The Rural Voice, 1994-07, Page 34forest, growing on large
sand dunes.
Near the entry to Pinery
Provincial Park, across the
road on the cast side, is the
Lambton Heritage
Museum. Over 360,000
visitors have toured the
museum since it opened in
1976. A fine modern
structure fronts the
highway but some of the
finest treasures are out
bchind, some pioneer
buildings and two Targe
sheds that house
agricultural machinery.
The modern, main
museum building was 7hedford Bog area near Grand Bend.
constructed to house the collections
of two Lambton County residents
whose enthusiasm for collecting the
paraphernalia of our past knew no
bounds. Peter Eisenbach showed his
collection in a private museum in
Grand Bend for several years. Fred
Walden amassed a huge collection
before tuming it over to the county.
Walden is honoured with a gallery
named for him. The gallery offcrs a
huge variety of pressed glass, hand -
A crew plants the summer's crop on a vegetable farm in the
coloured lithographs and
(including a collection of 235 cheese
dishes collected by Jean and Ron
Sage of St. Marys). Large glass -
enclosed collections of stuffed birds,
some seldom seen in the region any
more, add interest, as does a display
of arrowheads and stone axes from
the age before Europeans arrived.
There's also a collection of various
kinds of stoves, including a kettle
stove which was used to heat water
china
NANOetrA"
‘111.410.A.
Come
FRand
RACER/ e Enjoy!
Live racing every Saturday until September 24/94 at 7:30 p.m.
Ontario Sires Stakes events
July 9 and 16, August 13 and 20
Simulcast races from Woodbine each Saturday night
(519) 364-2860
Quilters
If your handmade quilt is of the highest workmanship
and design, you can get top dollar for it at the
Flesherton Split Rail Festival
5th Annual Quilt Auction
Saturday, September 24, 1994
You receive 90% of the selling price and there are a
limited number of quilts accepted.
Deadline for Entry - July 30, 1994
First come, first served
For more information call:
Donna Cooper (519) 924-2560
30 THE RURAL VOICE
for scalding butchered pigs or
to boil grains for feeding
animals in the age before
mechanical grinding made the
food more palatable.
The second gallery, the
Lambton Gallery, features
aspects of the county's
heritage. Currently there is a
special exhibition featuring
the contribution to the life of
the county made by people
from Slovakia. The display
features family histories, both
in the old country and after
arriving in Canada,
photographs, tools and
exquisitely embroidered
clothing.
The history of the county is chaned
in a "history wall" that shows the
chain of events that led to the
Lambton County of today. There's
also a display on the pre -European
era, when the Attawandaron Indians
ruled the area. They were known as
the Neutral Indians because they
stood peacefully between the warring
Iroquois and Huron nations. They
managed to enforce their neutrality
because they controlled the flint beds
needed for arrowheads and other
weapons. In the 1600s, however, the
British and French armed the
Iroquois and Hurons with firearms
and the Attawandaron were wiped
out, leaving the region to migrant
bands of other tribes.
Photographs tell of other
interesting periods of history. Point
Edward, north of Sarnia, for instance
was once the jumping off point for
many immigrants heading to the
Canadian West in 1870. They took
boats from the end of the rail line to
the Iakehead.
Other photos show the building of
the railway tunnel under the SL Clair
River. When it opened in 1891 it was
the longest submarine tunnel in the
world. Another exhibit shows the
evolution of drainage, an important
step for agriculture in this part of the
province where large areas were once
swamps.
Out back, the museum offers the
chance to walk directly into history
with buildings like the Ravenswood
Blacksmith Shop and the Tudhop
Home. The blacksmith shop is set up
like a typical smithing shop of the
era. Nearby is the Springvale Beef-