Day 1 - June 28
We
left Omaha at 4:15 in the morning to start a 15-day trip to Eastern USA and
Eastern Canada. Our route started on I-80 that would take us from Nebraska through Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio to Erie,
Pennsylvania all on our first day! This is about 900 miles or 1500 kilometers. We only had one detour near Chicago
which took us off the Interstate for several miles through beautiful rural Illinois, and lots of summer road construction, which slowed our traveling time. We were anxious to get to Erie with as much daylight as possible, since we wanted to explore the town for the little time we had there.
Once you get to Chicago, begin the toll roads. The clear advantages are nice roads and fairly clean stops when you need a break.
Erie, Pennsylvania is on Lake Erie and it was all that we had hoped for. An entertaining waterfront for the summer crowds to enjoy!
After checking into our hotel we drove to the Wharf and decided to have supper at a place called the
Smugglers’ Wharf. We sat outside amongst the spiders crawling from the flower pots and as the sun went down, we were able to watch it from our table.
This was the view from our table...
The waterside area of downtown Erie has been
revitalized as many cites have, making it a nice area for boat docking, with a walking boardwalk, and a place to
look out over the water. We walked the wooden boardwalks after the sun went down. There were mostly young
people milling around, and perhaps some illicit behavior as well. Since it had really been a long day, we decided to not get arrested and returned to the hotel. We already knew the following day would be another long one!
Day 2 - June
29
We did not rise as early this day. After breakfast, we headed to Marilla, New York, where Dixie’s Great, Great-Grandmother was born, that married a Mahaffy. Thanks to the invent of smart phones we were able to find & drive directly to "Eldridge road where the 1852 house is still in use today. After Dixie was spotted out taking pictures of
the Eldridge homeplace, the homeowner invited her into the house for a tour, where her ancestors once lived. To top that off, she was given a
canvas picture of the house!
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| Original Tank House supplying the Eldridge Farm & house with water. |
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| Barn added by current owners. |
After a
visit to the local cemetery, we stopped at an old general store and stocked up
on old fashioned candy to send to Sammy & Presley, but lets be honest, there was a bag each for us as well to give sustenance for our journey ahead. We remarked several times how friendly the folks of Marilla were, ruining New Yorkers' reputation! Population: 5500
The remainder of the day was spent heading towards our destination of Waterbury, Vermont. Vermont was the only state that Dixie and I had never been in, out of the lower 48 states, so we knew we had to cross this off our bucket list. As we traveled on two
lane highways through the mountains and hills of New York, New Hampshire, and
Vermont, we noticed that it was less populated than much of the East Coast, moving at an unhurried pace. Towns were still quaint and full of New England charm.
This was our first Airbnb which is an online accommodation marketplace, offering different types of housing. The place that we reserved was a room in a house. It was nestled in the picturesque hills of Northern Vermont. There was a bedroom, a bathroom, and a sitting area that we could use, as well as a shared kitchen. Outside there was a nice little pond where you could sit near and listen to all the sounds of nature coming from different species of bull frogs, overall a lovely area to share a bottle of wine. Eventually the mosquitoes forced us to move inside.
Visiting with the host was interesting! She basically renovated the entire house herself with repurposed materials during the warmer months of the year. She lived in Mexico during the Winter months for several years. The house was located near the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory. The locals scoff at tourists visiting Ben & Jerry's. They think it's a waste of time, when there are far better things (in their opinions) for tourists to see. Despite that, Ben & Jerry's is a tourist boost to the local economy. Regardless, our hours in this area were short and Ben & Jerry's was closed, so we missed getting a Vermont 'Creemies.'
In many ways, Northern Vermont is like going back in time, with the slower pace, people waving, no billboards, and very few chain fast-food eateries, that not only are unhealthy & of course contribute to liter. We traveled about 500 miles / 825 kilometers on our 2nd day.
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| Another view from our Vermont accommodations |
Day 3 - June 30
We got up quite early, left before 7am. We headed into
Montpelier, Vermont for coffee. We knew
we had another 500-mile drive of two lane roads through Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine ahead of us, and we needed to cross the border to our next Airbnb.
Montpelier is the capital city of Vermont and
the state house has a golden dome. It is a
small city in a small state, the smallest state capital in the country with a
population around 8,000 people. It is
quaint and of course has a French heritage which adds to its charm. We went to a local coffee shop and had coffee
and a breakfast bagel.
