Haldimand County Museum & Archives and 1835 Log Cabin

"County Council now has an opportunity to do the right thing.  Defeat this report!"  Will our elected representatives listen to their constituents or will they simply ratify the administrative staff's recommendations?

The 1835 Log Cabin

Settlers often held their land long before a deed could be secured.  The Wintemute deed dates the cabin back to 1818.  Log homes of this exact size and shape were compulsory for a land allotment by government order dated York 1798.  When the Six Nations lands were opened for settlement around 1834 or 35, one of the early pioneers Thomas Nicholas built his log cabin beside the plank road in Oneida, Highway 6.  The Nicholas family came from South Cornwall along the English Channel.  They emigrated to Canada in 1832, located in St. Andrews, Ontario, moved to Calendonia in 1835.  When the family outgrew the little log cabin, additions were made.  Windows were covered over leaving no remains of the former pioneer structure.

Later, the Wintemute family was the owner of the farm home.  The cabin was last used as a home in 1960 and was still owned by the Wintemutes.  In June, 1960 the home was threatened with its removal from the site or to be demolished as there were plans for development of Highway 6.  During the demolition carpenters found that the log cabin was almost in perfect condition.  Mr .Wintemute kindly donated it to the Haldimand Historical Society.

In the fall of 1960 the society became part of Haldimand County and under its jurisdiction as the Haldimand County Museum.  The County arranged for the logs from the cabin to be brought to Cayuga and stored in the jail yard for the winter to be treated for any insects.  Dick Metcalfe, John Metcalfe's father, was the jailor at the time.  The log cabin was rebuilt in 1961 and opened in October of that year.

This year, the current Haldimand County Council has approved an administrative recommendation that the Court House Grounds be cleared of public buildings.  The log cabin is destined to be moved to a location in Cheapside near Selkirk - the Wilson MacDonald Museum.



Future Location of Log Cabin

[Photo:  Court House Grounds lbw]

"The intention is to sell the property, but Morison noted they will ensure 'potential developers provide the kind of use that is best for Cayuga rather than just unloading the property for the developer to do whatever they want."  ~ The Haldimand Press,  Sept. 15, 2016  In response to public protests, presentations, emails, letters and phone calls, Mayor Hewitt has stated in the November 15 Council in Committee meeting that there has been no discussion of selling.

Ward 2 Councillor hosted an eleventh-hour open house on November 22 at which he insisted that this issue can be delayed until January.  However, there has been some insistence by administrative staff that there is a pressing necessity to ratify this report before the new budget.

Please read Report PED-GM-10-2016 on Haldimand County website and contact your councillor.  Council can and in all likelihood will ratify this report on December 12.  The first step toward selling the Court House Grounds is to clear it of all public buildings.

Gift that Lasts All Year

Haldimand County Councillors have approved Report PED-GM-10-2016 which essentially dismantles the Haldimand County Museum, moves the 181-year-old Nicholas Log Cabin* to windswept Cheapside and sets the stage for the sale of the County Court House Grounds.  The current Administration Building which also sits on the grounds "...will go to ground", stated Mayor Hewitt at a Council in Committee meeting on November 15.  Councillor Corbett made it clear at the same meeting that the money from the land-sale is required to build the new centralized $18,000,000 administration building.  Many question the need for a new administration building and the lack of fiscal responsibility.

ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 12 at 6:00 p.m. councillors can and will most likely ratify the recommendations.  We encourage everyone to attend.  Let our elected representatives know that their constituents do not agree with the decisions they are making.  Please continue to send  letters, phone calls, emails expressing concern to councillors.   Mayor Hewitt conceded at the November 15 meeting that because of the volume of public response, council needs time to consider.

At a time of year that we celebrate family traditions and find time to socialize with friends, it is an effort for folks to follow the procedures and actions of municipal government, prepare presentations and appear in the council gallery.  In spite of Christmas festivities residents turned out in numbers at the hastily organized, eleventh-hour open house organized by Ward 2 Councillor Morison.

     * Tomorrow:  History of the Nicholas Log Cabin

Court House Grounds Summer 2016

This is the photo that has offended Haldimand County Councillor Fred Morison.  At the Council-in-Committee meeting on Tuesday, November 15, 2016,  Councillor Morison adamantly expressed his disapproval of a petition circulating and comments on social media prior to administrative staff reports coming to council and before council decisions.  Morison would have preferred that a better time for the petition would have been after the Council-in-Committee meeting when Report PED-GM-10-2016 was brought forward.  This report was made available to the public late Thursday, November 10 and can be ratified on December 12. 

A petition on Change.org (Search key words: log cabin), requests that Haldimand County Council save Cayuga Court House Grounds, parkland, museum, archives and 1835 log cabin.

Council has already approved at the Nov. 15th meeting to break up the museum collection and distribute it among the libraries.  Morison is holding an Open House, TUE., NOV. 22 at 2:00 and 6:30 p.m. in the Cayuga Kinsmen Community Centre to discuss these latest developments.  Please note change in location for the Open House.

[Photo:  lbw]

Looking West Over Bridge

From Day-to-Day on Talbot!

The new bridge is one lane until work is complete.   Visitors to Cayuga may want to allow extra travel time especially during the 5:00 p.m. hour - Cayuga's "rush hour"!  The stop lights at Talbot and Cayuga Street are set at green all the time for east/ west traffic;  however, there are portable stoplights at the bridge entrance both ends.  Watch for pedestrians ~ the crosswalk lights and the stoplights to One-way Cayuga Street are black-bagged.

