Trio of museums in Port Burwell sail us back through time
ON A SUMMER VISIT, GET A FASCINATING SENSE OF THE PAST
Now that summer is really here, trips out of the city are lots of fun.
Some destinations are informative at the same time.
We decided to visit three small museums not far from Waterloo Region.
The Marine Museum in Port Burwell and the Forge and Anvil Museum in nearby Sparta are excellent examples of museums created by local people who treasure relics of our past.
HMCS Objiwa, a Cold War submarine that’s now a museum, brings the more recent past into the present.
Port Burwell, where the Big Otter Creek empties into Lake Erie, was noted as a potential hub for commerce as early as 1830.
It has always been a place where fishermen can shelter boats in the safety of the mouth of the river. Forty-two ships were built there between 1821 and 1918.
In its heyday it really was “the place of water, road and rail.” Rail ferry ships brought rail cars fully loaded with coal across the lake from Ohio to fuel Ontario industry further inland.
Nowadays it is quieter, with the beach and tourists the centre of activity.
The Marine Museum and the Lighthouse preserve memories of the past; bringing visitors face to face with ships and models all sorts of equipment.
Huge lenses with multiple glass facets used to project light from the top of a lighthouse and air
scoops as wide as a car give visitors a sense of the life on boats and land.
One of the maps at the museum shows the sites of the many shipwrecks that occurred near Long Point and Port Burwell, bringing the dangers of Lake Erie into focus.
HMCS Ojibwa stands sombrely on the river bank just below the town of Port Burwell.
From the outside its metal structure has reddish patches, making it look a little shabby. But it’s still imposing at 90 metres long and five storeys high.
Visitors enter the sub from a small door five metres up the side, stepping into a strange, cramped world. Seventy-two men lived in the sub for 30 to 90 days at a time.
On the inside tour, visitors will see torpedo bays, the crew’s accommodations and the control room.
Modern kids will be amazed to hear that crew members were permitted only three to five minutes of running water per week. When the sub was running in silent mode, no one was even allowed to sleep, in case they snored. It’s unlike the Hollywood version of submarine life.
Crossing over the Otter Creek Bridge in Port Burwell and driving along the Waterfront Trail through lush farmland will bring visitors to a road marked Quaker Line.
Sparta was settled by Quakers beginning in 1813. Many original buildings in the hamlet are still lived in today. In 1870, railroads passed through nearby St. Thomas, turning Sparta into a backwater rather than the bustling small town it could have been.
The Forge and Anvil museum building was built in 1827 from clay and straw as a blacksmith and carriage shop and was in use until 1947.
The centre of the exhibit space is taken up by a “democrat,” a two-row buggy set on leaf springs to reduce the bumps.
It is hard to imagine a woman in long skirts climbing into the high box for a ride that must have been far from smooth.
Only a small forge and one anvil remain but with the addition of all the necessities of a print shop, including the press and forms and letters, it is fascinating to modern viewers. Woodworking tools and bobbin lace as well as some antique quilts show other aspects of life in the 19th century.
The Sparta and District Historical Society also operates another museum, Sparta Church Museum and Cultural Centre, which houses temporary exhibits.
The current exhibit focuses on women’s work and toys from 1800 to 1950.
The historical society also is responsible for the production of a brochure with information on the many buildings, made with handmade brick, in various styles from the early 19th century in the village.