a place and its people. The Museum’s Collection includes land deeds, township petitions to council, wills, marriage certificates, mortgages, indentures and letters. Researchers can browse through tax rolls to find clues about land transactions and settler movements as far back as 1851 for Lanark and Darling Townships both in original form and on disc. Birth, death and marriage records are found in personal diaries, scrapbooks of newspaper clippings and some hand copied church lists. The Museum offers transcribed records of marriage registers for Bathurst District (1831-1852), Victoria District (1839-1858), Renfrew County (1858-1869), Lanark County (1858-1869), Balderson & District (1890-1912). Transcriptions of ‘Vital Records’ for Dalhousie (1825-1869) and for the Presbyterian Churches of Dalhousie and Lanark as early as 1830 and up to 1896 are available. Baptismal & Marriage records for Knox Church (McDonald’s Corners) and some Baptismal records for Methodist Churches in Lanark County (1844-1875) are transcribed, as well. Local cemetery records are compiled in booklets. Several community binders hold pages of written reports, stories and pictures that provide answers to many local questions. Transcripts of census records for 1820-22 (Military Settlement, Lanark, Perth, Richmond), 1842 (Lanark County), 1851 (Lanark, Darling Twp), 1861 (Lanark, Ramsay Twp), 1871 (Lanark Twp) and 1891 (Lanark, Darling, Ramsay Twp) are available to confirm names of household members. Lists of settlers for Lanark Township and the lots of land they initially settled on after arriving in the early 1800’s are helpful to visitors. The Museum has several old maps with names of settlers indicated on the surveyed lots. 
Over 37 000 Lanark Families are part of Ancestry.ca and available to researchers through subscription to that website. People who come to the Museum can access the Lanark Families during their visit.
The Macaulay-Borrowman Photo Collection of 300 photos, is available in albums for visitors to view and make family connections. Many buildings and community events are captured in these prints. Family members often see ancestors for the very first time in the pages of these albums. 
The Museum has an expanded space for researchers to delve into these resources on site. Volunteers are happy to make copies of family documents and photos that are discovered. 
The Museum is continually working toward making many of these original resources available on its website. An index of the Macaulay-Borrowman Photos will soon be added to the Museum’s online Resource Library. So, whether families looking to trace their ancestors want to view actual photos and documents or search online, the Middleville and District Museum is working to connect people to their history. Please continue to check in with our online Resource Library found on our Collection page as more items will be added in the coming season. 
Mark a space on your calendar to come and explore the documents, books and photographs the Middleville and District Museum has to offer. The Museum opens for the season on Victoria Day weekend, May 21st, 22nd and 23rd, 2022. We hope to see you this season. 

If it was needed, the Olde General Store was sure to have it. That was what the community counted on. If customers wanted something special, they could look through the pages of the Sears Roebuck, Simpson or Eaton’s catalogues and place an order through the local store. Catalogues for local manufacturers like the Findlay Foundry or McPherson’s Shoes were also available. The store owners would pride themselves on supplying their communities with the essentials of life and a few novelty items on hand for their more adventurous customers. There were the staples of life like flour, sugar and molasses. The women relied on the store to carry thread, buttons and a little lace. The men would stop by when they needed horse bits or brushes. Children would be happy to get a special treat from the candy jar. The family might purchase a pail of honey, box of green tea, block of cheese, scoop of spice, bolt of cotton or skein of yarn. Lanterns, kerosene oil and a bundle of candles might make it on the list. In the harvest season, farm implements, and binder twine would be popular purchases. 
Lanark Township had several store keepers throughout its history. Artifacts belonging to some of these merchants are on display in the General Store exhibit at the Middleville and District Museum. There are ledgers from the store owned by A.R. McIntyre for 1872, 1884, 1887 and Halpenny’s store in Clayton for 1926-28 and 1959. Visitors will see receipt books belonging to W.W. Cameron and R.L. Somerville. Merchants often had calendars to advertise their store. The Museum has many of these old calendars including from the stores of R.L. Drysdale, Lionel Barr, Greer’s, Wm Croft & Sons and John A. Erskine. The names of other local merchants like Glossop, Blackburn, McCready and Stewart all of Middleville, McLelland (MacDonald’s Corners), Paul (Hopetown), McLaren, Peter Barr, Miller, Hornell and Wesley Tennant & Company (Almonte), Gilbert White (Poland) are among those recorded at the Museum. Visitors will recall many of these family names from local communities. 