One of our goals for this trip was to find cuisine in mom & pop cafes. We were looking for local flavor, and wanting to avoid chain restaurants and Starbucks/Tim Hortons as much as possible.
It took all day to cross New England. We had mostly sunshine driving through the mountains as we headed to Calais, Maine. We entered the Canadian Border and crossed into St.
Stephen, New Brunswick.
Our destination was St. John, NB, where we had reserved a upstairs studio loft. Our Superhosts were so welcoming, helping us get settled, recommendations for the best restaurants to visit while here and this ended up being one of the funnest stays. The building was over a hundred years old, full of charming character. The loft itself
was a great size and tastefully decorated with several amenities, such as music, coffee pods, yogurt, & fresh cherry turnovers.
Grannan’s Seafood Restaurant is where we had dinner, and it was delicious. I had Haddock & chips and Dix had seafood chowder that she raved about. The restaurant was in an old brick building
built in 1876, down on the Market Square boardwalk on the Bay of Fundy.
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| Grannans Seafood Restaurant in St. John |
St. John is a vibrant city, lots of people
moving around and of course everyone wearing Canadian apparel due to Canada Day.
After we packed up, we
drove over the bridge to where the ferry came.
This ferry was going to take us over to Digby, Nova Scotia. We were told to get to the ferry early as there were sometimes a several hour wait to cross with a car. We spent our time waiting for the next ferry by exploring the rocky beach next to the terminal. I tried my best to make those flat shale rocks skip across the water like we used to do when we were kids.
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| Dix waiting patiently for the Ferry |
The Fundy Rose ferry is smaller than the Vancouver Island ferries. It was 400 feet long, 62 feet wide with a passenger capacity of 774. In addition it carried cars, buses, semi-trailers, and some dogs! Our ticket cost $157 US, which included our car and two adult passengers. We had purchased before we traveled since it was a holiday weekend. We didn't want to take the chance of not getting to our prepaid Airbnb's. It took us a little over 2.25 hours to cross at a speed of 20 knots.
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| On the water |
While crossing the Bay there was an employee who worked on the second shift who had just woke up for his shift. We were talking to him about the Maritimes and where we were going. He left for a bit and came back with a package of frozen shrimp for us. Luckily, we had a cooler in the car that we could put it in when we got back to our car.
Nova Scotia
We debarked at Digby and began driving to the southern tip of the Island. We had reserved a River House on Airbnb. As we drove down the highway we found our first lighthouse on the cove. A beautiful spot on a cliff overlooking the
water.
The River House was near Yarmouth, NS on the Salt River. It turned out to be a lovely, serene refuge, almost the exact opposite of the colorful nightlife we had the previous evening in sophisticated St. John. There was no one around and when it got dark, it got dark!! Yet, there was absolute peace & silence until morning when the birds came out.
The town of Yarmouth is a port town located on the Bay of Fundy in southwestern Nova Scotia. It was founded in 1761.
Day 5 - July 2
On this day, we started on our trip to
towards Halifax. On the way, we stopped
at this little town called Windsor, Nova Scotia which is the birthplace of
hockey.
Our next stop was a winery called Luckett Vineyaards in the Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia.
This turned out to be a beautiful vineyard where
we did a tasting of different wines, had a glass of wine, walked through the
vines and even bought a couple of bottles.
We were quite surprised at the good quality of wine that Nova Scotia had
both in whites and reds.
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Halifax is a vibrant city and the gateway to Canada. The Ellis Island of Canada is called Pier 21 of immigration or The Canadian Museum of Immigration. We parked near Pier 21, without Dix realizing how close to all of Canada's genealogy she would be. This is where many of the immigrants coming from Europe were registered and documented, as well as military departing during WWII. This is one of the places we would have liked to have seen but didn't have time.
Next time!
Halifax's population is over
400,000, yet it seemed to have that small-town atmosphere. Quite possibly some of the best food we ate in the Maritimes was in Halifax! The Farmers Market & Nova Scotia shops were full of friendly Canadians and Canadian treats.
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| On the Boardwalk in Halifax, NS |
We strolled along the pier and we were fortunate enough to see a very large cruise ship docked right on the pier. Halifax has one of the deepest harbors in the world and therefore ships can dock right on the boardwalk. Makes for great viewing.
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| A Cruise Ship departing Halifax Boardwalk |
We had lunch on the pier in Bishops Landing at a divine restaurant called The Bicycle Thief. The food was amazing! I had the best burger I've ever eaten, I believe. Dix raved about her lobster roll. This is a restaurant that we wish we could return to weekly!
