Woodstock Ontario

Christmas in the Square Arts Market

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Hello Everyone,

The Oxford Historical Society will have a booth at this year’s Arts Market where we will be selling some publications by our local authors and other items from the Woodstock Museum, NHS. We will only be accepting cash at our booth.

The dates for the Arts Market are:

Friday, November 26 from 5-8pm
Saturday, November 27 from 10am-4pm
Friday, December 3 from 5-8pm
Saturday, December 4 from 10am-4pm
Saturday, December 11 from 10am-4pm
Saturday, December 18 from 10am-4pm

There are also many other events happening downtown Woodstock for the holiday season. The complete list of events can be found on the Christmas in the Square web page.

We are looking for volunteers to help out at the booth. Each shift is three hours.

The following are the shifts that we need filled:

Friday, November 26 from 5-8pm
Saturday, November 27 from 1-4pm
Friday, December 3 from 5-8pm
Saturday, December 4 from 1-4pm
Saturday, December 11 from 1-4pm
Saturday, December 18 from 10am-1pm
Saturday, December 18 from 1-4pm

If you are interested in volunteering at our booth please send us an email: info@oxhs.ca, thank you.

Cross Stitch Patterns of Woodstock

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Historic Woodstock Cross Stitch Patterns by Helen Mackenzie

Hello Everyone,

The above cross stitch patterns were designed by Helen Mackenzie. Helen has long admired her adopted home of Woodstock, especially for its preservation of its historical buildings. She has chosen to capture elements of her favourite buildings in cross stitch patterns.

These patterns are available on her Etsy shop page: Blyss Stitch Designs

Complete kits of the patterns are also available for sale at the Woodstock Museum, NHS. The kits include the pattern and all the materials needed – hoop, fabric, needle, embroidery floss etc., to complete each project. Each kit also includes some historical information about the buildings. Contact the Woodstock Museum, NHS for pricing.

Preserving Caroline East’s Home

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Caroline East’s Home
685761 Hwy 2, RR #5, Woodstock ON N4S 7V9
Photo by Doug & Kathie Richards

Caroline East’s house, pictured above, was built in 1839 by Henry Vansittart, for his sister Caroline East. It is a brick 14 room Georgian style house in Eastwood, ON. In June of 2020, the City of Woodstock purchased the property from Dr. R. Corlett and are planning to develop the area as the Northeast Industrial Park.

There are many concerns about conserving the house as it is the last remaining house that Vansittart built. Henry Vansittart’s house in what is now called Vansittart Woods was torn down in the 1950’s, and his son John George Vansittart’s house, which was located at the corner of Lansdowne & Dundas, was torn down when Commercial Print Craft bought the property in the 1980’s. It would be a shame to have the last Vansittart house also demolished. More information about Caroline East and Henry Vansittart can be found in the book “The Governor’s Road”, by Mary Byers & Margaret McBurney, on page 239. The book is available from the Woodstock Public Library.

The City of Woodstock has commissioned a study of the Northeast Industrial Park, https:// www.cityofwoodstock.ca/en/city-governance/municipal-studies-and-plans.aspx#Northeast-Industrial- Park-Planning–Servicing-Study

The Oxford Historical Society is asking for the public support in helping to preserve this lovely home. To voice your support please use the above link to read about the proposed land use and how to contact city representatives.

Doug Symons’ Tribute

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Hello Everyone,

Please read this guest post from the Woodstock Museum, NHS.

Give a shout out to historical stories!

In honour of the re-release of Doug Symons’ popular book “The Village that Straddled a Swamp”, the Woodstock Museum would like your help in reminiscing about a favourite piece of writing or photo from the book, and also if you have memories of Doug personally you’d like to share.

Please look through the book, choose an article, a photo, a quote or two about a certain local history site or story you find meaningful or interesting to you and share that story with the Museum. We would like to do a short bit of filming to pay tribute to Doug’s writings in a specific local history way. Some memories may be included in an upcoming exhibit related to “The Village that Straddle a Swamp”.

If you want to participate but are unsure of what to highlight we have some prepared prompts for anyone not familiar with the book. A voice recording may also be an option. If possible, we would like to set up a time for you to come into the museum during the first week or two of November.

Contact Kerrie Gill to set up a time at (519) 537-8411 ext. 2903 or kgill@cityofwoodstock.ca    

Tonight: Zoom Meeting – Wednesday, October 27, 2021

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Please join the Oxford Historical Society at our next Zoom meeting as Elaine Becker discusses the research and stories that went into So They Came: Young Men Farmers.

Excerpt from the book: “Destination Woodstock – The stories of young men who left home and family to make a new way of life in Canada is both thrilling and encouraging. They were not outstanding in any other way than that they had a hope for the future. They came from families facing untold challenges of unemployment, illness and death, as well as the lack of hope for the future”

Learn about the role that the Salvation Army played in bringing the immigrants to Canada, what was involved in researching Burnside Lodge, tracing family members, creating the list of immigrants and many other aspects of the book.