Talbot & Cayuga St. Looking North

Talbot & Cayuga Streets Looking Toward Bridge

 

Today We Remember

 

 

Court House Grounds

Zoned Residential

Court House Grounds

The historic Court House Grounds are zoned residential.  OFFICIAL PLAN SCHEDULE "B.2"  CAYUGA URBAN AREA LAND USE PLAN ~ Map Prepared by:  Haldimand County Planning & Economic Development Dept. 

"Council is not forging ahead with residential zoning as the petition [Save the Parklands, Museum & Log Cabin*] states.  There has not even been discussion about that." ~ Ward 2 Councillor Morison.  Letter to The Haldimand Press and The Sachem, Oct. 27, 2016.

*  Change.org (Search key words i.e. log cabin)  Thank you for signing.

[Photos:  lbw]  UPDATE:  Since Report PED-GM-10-2016 became available on Thu., Nov. 10, it has become public knowledge that the County Court House Grounds are currently zoned "Institutional". 

Gables of Cayuga Hotel Visible - To be Demolished for New Library

 

Hwy 3 & Cayuga Street Intersection ~ Contrast this with Current Location of Library in Village Green

Many of us attended an Open House regarding the proposed new Cayuga branch of the library.  The services and the architecture were discussed.  The resulting location on Highway 3 was not part of the public discussion that we can recall.  Compare the chosen - done deal - future location with the current location in the quiet Village Green.


Village Green

Cayuga Branch Haldimand Public Library in Village Green



Riverfront One Block From Village Green

Haldimand County Council has slated the landmark Cayuga Hotel for demolition for fall, 2016, with the planned new Cayuga Library to begin in the spring.  Unlike Cayuga's current library (see below) set in the quiet Village Green, the new library will be within feet of busy Highway 3, specifically at the intersection of Hwy. 3 and Cayuga Street.



Many of us disagree with relocating the library in Highway 3 intersection.  It is a done-deal.

Village Green

This summer we had crosswalks, sidewalks, streets w/asphalt, hanging plants, planters.  We retained our green space in the Village Green!  We have a proper bridge aligned with the highway. 

New Bridge Looking West

 

Talbot St. Looking West Toward The Bookshop & Bridge

Looking at The Neat Little Book Shop

Summer at The Neat Little Book Shop

 

 

THOUGHTS

I love the Autumn,
And yet I cannot say
All the thoughts and things
That make me feel this way.

I love walking on the angry shore,
To watch the angry sea;
Where summer people were before,
But now there's only me.

I love wood fires at night
That have a ruddy glow.
I stare at the flames
And think of long ago.

I love the feeling down inside me
That says to run away
To come and be a gypsy
And laugh the gypsy way.

The tangy taste of apples,
The snowy mist at morn,
The wanderlust inside you
When you hear the huntsman's horn.

Nostalgia---that's the Autumn,
Dreaming through September
Just a million lovely things
I always will remember.

~ Jacqueline Bouvier
A Family of Poems/  My Favorite Poetry For Children, Caroline Kennedy, HYPERION/HYPERION BOOKS FOR CHILDREN, 2005
[Please click on photo for larger image]

Haldimand County Museum & Archives and Historic 1835 Log Cabin

Haldimand County Council conducted an Administrative Accommodation Review last year and chose to build one new administration building in Cayuga.  This decision renders the current building redundant;  in other words, "surplus administrative property".  The future of the museum, log cabin and surrounding County Court House Grounds is unclear.

 

Current Haldimand County Admin Building Cayuga
 

The Night After Bridge Moved

This is the photo that earned over ten thousand hits on facebook.  Ten thousand, five-hundred in less that forty-eight hours.  We have a new bridge aligned with the highway.



Looking East Over the Bridge Night of Move
 

There continues to be construction on and under and at both ends.  Most days there has been two-way traffic although the lanes have been narrow because of a partial lane being used for construction equipment and workers.  Starting first week of November the bridge will go down to one lane for additional work.  We will keep you posted.




Cayuga Has a Bridge in Place
 

 

We have been away.  Not from the bookshop.  Just from our blog.  So many things have been happening that we need to tell you!

We won't try to relate to you everything today.   We will post some photographs and some news stories each day.  Thank you for coming back.  We miss our readers.  Just to get started, we have been preoccupied reading Administrative Accommodation Reviews on the Haldimand County Website.  The reason?  It took a while for us to realize and understand that our six councilors and one mayor have been discussing the future of our current administration building and consequently our museum, log cabin and our historic County Court House Grounds.

Parking Lot and Admin Building

Tomorrow:  We will briefly summarize surplus administrative property, specifically our Haldimand Administrative Building.

Old Books

  

Haldimand Loves Horses

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you don't see it, ask!

 

 

Go little book,
     and wish to all
Flowers in the garden,
     meat in the hall.
A bin of wine, a spice of wit,
A house with lawns enclosing it.
A living river by the door
A nightingale in the sycamore.

~ Poet unknown

Blank Board Covering Word CLOSED

Scheduled to Align New Bridge W/Hwy 3 Saturday, August 27

Soon will the high midsummer
         pomps come on.
Soon will the musk carnations
        break and swell.
Soon will we have gold-dusted
        snapdragon
Sweet William with its homely
         cottage smell,
And stocks in fragrant blow,
Roses that down the alleys
         shine afar
And open jasmine-muffled
         lattices
And groups under the
         dreaming garden trees
And the full moon and the
         white evening star.

~ Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888
     from "Thyrsis"

Entrance to New Bridge

Looking West

Lights Line Both Sides of New Bridge
 

The new bridge is scheduled to be aligned with the highway on Saturday, August 26.