Lobster Roll - Best in the Maritimes!
We reluctantly left Halifax to head for our Bed & Breakfast in Antigonish County. It's located on the north end of Nova Scotia,on the Northcumberland Strait. This area was established in 1785.
It was another beautiful drive to the Blue Tin Roof, our evening B&B accommodations. It was located in a very remote cape, surrounded by wooded hills. The property was immaculate, with tasteful Euro decor craftsmanship. The owner had used repurposed timbers throughout the guest rooms to mix the old with the modern. In addition we had a private en-suite bath, with a gorgeous clawfoot tub.
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| The view from the back of the Bed n Breakfast |
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The Blue Tin Roof
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| View from our Room |
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Our suite
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Day 6 - July 3
Livingston Cove
The following morning we got up early and walked down to the water. A little fishing village were docked preparing to go out with their lobster cages. Along the trail we noticed what we thought was bear activity. When we returned, our host said there had been sightings recently of several black bears in the immediate area. We were thankful that we didn't encounter any bears!
Our host served gourmet coffee, fresh fruit, European breads, Euro cheeses & charcuterie for breakfast. It was simply wonderful! The ambiance reminded us of one of our favorite places, Leavenworth, Washington (USA), where we had married.
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Livingstone Cove
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| Lobster Traps |
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| The Fishermen preparing their boats to go out with the lobster cages at Livingston Cove |
Our leaving our Bed & Breakfast our next stop was a short distance away, Cape George Lighthouse. Its breathtaking views were like a post card. The lighthouse stood atop a cliff overlooking the vast waters of St. George Bay.
We
hiked from the Day Park, to see this treasure and it was very easy, enjoyable hike, well worth the time it
took to get there.
Our next destination
was Caribou Ferry Terminal, where we caught a boat to take us from Nova Scotia to Prince Edward Island. While waiting for the ferry we
went into the gift shop, we chatted with a French-Newfie, a very funny
guy who worked at the gift shop. He was very entertaining showing off all his Newfie-language.
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| On the Northcumberland Ferry! |
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| A passing Ferry headed to Nova Scotia |
Our ferry to Prince Edward Island was smaller than the ferry that took us to Nova Scotia. This ferry was an hour & a quarter ride, enough time to have an ice cream cone. Another beautiful ride aboard the Atlantic Seas.
After disembarking from the ferry we had a short drive to
Charlottetown, which is the capital of Prince Edward Island.
This was a lovely city where the homes were influenced by the Victorian age, yet quite colorful! Yet another city built on the water with a nice walkable pier.
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| Charlottetown Pier |
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| Coast Guard Cutter in Charlottetown |
As Dix shopped, I listened to a bit of Celtic music at Peakes Wharf.
Our destination for the evening was
Summerside, about an hour’s drive from Charlottetown.
One good thing about PEI is that nothing is that far away. Summerside is the second largest city in PEI
and was incorporated in 1877.
We had rented a bungalow in a residential section of Summerside.
The house looked quaint and had potential, but was bought as an
investment property and it needed some work. Cosmetically it looked fine, the upstairs
had sloping floors so when you got up to go to the bathroom it felt like you
were dizzy and somewhat inebriated. This home didn't have wifi, which made planning more difficult since we were without most of our phone services while traveling internationally. The local coffee shop became our 'go to!' Not only did they have good coffee and delicious breakfasts, we were able to connect to the web so we could plan our days on the Island.
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| Samuel's Coffee Shoppe |
Day 7 - July 4
One of the highlights for Dixie coming to
Prince Edward Island was the chance to see the fictional character, Anne of
Green Gables park & homeplace of the author. Anne of Green Gables is a 1908 novel written by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, and beloved by women worldwide, for the last hundred years.
Our first stop was in New London, the birthplace of Lucy Maud Montgomery, also known as The Anne Museum, where we took a tiny tour of her parents home and where she was born, in the upstairs bedroom.
Cavendish, Prince Edward Island
Our next stop was the Lucy's next home after her mother died, early in her childhood. Her mother's parents, The MacNeils raised her. This property is still owned by the MacNeil family, but is a wonderful outdoor museum that was part of the inspiration for the Anne of Green Gables stories.
