Clyde River

Our 7th Annual Clyde River Lectures Series begins this Saturday. Our theme this year is “Cars, Photography and Fashion”. Here’s our line-up:

Saturday, January 26th, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. – Rudy Croken – “Are you for or against the Automobile?”

Rudy Croken, Author of Ban the Automobile, Instrument of Death

In the early part of the twentieth century Prince Edward Island earned itself distinction of a dubious nature in the history of the automobile and transportation in Canada, and indeed the civilized world. Why would the Island turn its back on what many consider the defining invention of the twentieth century, the automobile? Could all the rest of the world be wrong? Here’s a story of a local meeting from The Guardian, Nov. 4th, 1914:

Anti-Automobile Meeting – A branch of the Anti-Automobile Association was formed in New Haven Hall on the 24th ult. when the following officers were elected:–President, Angus McPhee, New Haven; Vice President, Neil McKenzie, Canoe Cove; Treasurer, P. J. Berrigan, Dunedin; Committee: George Cruise, Kingston; D. Fraser, Kingston; W. D. Shaw, St. Catherine’s; John Scott, Clyde River; and John McKinnon, New Haven. The several speakers spoke in a very decisive manner against the running of autos on the country roads, which are in such a condition to render it dangerous to the travelling public. All the members present pledged themselves to support no candidate for the Legislature who would not promise to oppose the running of autos or grant them any more privileges of running on the country roads.

Was the general area West of Charlottetown for or against the automobile? Clyde River, Cumberland, New Haven and Canoe Cove had originally opposed the auto, but by March of 1917, some felt the attitude toward the new contraption had changed. After a meeting at Afton Hall which came out against the automobile by a reported 36 to 6 count, Artemus Betts of Cumberland penned a letter to The Patriot on March 29, 1917, challenging the numbers reported to the media by John MacDonald. Betts claimed the actual count was 36 to 26 against the auto and that many local people had left the meeting before the vote was taken. He also contended that many of those who voted against the automobile were “outsiders”. Betts wrote that he, “…circulated a petition in favour of opening up a certain defined area for automobiles which was signed by over ninety bona fide residents in the district.” He further stated that, “Many people strongly resented the meeting being held by outsiders who came merely for the purpose of raising trouble in our district.”

You don’t want to miss how the drama unfolded. Find out why some Clyde River and area men were initially against the automobile and how eventually horseless carriages came to dominate our Island roads. Rudy will be selling his book, Ban the Automobile, Instrument of Death. at this event.

Rudy Croken is a resident of Kensington. Rudy is a retired educator and had a 32-year career as a teacher and administrator at the elementary and intermediate school levels. He has had a life-long interest in automobiles, is a 40-year member of the Prince Edward Island Antique Car Club and currently serves as its President.

Saturday, February 9th, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. – Wayne Barrett & Anne MacKay – “How the Local Landscape influenced our Photography”

Anne MacKay and Wayne Barrett

1977 was a memorable year for Anne and Wayne. It was in that year they were married. They moved to beautiful St. Catherine’s, to a place that overlooked the West River with the view towards Dunedin. That same year they also set up their business: Barrett & MacKay Photography.

“This area, where we chose to live has come to mean more to us than property or a house – it became our sanctuary. It was here we raised our children. This is the place we went for walks with them along the tree-lined, canopied dirt road in St. Catherine’s, and beyond to Canoe Cove. From our verandah, it was a place to listen to birds in the trees behind the house and observe the little fox that always returned to have her kits under our horse shed. This area was, and still is beautiful with its tidal river, wooded hills reflected down upon the incoming tide, the lay of the land – the landscape. This place, in every season, always offered us a photographic gift to capture. Now, it is 2019, and we are still living in this place and in the same home (many renovations later). As always, this place we call our home, this small area of PEI is still our sanctuary.”

The landscape of this region, nurtured their photographic creativity. Through the 40+ years of their photographic careers, this area has been an influence in their approach to landscape photography. They will offer us a visual presentation of their landscape photography and talk about how living in this area has influenced their creativity. Wayne Barrett and Anne MacKay are husband, wife, and the creative team in Barrett & MacKay Photography. As professional photographers, they achieved success in the fields of: wildlife, nature, landscape, tourism and environmental photography. Several times in the past decade, Wayne has earned a number of awards from the Atlantic Canada ICE AWARDS. Among the awards are three Craft Awards for the outstanding images he created for the Print Campaign for Newfoundland Tourism. In 2017 Canada Post selected Wayne’s image of Mistaken Point UNESCO World Heritage Site in Newfoundland to be a Canadian World Heritage collector’s stamp. Mistaken Point was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2016. Wayne produced the photography for the submission. In 2018 Canada Post selected Anne’s image of Covehead lighthouse in the PEI National Park as one of five photographs from across Canada for the Far and Wide (O Canada) series for Permanent Domestic Stamp Collections. They are now semi-retired, but during their working careers, they created and provided a wide variety of creative photographic services for advertising agencies, corporations and editorial clients. Assignments and stock images are still featured in ad campaigns, published books and calendars. At this point in time, their photography is more about licensing their images and producing limited edition large prints from their favorite photos. In addition to assignments, they published 34 books with: Oxford University Press, Nimbus Publishers, Key Porter, National Geographic, Random House and Greystone-Firefly Books. For a full list of their awards and books, click here.

Saturday, February 23rd, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. – Arnold Smith – “What our Ancestors Wore”

Arnold Smith

Arnold will share his knowledge and research on what our ancestors wore and feature a display of vintage and reproduction clothing to give you a glimpse into their wardrobes – from everyday clothing to special occasions. Feel free to take along any clothing from your collections if you want to learn more about its history.

Arnold Smith has always had a keen interest in history. His first ancestors arrived on Prince Edward Island in the 1780’s following the American Revolution. He was raised and continues to live on the family farm on the Smith Road in Pleasant Valley where his family have lived for more than five generations.

Arnold has many interests from researching and restoring heritage buildings; collecting and restoring antiques; heritage cooking; and sits on a variety of community and heritage boards.

In 1989 Arnold portrayed Andrew A. MacDonald, the youngest Father of Confederation during the 125th celebrations. While doing research for the character he discovered a wealth of information on the fashions and daily life of the 1860’s. Arnold’s mother was an avid sewer, so he arranged for her to make period reproductions for Parks and People – he designed the outfits and helped his mother construct them.

Over the past 30 years he has gathered extensive information and has amassed a large library of reference books and patterns along with a substantial collection of vintage and reproduction clothing.

In 2007 Arnold was a founding patron of the Watermark Theatre. And over the past three summers has been involved with the costume production for The River Clyde Pageant. Note: We are beginning this lecture at 2:00 p.m. as Arnold works at Bedeque Auction on Saturday mornings.

The Clyde River Lecture Series takes place at the Riverview Community Centre at 718 Clyde River Road. All presentations will be followed by refreshments and a social time. These events are a great chance to get out in the winter to learn about and discuss our interesting local history. Our museum will be open to view our collection of over 200 artifacts and heritage photos. For more information on this series, please contact Vivian Beer, vivian@eastlink.ca.