​Many local communities in Lanark County have had a few names over the years. Often a community’s original name made reference to a first settler or someone who built a mill or other important community structure. Sometimes, the name was established when a post office was registered. It makes sense that when mail needed an address, its destination needed a name. Other communities had a change of name when the post office was registered because of a conflict with another community in the area already using that name. Whatever the circumstance, some names endured and others are a part of history.
Two local communities in the former Lanark Township that found their names when the post office was established are Lloyd and Galbraith. The Lloyd Post Office was opened at Lot 17, Conc 12 in 1894. The post office was built right into a part of the Tennant family kitchen. The Post Office and hence the community became known as Lloyd named at the request of Mrs. Tennant in memory of her son who had died at age 15. Edward Tennant was it’s first Postmaster and remained in that job until he sold his home to D. J. and Mary Ann Thompson in 1904. D.J. then assumed the role until it’s closure in 1913.
In the case of Galbraith, just across the Floating Bridge from Lloyd, the Post Office was established in 1885 and was in service in the Hogg family home until it closed in 1908. Both the actual Lloyd and Galbraith Post Offices are on display in the Middleville and District Museum. The Lloyd Post Office holds many old artifacts of postal history. The Galbraith Post Office still bears the names of its neighbours from long ago on remnants of worn out labels and pencil scribbles on the wood. The legible names are: Command, Foster, Gulliford, Manson, Middleton, Munroe, Price, Rintoul, Rodger, Scoular, and Thompson. One faded name is probably ‘Penman’.
The Middleville Post Office is the third old postal relic in the Museum’s Collection. It opened in 1847 and James Guthrie was its first Postmaster. It was in operation until it closed in 1970. Mail was transported from Middleville to Lanark by The Royal Mail Stage driven by John E Blackburn beginning in 1912. The Royal Mail Stage is also on display at the Museum.
As stated before, some communities had to change their names with the opening of a post office. Some of these communities were:
Mount Pleasant or Sumner’s Corners became Ashton when its post office was registered in 1840. It was reportedly named after John Sumner’s family estate back in England.
Apple Tree Falls also called Teskeyville became Appleton when the post office was opened.
Middleton became Middleville which is appropriate because of its geographically central location within Lanark County.
Norway Pine Falls was Snedden’s Mills and Rosebank. The post office was registered as Blakenay in 1847 when it opened. The name Rosebank lingered on with many residents.
Upper Pakenham became Cedar Hill with the registration of the post office in 1861.
Bellamy Mills was changed to Clifton with the arrival of the post office and then eventually became Clayton.
Ferguson’s Falls was the community’s name, but the area post office was registered as Millford.
Rosedale kept its community name despite a post office being registered as Montague in 1859.
Pakenham Mills adopted the name of Dickson’s Mills when the post office opened in 1832. Now the community is known as Pakenham.
A number of area communities had a rural post office established for a time period. These communities were: Bennies Corners 1851, Black’s Corners, Bolingbrooke (Bob’s Lake) by 1868, Brightside 1880’s, Elphin, Flower Station 1880’s, Halls Mills 1880’s, Halpenny 1895, Hopetown, Lavant, Lanark Village 1824, Maberley 1860’s, McGarry, McPhail, Poland, Prospect 1850’s, Tatlock 1864, Tennyson, Wilbur 1880’s.
You may be familiar with these community names. Some persist and others are found on an old map or in the pages of an historical atlas. The Middleville and District Museum has many old maps and atlases in its Collection. The Museum displays a wall map of rural post offices of Ontario. These resources are available for visitors to peruse simply for interest or often diligent research.
Names and dates of rural communities and post offices were taken from Jean S. McGill’s: A Pioneer History of the County of Lanark, 1968. Lloyd Post Office information comes from Rosetta WI Tweedsmuir History provided by the late L.W. (Bert) Thompson, 1982.

Innisville, Ontario is located in the Township of Drummond/North Elmsley about 12-15 miles east of Perth on Highway #7 (Trans Canada Highway) and spans both sides of the Mississippi River. The bridge connects the north and south parts of the village. Innisville was first settled by immigrants as early as 1814 and was originally known as Freer’s Falls or Rapids, then Ennisville and later Innisville. The original bridge is believed to have been built sometime in the late 1820’s.  At one point in the mid 1800’s, this mill community had flour, grist, woollen, saw and shingle mills. It had two taverns, a hotel, a store, a church, a school and even its own doctor. There were also wagon, blacksmith, cooper and shoe shops. At this time, Innisville had a population of about one hundred and fifty people. That number was reported to be three hundred in 1881. 

The bridge in Innisville would have been essential to the community as it connected settlement on both sides of the river. Sometime probably between the late 1890’s and early 1900’s, a group of young women can be seen in the shallow water under the Innisville Bridge. They were probably cooling off from the summer’s heat as they did their laundry. In one photo, they even have a washing machine perched on the rocks. The moving water under the bridge would have made a satisfactory place to launder their clothes. The gentle current would provide a natural rinse. This photograph provides a great example of how people integrated the natural elements around them into their everyday lives. 
The woman on the left of the pictures was Lizzie Dial. Sarah Elizabeth Dial Crampton (1872 – 1951) was born in Innisville, Ontario on the Mississippi River to Jeremiah McMoran Dial and Elizabeth (Bessie) Code. Lizzie married Samuel Charles Crampton in 1924. People familiar with Innisville area history will recognize these family names from the community. ​

The Middleville and District Museum has a good display of washing machines used through the decades. The oldest one is a simple trough that sits on a base and can be rocked back and forth to slosh the cloth against a wooden ‘agitator’ in the middle. The Museum’s collection represents laundry machines from this primitive model through early barrel models and up to wringer washers that many people will recall their mothers and grandmothers using. A brief timeline includes an early manual washer with a lever being patented in 1846, a rotary version with revolving paddles was in use in 1858, followed by a wringer washer to squeeze water from the cloth in 1861, and the first ‘automatic’ machine in 1937. Machines with a ‘spin dry’ feature were introduced in the 1950’s, replacing wringers.  Many children and adults experienced a dangerous encounter with a wringer and needed medical attention. There was always a stern reminder to ‘stay away’ from the wringer.  Visitors to the Museum can take a trip through time as they view the progression of various washing machine models.  ​