The little house below is a bookstore. Within Dix bought a couple of books and we purchased tickets to Park Canada, where the Green Gables Heritage Place was built, a replica of Anne's fictional home with Matthew & Marilla Cuthbert. It's a hike through the MacNeil farm, past the Cavendish Cemetery, through the wooded trails to the farm yard.
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| Trail: Lovers Lane that leads into Haunted Wood Trail |
After hiking through the woods we arrived at The Heritage Green Gables! We toured the house and barn, traipsed through the gift shop, and got ice cream cones to try and combat the heat of the day. The woods on both sides of the Heritage Place were filled with beautiful trails, through bubbling brooks and lined with flowers and ferns. The scenery was truly spectacular, making the books even more endearing.
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| Barn at Anne of Green Gables |
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| A bubbling brook |
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A tree meant for climbing or hiding love letters!
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| On Balsam Hollow Trail |
Cavendish Beach National Park
Prince Edward Island
We continued to Cavendish Beach and sat in these fun red Adirondack chairs overlooking the red cliffs and the sea. Tourist were flocking in by the large touring buses, as well as other tourist like us that had their own vehicles. The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful, and if we could have gotten down the cliffs to the water, because it was another hot day on Prince Edward Island! We hadn't noticed it so much while we were in the woods, hiking.
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| Overlooking the red cliffs in at Cavendish Beach |
We followed the shore road east after leaving Cavendish Beach, to the town of North Rustico for a late lunch, mid-afternoon. We stopped at the Fisherman's Wharf. I chose haddock & chips again, because I found that I liked it better than cod! Dix had another lobster roll. We were repeating meals, but this is what the Maritimes is known for. We knew we would only be able to have it for a short while!
On the return drive to Summerside, I was heavily persuaded to stop numerous times so that Dix could photograph Prince Edward Island's Province flower, the Lupin. They have a heady, spice scent and they grow wild. Since they were growing in the ditches near the roads, Dix was intrigued. She really loves flowers, and if we are honest, she wanted to pick some and take them back to our bungalow to enjoy.
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| Lovely Lupins growing wild at the edges of fields, in ditches, or in the meadows |
In the evening we left the bungalow to walk down to the boardwalk, which was only a few blocks away. On the way we found this restaurant, and even though we didn't eat here, we got a kick out of their sign and couldn't resist not getting a photograph.
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| Isn't this a fun restaurant? |
Greenwich National Park
Greenwich beach is part of the National Parks and is the least visited of the Park's beaches, owing to the hike getting to it, as well as the biting horse flies & aggressive mosquitos, in my humble opinion. It has the largest sand dunes on the Island, reached by trails and an amazing boardwalk over marshes. It was a very humid hike on one of the Island's warmer days, but well worth the effort and discomfort to see this beauty! The Park is located near St. Peter's Bay in the Eastern end of the Island, less than an hour drive from Charlottetown. We hiked for several kilometers on gravel and dirt trails, then moved on to a wooden boardwalk when we reached the woods, once we got to the wetlands our walkway became a floating PVC boardwalk which stretched over the marshes and then alongside the towering wind-sculpted pink sand dunes. We ended the hike on a solitary beach. Off our shoes came so that we could put our feet in the water, but it was quite cool!
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The boardwalk sits atop marshes that go on for kilometers!
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| This is all boardwalk in the distance! |
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| Through the marsh, |
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| Climb up the Dune, |
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| Dunes partially covered with vegetation |
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| To the Sea! |
We were a short walk from an incredible beach. It was covered in very large red rocks, which of course was very original for us. On the beach we could see Confederation Bridge that links PEI to New Brunswick, that we'd be taking the following day. It was a very quiet and peaceful location. We slept well probably because it was quiet and very relaxing after the days of beating down the tourist paths! I will say that the PEI mosquitos were vicious here! By this point we'd run out of repellant, so Dix felt that she was on constant attack. The little buggers eventually drove us indoors.
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A short walk from our Beach House in Albany, PEI
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| Confederation Bridge in the distance |
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| The Rocky Cliff down to the water |
Day 9 - July 6
Today we left Prince Edward Island, drove over to the
Confederation bridge which was 14 kilometers long! a great
engineering feat that was accomplished in 3.5 years to link PEI to the mainland
New Brunswick. It cost $46 to
cross. As I was saying before, PEI
charges you to leave the Island, it does not charge you to come on to the
Island. This was the first day since we
had left home that we got rain.
