Village in Lights

Above...a sample of the village in lights. Below, an example of the product this working village creates. Yup, thats real knotted iron. droooolllll. And the gorgeous windsor chairs are made there as well. The carpet is, I believe, made to spec in Montreal.
The house, Crysler House, was moved to this site when they flooded the St. Lawrence River to create the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Last night, Alison and Ian drove us to Morrisburg to see the village of lights. Upper Canada Village (an 1867 re-enactment village) throws period re-enactment to the winds, and covers themselves with thousands of christmas lights. The re-enactors are not there of course, school is not "in", the sawmill is silent, but the church was rockin with carolers, and all the buildings were picked out in coloured lights. It was sort of magical.

That combined with a remarkably good meal in Morrisburg made for an excellent evening. The cook wants to do "fine dining", however I am not quite sure what that means. He is Indian, and makes a wonderful tandoori. Thats fine enough for me!

Happy New Year everybody..........

Invasion of Canada

Summer of 07, the pesky blue coated American troops took it in their heads to cross the St. Lawrence and try to effect a regime change in the little town on the outskirts of Crysler's Farm. Opposing them were three regiments of New Yorkers (we're just as "American" as they are!) the 78 Highlanders, and a few green coated members of the "1st American Regiment" (Roger's Rangers) based in York. (what is now Toronto) Our correspondents were there to catch all the action!
78 Highlanders mustering at Crysler's Farm. They are on the front lines, to prevent the invasion. Off in the distance you could hear the shots and cannons of the invading army coming towards the town..

The previous night, the troops had thought long and hard about the efforts which they would be called upon on the morrow. Their tents are all ready for the evening, and you see these gentlemen without their usual red coats, their argyle socks and red vests are plenty enough to ward off the evening chill. They brushed the coals off the lid of the dutch oven, and served beans and bacon to the troops. Candle lanterns were all that was allowed, and the evening was very restful and "period".

The commander of the 78 Highlanders, Jock W. Looking smug and happy to be in battle again! That little church in the background had been removed from what is now the bed of the St. Lawrence River when they put the dam in to create the seaway. The whole town is made up of such salvaged buildings.
The Sergeant Major is co-ordinating with a red coat regiment from New York. Loyalists all! The fellas in the high boots and white pants are from Albany.

Here you see a cannon being pulled onto the battlefield by the King's Loyal New Yorkers...a blue coated regiment from Lake Champlain. As always they fight for Britain, even though their countrymen have mostly decided to throw their lot in with that upstart Washington. For their loyalty, they will have their lands, property and bank accounts seized, and will be forced to move north of the St. Lawrence.

A red coat in the gathering dusk, preparing an ambush. By his tri corner hat, you know he is from Albany.

This is what he is facing. As he reloads after trying to pick off one of the cannoneers, the cannon goes off, (and if it was real) sending hundreds of musket balls like a great shotgun towards the British lines.

After it was all over, both sides assembled in the mess tent, the dead rose again to shake hands and have a wee dram together, and the fireworks went off to celebrate the eternal friendship of two great nations. Next year, we'll do it again!

Lights

The Upper Canada Village is Canada's answer to Jamestown. Well, sort of. Unlike Jamestown, UCV never really existed. However when the St. Lawrence Seaway was created, a lot of nice old historical buildings were fated to be drowned forever by all those wiers and dams. So they moved many of them, and created a village similar to what would be found along the St. Lawrence in 1867. There is a blacksmith shop, a broom maker's shop, a school house, a cobblers, a flour mill, and a whole lot more.

Normally it is closed through the winter, though of course there is a caretaker staff who string quite modern strings of lights all around the buildings, and during the 12 days of Christmas, they hold a festival of lights. The gentle horses pull the sleighs and carriages thorugh the streets, and there are choirs in the church, bread baking in the bakery, and cheese being made and sold in the general store.

There is no attempt to really re-create anything....it is too cold, and during the evenings, electric lights and heaters make the experience bearable..and Upper Canada Village becomes a sort of theme park. But thats okay. After all, everybody likes a sleigh ride!

And we didn't have any snow....so a lot of the magic was missing. Wagons replaced the sleighs, and their hooves made a sort of "klink klink" sound on the frozen ground. But the chocolate was hot, the horses pretty, everybody refused to sing carols (a blessing), and it was a better use of an evening than watching "Its a Wonderful Life" again.