The penultimate Parks Canada Fireside Friday brought almost 40 curious visitors up close and personal to 27 interesting artifacts at Navy Hall last week.
Dressed in period British officer’s costume as Fort Major Donald Campbell, right down to the glasses and the watch and fob he was wearing, an enthusiastic Dan Laroche, Manager and Supervisor at Fort George, presided over an hour-long session dubbed “Wacky, Weird and Wonderful: When Artifacts Go Wild”.
“It’s one of my favourite days of the year when I get to do this,” Laroche told The Local Friday. “During a usual visit to the fort, unless somebody spends hours talking to one of us, they don’t usually get a chance to learn so much about these items. And here they get to touch them.”
A snuff horn, a gunpowder box, a sausage stuffer, a cribbage board from the early 19th century, a bed warmer, a marrow spoon and an early Wedgewood cup and saucer were among the pieces that Laroche laid out on tables within reach of the participants. His explanations shed much light on the everyday life of the soldiers and militia members who once populated the fort.
Officers, explained Laroche, though not all aristocrats, came from reasonable backgrounds because they were expected to be educated, able to read and write. At the time, education in England was not free, so only those who could afford it would go to school.
“That was the big difference between the upper and middle classes,” he explained. “In contrast, Scotland had more access to free education than anywhere else in the Empire. Statistically speaking, there were more Scottish officers in the British army than English officers, and that is exactly the reason why.”
Holding up a gunpowder box that he opened to reveal three tin canisters, Laroche explained that it would have been part of the personal property of a soldier, used to hold three different types of gunpowder for an officer to use for hunting purposes.
“After the attempted mutiny in 1803, Brock wanted to keep the soldiers out of the town because it was known as the nest of all wickedness,” said Laroche with a sly smile. “That occupied their spare time. The two things that are the bane of existence in the military are booze and boredom. So Brock allowed them to go hunting using their military-issued musket.”
Though Laroche guided the walk through history that the artifacts inspired, it was a participatory session. As he held up each item he encouraged the attendees to take a guess as to what each was. Once he explained their relevance, he fielded many probing questions from an engaged audience.
The two-piece sausage stuffer, which Laroche later identified as the only item on hand Friday that was actually a reproduction, received some of the most out-there of those attempts.
The two things that are the bane of existence in the military are booze and boredom
“It’s a roller for flour,” said one attendee. “It’s a smoker,” offered another. “It’s for tenderizing meat”, was one person’s guess. Another thought it might be for decorating cakes, to which Laroche countered “sure, for Paul Bunyan’s cake.”
A deep-seated papier-mâché coaster and a bidet built into a wooden cabinet were two other items that puzzled Laroche’s audience.
Some questions popped up about exactly how Parks Canada may have gone about collecting the pieces on the tables.
“We acquire artifacts and antiques the same way you folks would if you are interested in getting them,” explained Laroche. “Almost all of these came from auctions or antique stores. Back in the 1980s Parks Canada had people whose jobs it was to go forth and find things appropriate to the period. If things need restoration, we have fairly decent conservation laboratories at our headquarters in Ottawa.”
Today, he added, most of the acquisitions are done through online auction houses, including eBay, which is how they were able to take possession of a portrait of an officer who actually was stationed at Fort George, one of the most valuable pieces on display Friday, trumped only by a framed map of the fort from 1804.
The oldest item on hand Friday? That would have been the pewter serving plate, known back then as a charger. It has the crest of King George on it, though it lacked any identification as to exactly which King George it represented. Laroche pegged the plate, from the officer’s mess to be from the 1740s, edging out an intricately decorated silver samovar, or urn, that was made in 1786.
The fact that the plate was made out of pewter prompted one interested guest to ask about its potential to include any damaging content.
“The lead content in items like this would have been quite high,” Laroche said. “Some of the soldier’s spoons were terrible with high lead content. Just about everything you’re looking at that is soldered would have been lead soldered, too. There absolutely had to be lead poisoning back then.”
At the end of the informative session, NOTL town crier Tom Pekar, a member of The Friends of Fort George, picked up a small double-barrelled pistol that a maintenance supervisor found at Queenston Heights a few years ago.
Dave Sloan of St. Catharines spent a little extra time at the end of the session getting a closer look at a flat-backed copper half-kettle that Laroche said was most likely used to make hot chocolate.
“They are really all so interesting,” Sloan said. “From a heritage perspective, the belt buckle from the Lincoln regiment soldier is very interesting. That’s part of our local history. Someone from this area had that and may or may not have survived the battle. That’s a direct link to our past.”
Laroche told The Local that there are hundreds of such items that rarely get the attention they deserve through the year. In fact, he added, the list is so long he could continue to do this annual talk for decades before ever having to repeat an item.
And in the tourism off-season, it’s an important way to keep Fort George and Parks Canada in the minds of those who live in its backyard.
“We really want to keep the relationship going with our locals,” Laroche said. “It’s a great way to keep the stories going, and it keeps us relevant. And this is all relevant to local history.”
The final Fireside Friday features Parks Canada Visitor Experience, Product Development Officer and Special Events Coordinator Peter Martin and Partnering and Engagement Officer Elizabeth LeBlanc shedding light on the British Army soldiers who wore green during the War of 1812. It takes place at Navy Hall at 11 a.m. on February 23.