It was not a long drive and got in there
fairly early in the day. We drove
downtown and as a nice gesture for tourists we got free parking!! It all helps on a trip like this. We walked to the Christ Church Cathedral,
looked around there and then went over to the New Brunswick Legislature. It was great as we had a personal tour with a
history major and learned a lot about the history and politics of New Brunswick
not to mention seeing the beautiful building from the speaker’s floor all the
way to the senate.
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| Fredericton, NB Legislature |
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| The "floor" of the Legislature |
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| Look at those marvelous doors |
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A beautiful tree in front of the Anglican Church in Fredricton
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After that great
tour, we headed towards the downtown and found another fun restaurant. It was called Isaac’s Way
and yet again we found a great place to dine.
More great seafood, because well, what better place to get seafood than
on the water? After a great supper, we
headed to our next airbnb which was a room in a private home. (NEVER AGAIN) It was pretty different as the lady had a new
baby and we could not check in until 6:00pm.
Quiet hours began at 7:30 which is when the baby went to bed. The only reason this was slightly acceptable is because we were tired
after a long day of sightseeing, walking, and traveling, but the rules seemed unflexible for having guests.
Day 10 - July 7
We were up early and couldn’t wait to get out
of there. We fueled up and then found a
great morning breakfast café. There was
about a 360-mile journey ahead of us as we were headed to Quebec City!
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| Province of Quebec |
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| Province of Quebec |
It was a beautiful drive, and it wasn’t long
before we were crossing the bridge into Quebec City. We had booked a hotel this time in Old Quebec
City. It was called the Hôtel Ste-Anne.
The hotel was in the heart of Old Quebec and on a pedestrian-only alley. Parking was several blocks away from the hotel, underneath City Hall. Luckily for
GPS, we found the parking lot.
We struggled uphill with our luggage for about 3 blocks, but
when we got there it was worth it. A
beautiful hotel it was.
Before it became
a hotel, it was a tavern where politicians met after long hours at
the National Assembly, Quebec's Provincial legislature. This 300 year old building
has exposed original stone walls and exposed beams, combined with a contemporary design.
Old
Quebec City is a colorful vibrant city. The city was
founded in 1608, which makes it one of the oldest cities in North America. French being the primary language spoken here, with the cobblestone streets, made it feel very European.
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| A beautiful old building |
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| Steps up to another street |
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| We sat in the open window and enjoyed a glass a wine, people watching! |
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Cruise Ship in Quebec City Port
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| The ferry we went on from Levis over to Quebec City |
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Heading over to Quebec City for Dinner from Levis
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Day 12 - July 9
We got up and packed our stuff and went into
the
convention center to have breakfast at a place called Cosmos. It had great food and an eclectic
atmosphere. After breakfast, we headed
out to our next stop which was Ottawa, Ontario.
This wasn’t too far of a drive, I think around 280 miles.
I had never been to Ottawa before and was
looking forward to seeing what it had to offer.
When we got there, we drove around downtown and ended up in all places,
a mall. We parked and went in to escape
the heat of the day. We had booked an
air bnb condo in downtown Ottawa. It was
right downtown and supposed to be in a high-rise apartment so off we went to
check in. We knew we had to park across
the street in a parking lot, so we parked and read the instructions on how to
get the key. The instructions were that
there would be a lock box attached to a bicycle rack across from the
barbershop. There was a code to put in
and then it would open, and we could get the keys to get into the condo. Well, it worked. We went up to the 8th floor and found
a place that wasn’t the same as was explained in the air bnb listing. Sometimes you don’t always get exactly what
you think you have booked. In any case,
it was what we had.
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| View in Ottawa from our Condo |
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| Another view from a different direction |
Day 13 - July 10
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| Parliament Hill |
On our last morning in Ottawa we got an early start as we had lots to see!! We were going to be doing a walking tour of the Capital. This was one of the days
where we actually did hit a chain restaurant, good old Tim Hortons. It was just
a short walk from Tim Hortons to the Parliament, and tourists were everywhere.
We arrived early at Parliament Hill
where we seen the Supreme Court and other buildings and then realized if we
wanted to tour the Parliament Building, we had to go all the way down the
avenue and cross the street were the tourism building for tickets office was located. Already there was a huge lineup waiting out the doors, snaking down the street, waiting for them to open. Eventually the doors opened and not a minute
sooner than the 9am that was advertised, but the tickets were free and well worth the wait!
Back up Parliament Hill we went, to wait for our tour time to be called. In the meantime, the
changing of the guard was taking place, so we got to see that as well. A patriot or not, Parliament Hill is something
that every Canadian should see once.
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| Changing of the Guard |
You can't enter Parliament without a guide. Tours consist of 25 people, and slowly everyone is herded through metal detectors for security purposes. Of course I beeped, and had to have the wand treatment,
but they couldn’t find anything more on me so away we went.
It was good tour, we went into the
House of Commons floor, seen the Senate and the Parliamentary library. The tour took around an hour. There was a heavy police presence,
due to terrorism in recent years here.
It is sad to think that a public building that is paid for by Canadians, is really not ours - it belongs to politicians and the police.
There was a guy in our group that never
stopped talking. He knew
everything. The tour guide would ask
history questions and guess who answered them all – yes you win, Mr. Know-it-All. My goodness he was annoying. NO idea why he came, we were there to learn
stuff, he was there to show how much he knew.
I know, they are EVERYWHERE.
After the tour, we went back to the ticket place to get my backpack, only
tourist & employees was outside as there was a fire alarm taking place. After waiting around for some time, I was
able to get a staff member to go in and retrieve my backpack.
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| The Rideau Canal in Ottawa.. Extremely dry there |
We stopped for lunch at Milestones. It's decor was beautifully modern indoors, but with it being summer we opted to sit on the patio and 'people watch' the city full of tourist! It was walking distance from the shopping Mall and Parliament Hill. We were headed to the Mall to pick up something for our new Grandson, who will be making his debut in December!
Perth, Ontario
It was about an hour's drive from Ottawa to Perth on a scenic 2-lane highway nearly all the way, after leaving the City. We had reserved a lovely downtown apartment on Airbnb again, so that we'd be in the middle of what looked to be a charming town! The Tay Canal flows through the downtown and the roads and town were built around it. The location was perfect for walking everywhere in Perth. We were close to restaurants, shops, and parks. The Town of Perth was established in 1816 and we know that our McMaster family had settled there by 1851. Much stone masonry was used in building businesses and homes, and much was still being used still today. It gave the town a feeling of old and is one of the loveliest places that we've visited. This was unexpected as my previous feelings of the Province of Ontario, mainly because of the City of Toronto, weren't positive! I left feeling that the fact the Armstrong & McMaster family history arises from this picturesque area, at least this little area of Ontario is not only endearing, but I'll be back!
Our accommodations were in a very old heritage building, which the decorator had left a couple of exposed brick walls. Our host brought us in, made sure we were comfortable and had a bottle of wine waiting for our enjoyment. It was lovely and sparkling clean throughout.
The River Tay lies directly adjacent to the right of this wrought iron fence & cemetery sign. In 1862 my 2x great grandfather John McMaster drowned in the river. He was in a wagon with another man returning from work when the man drove the team into the river to water the horses. One of the horses stumbled and fell, causing both horses to become unmanageable. The horses got into deeper water and John was thrown out of the wagon & carried downstream. Because of the deep water, he sank. The man driving the team had great difficulty in saving himself & the team of horses. John McMaster was about 50 years of age, an honest & industrious man who bore and excellent character. He left a widow Sarah and several children to mourn his untimely death. John was the father of Jane McMaster, my great grandmother.
John, his wife Sarah, and their son Robert are buried in the Craig Street Cemetery, which is also known as Old Burying Ground.
I managed to stumble upon the McMaster Plot fairly easily as luck would have it, otherwise, Dix would have made us stay until every inch of the burying ground had been gone over. She knew that there was a headstone for my 2x great grandmother Sarah already, with her involvement with the online website Find-a-Grave.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/167967780/sarah-mcmaster
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| Sarah Smith wife of John McMaster, also their son Robert |
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Damaged headstone lying on the ground
next to Sarah McMaster.
Name broken off. |
Our last visit for the day was Elmwood Cemetery across town in Perth. We found several Armstrongs, but not the one we most wanted to find: great grandfather William John Armstrong, Harold's dad.
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William John Armstrong
1848 - 1917 |
Day 14 - July 11
Today we got up & crossed the street to Pat's Café for a Canadian breakfast. It was served by the cheery owner and quite delicious! After breakfast we began touring the town, walking up main street for a bit of exercise, peeking in all the cute boutiques, shops, and restaurants that weren't quite open yet. We decided that our first stop needed to be in Perth's City Hall, so that we could begin our Armstrong family history search strategies.
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| Perth City Hall |
They wrote down several contacts for different cemeteries, the Land Registry office, and suggested that we pop over to the Historical Museum across the street. First place we went to was the Historical Museum and went through their cemetery and death records, looking for clues about the Armstrongs & McMasters that lived 100-150 years ago. The records did not yield much, but we did find the tragic death story on John McMaster from the Perth Courier, 1862.
Afterwards we went down a few businesses and stopped at the local coffeehouse. They were just pulling freshly baked cinnamon rolls out of the oven. We asked that they leave the icing off, and it was still warm, sweet, & delicious! We shared a bun, and I had the best part - the moist, warm center.
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| Tay Canal in Perth |
Port Elmsley, Ontario
In the afternoon we decided to track down the infamous Armstrong Road which is Southeast of Perth in the North Elmsley Township. At one time it may have been the village of Port Elmsley but all that's left is the Township office and a handful of businesses.
Several years ago Dix & I had found Armstrong Road on Google maps, so we made some assumptions that the early Armstrong's probably lived along that road, and that's where we headed to see what we could find!
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| The beginning of the Armstrong Road at the Churhill Rd intersection. |
Nearly ten years ago, my sister Denise shared a photo of the Armstrong homeplace, but it wasn't until our 2017 trip to Red Deer, when Dad identified the photograph as such, that we knew what we were going to be looking for! It was our plan to drive down the length of Armstrong Road (about 6 km), until we'd hopefully find it. One could imagine that 150 years earlier, it would have been heavily wooded. About 2 kilometers down the road we came to the intersection of Armstrong & Stations roads, and there it was, to our right. The house in now painted white with the typically dark green trim, including a gable window. Overall the bones of the house remained so that we could find it without driving to the Land Registry office, a 45 minute drive to the NE part of Lanark County.
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| Scan of The Armstrong Homeplace photo circa 1940 |
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| July 2018 |
One can see the similarities comparing the old photo to the current house. The house at some point had a renovation because the brick chimneys are gone, replaced by stainless pipe chimneys. This house may have been built around 1870 by William Armstrong. An old shed behind the house looked well built and original to the property. After we left, we started thinking about the old shed and started wondering if it wasn't the original house, like many homesteaders did in years past. That shed may have been the 'log home' described in the early census' when the Armstrongs first came to Lanark County. A log house or sod was built first, then over time the big house could be built. The property was surrounded by a pole fence that went several acres down Station Road, towards 'town.'
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| Side view of the Armstrong home from the road. |
In one sense it was like going back in time, on the other hand, if you looked across the road from the Armstrong farm, there was a modern day solar farm! The current residents of the old Armstrong homeplace keep a dog. It barked continuously while we were snapping photos, and if we got closer he'd growl, which kept Dix from marching up the lane and knocking on the door! It was an amazing find considering that at least some of the buildings on the property were probably built a 130 years ago. For a moment time stood still, I could reach back & feel that connection, over all the generations. I finally understood the pull that Denise & Dix have felt searching for family history & roots.
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| Maybe the original Armstrong house, in the early years? |
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| Barn |
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| The old pole fence still erect more than a hundred years later |
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A pile of the old pole fence
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| Interesting, a solar farm right across the road! |
Smith Falls, Ontario
We stopped at the Smith Falls cemetery and chatted with the Sexton. He looked in his database but didn't find any of our Armstrongs. (Research after returning home shows there are relatives in this cemetery, but burial records would be in their married names). He recommended that we go to St. John's Anglican Cemetery (which is connected to St. James' Anglican Cemetery) and also meet up with the town locksmith because apparently he was also the Sexton at St. John's. We drove through St. John's without getting out. We didn't see any Armstrong headstones.
The Locksmith
Tom Clark deserves his own blog, but that would be too long! We dropped by his shop and at first he appeared quite reserved, as he was busy do repairs and making keys. This man didn't need a cocktail once he started talking. He knew everybody, both the living & dead. I'm not sure that we didn't talk to him for upwards of two hours! He gave us great leads on how to find St. James, recommended the Township office in Port Elmsley and how to find it, and if we return, he knows where the church books are for both St. James & St. John's churches.
He told a story of a handmade boat that he purchased from a fellow out in Seattle when he found out that we were from the States. He told how he traveled out there and how he came about wanting this special wood boat.
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| Port Elmsely Schoolhouse (now a residence). |
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Front of the Port Elmsley Schoolhouse, where Harold & Jennie would have attended school.
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After leaving Smith Falls, we returned to Port Elmsley to find the cemetery that had eluded us. I don't remember how many times we passed by it, and didn't see it, but finally we stopped behind the old schoolhouse at an Embroidery/Trophy shop. Dix asked the lady for directions and she laughed and said, "you can't miss it!" All I can say is that we were looking for a larger cemetery and we certainly missed it a few times!
Incidentally, the Trophy shop was a very old building that used to house the Township offices.
Once we knew where to look, we found the tiny St. James Cemetery sign, and we were much surprised to see how closely it was sandwiched between homes. The headstones closest to the farmhouse just happened to be Armstrong's.
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| The only identification of this very hidden cemetery! |
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| A good chance these homeowners are experiencing some hauntings with their close proximity |
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| Armstrong's all in a row |
There are very few headstones in St. James Cemetery. Most of the headstones felt like they were family while we were there! Provincial records and the website Find-a-Grave show that there are about 40 known burials.
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| John H Armstrong, Son of William & Margaret Cullen Armstrong |
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| Grave of Jane McMaster Armstrong, my Great-Grandmother |
Photo of Jane McMaster Armstrong
Often while in Lanark County, we found the constant reuse of names within the Armstrong family, which made it difficult to determine whose grave we were at! If you find yourself confused, know that it wasn't until we got home that we could begin to figure out who each of these William, John, Kennedy, and James Armstrongs, not to be left out, the many Anne, Margaret, Mary, Jane, and Susan Armstrongs as well. The following grave is one example...at one time, we thought this was Harold's grandfather, but records indicate that he was Harold's grandfather's brother!
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Great-Uncle William Armstrong Aged 68 years, died in 1871
A brother to John Armstrong, original brothers from Ireland. |
While Photographing, if we thought it might be an Armstrong, we took a photograph. After returning home, a little research showed that not all buried in this cemetery were Armstrongs! Certainly they were neighbors and possibly distant relatives.
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| Anne Wilson McVeety - unrelated, but next to the Armstrong's |
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| Little Lamb - child Dorothy McVeety, age 9 |
After photographing the cemetery and headstones with what we thought were most of the Armstrong headstones, we traveled a ways to the Port Elmsley Township offices. The staff was quite helpful looking through what records they had in their office trying to answer Dixie's many questions. They were able to tell us that St. James Anglican church had been in poor condition and the congregation diminished, so it was torn down and the entire property sold. That meant that the church no longer owned the burial ground, it was privately owned. We expressed concerns that the cemetery would be plowed and the headstones moved out, but the Director seemed to think that wouldn't happen - even though that does happen in many Countries! It is our hope that our past family history will be preserved for many more generations in this defunct cemetery.
Across from the cemetery was the beautiful River Tay. A beautiful final resting place for the Armstrongs of Port Elmsley.
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| Across from the road from St. James Anglican Cemetery is the beautiful River Tay |
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| River Tay with the pole fences in Port Elmsley |
Day 15 - July 12
We went over to Pat’s café for a final Canadian breakfast. We returned to Port Elmsley to the Armstrong house and St. James
Anglican cemetery to get better photographs due to sunlight. It was difficult to leave as the area was peaceful and full of unspoiled beauty.
Then we began our long journey home, hoping that our destination would be somewhere past Chicago,
but thought we would travel until we grew tired. The daunting task of somehow
traveling through Toronto was not lost on us and had nearly an hours worth of stop and go traffic just like any big City. We were glad to make it past dirty, ugly Toronto, because the rest of Ontario was quite pretty. We continued to Sarnia, crossed the bridge
and made our quickest re-entry into the U.S.
The border patrol wasn't messing around in Michigan!
We continued through Michigan and we commented that the roads hadn't been repaired since before Dix had lived there 20 years earlier! Our day ended in
Manooka, Illinois which is about an hour southwest of Chicago. This was 1186 km / 738 mls.
Day 16 - July 13
Homeward Bound 431 miles to go!
Our 2 week+ odyssey
had come to a close. It was a trip of a lifetime.
There were places we missed & wanted to see like Cape Breton Island
& Newfoundland. There just wasn’t
enough time to see those places, maybe a trip there in the future but we were
glad to see what we seen. All told it was a 4000 mile or 6500 km trip. Finally glad to see more of my country and for both of us to see parts of Canada that neither of us had visited. There is something about the Maritimes that is quiet, peaceful, serene and very few people, even in tourist season. It was wonderful. We can't wait to return!
