The Doors Guest House

TUESDAY JULY 1
Hastings Canada Day Parade: Hastings Founders Week FLOAT

AUGUST 14 TO 22
Hastings Public Library: Display of Historical books and maps as well as genealogical information.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14
Concert at the Gazebo (Lions Club) Folk and Bluegrass Music
Time: 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Re enactment of the FOUNDING of HASTINGS VILLAGE
Time: Afternoon 4:00 p.m. Free

SUNDAY, AUGUST 15
Warkworth Long Lunch: Parade with music @ 12: 30 p.m. Hastings Founders Reenactment Troup & Soul Carnival “Connectivity”. Main Street Warkworth: ticketed event in Warkworth

MONDAY, AUGUST 16
Big Time Heritage Bingo:
Hastings Civic Center Albert Street E.: 6:30 p.m.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 17
Bid Euchre Tournament
1:00 p.m. at the Hastings Civic Center, Admission $5. Prizes and Lunch available.

ANTIQUE Auction at the Auction Hall
192 Front St. W.: save your best antiques for this date!
Open at 5 p.m. Auction at 6 p.m.

AUGUST 17, 18, & 19
United Church Vacation Heritage Bible Camp
2 Albert St. W. Free registration from 9am to 12 noon: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 18
Special Tour of Red Tail Paddle Factory
79 Front Street E. from 1 to 3 p.m.

THURSDAY AUGUST 19
Hastings Founders Fibre Festival @ the Civic Centre
11 a.m. to 7 p.m. with many Northumberland textile groups Free

FRIDAY AUGUST 20
Hastings Historical Society Open House
90 Victoria Street from 10:00 to 12:00 noon
Visit the staging of the Founders Then / Local Heroes Now Display

Founders Canada Trail/Railway Walk
Meet across from Banjo’s at 1:30 pm

SATURDAY AUGUST 21
Hastings Waterfront Festival exhibit Founders Then / Local Heroes Now Come, we will be in costume. 10:00 to 4:00 Free

Big Band 40’s and 50’s Dance 7:00 p.m.
Hastings Auction House: Formerly the local Dance Hall Ticketed Event

SUNDAY AUGUST 22
Waterfront Church Service at the Gazebo @ 10:30 a.m.
Historic Walking Tour: Inside/ Outside & Gardens 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Northumberland Slow Food: Heritage Dinner
Special Guest: Dorothy Duncan Author and Food Historian
Private Park opposite 29 Front Street E.: 4:30 ~ 6:30 p.m. Ticketed Event.

Note: We will have posters and more information as the time draws near. If you want to participate in any of these events, please contact us at the numbers and email listed above.
Dr. Skye Morrison: Artistic Director

For more info: Skye Morrison (705) 696-1382, skyemorrison@gmail.com Pat Funk (705) 696-3988 pat@artaonline.com

Click poster to enlarge

To Chris Devlin’s Big Band Sounds

At the Riverside Pavillion
(AKA Riverside Auction Hall)
192 Front Street W., Hastings, Ontario

Wine, Beer & light refreshments

Meet your sweetheart &
Take a trip down memory lane
To songs and tunes of the forties

Saturday, August 21, 2010
7:00 p.m. to midnight

Tickets:
$20 single
$35 per couple

Dance Tickets Available Here!

Select single or couple below from the drop down list, then click Buy Now.

single $20.00 couple $35.00

For more information, contact: Pat Funk at 705-696-3988
patfunk@nexicom.net

Hastings Historical Society / Friends of the Hastings Library / River View Photographic Society / Northumberland Slow Food

Photo courtesy Trent University Archives

The Village of Hastings traces its origins to the United Empire Loyalist William Hare who, in 1804, obtained an 850-acre land grant from the Crown for the south side of the Trent River where it exits from Rice Lake. Rice Lake, named for the wild rice (actually a water grass seed) collected by native people in their exquisite birch bark canoes, was a central part of what would become the Trent Severn Waterway. Samuel de Champlain had first seen this land when he was surveying in 1615 and used the Percy Portage, a native way, to traverse the rapids that are now at the centre of Hastings. The Percy Portage is a geo-heritage place identified in the footprint of Richardson Rd. just off Highway 45.

James Crooks, one of Upper Canada’s early entrepreneurs, recognized the potential of the land Hare had been granted as a place for waterpower, lumbering, pulp and paper and textile industries. (Today, Crooks is remembered today as the first paper-maker in Upper Canada.) In 1810, Crooks persuaded Hare to transfer ownership of the land to his name and he called the place Crooks Rapids. The war of 1812, speculative losses and even a term of imprisonment delayed Crooks development of the village. In 1823 he petitioned the government to build a mill on the north side of the river. However, Crooks was more interested in speculation than actual development and did not make many improvements or attract people to the area.

The Upper Canada government was taking steps towards canalization of the Trent waterway. In 1835 a work crew began construction of a dam at Crooks Rapids and later constructed a lock, log slide and swing bridge. Seeing the potential of this community as an industrial centre of Upper Canada, Crooks hired Richard Birdsall to survey the land in 1839 and merchants, innkeepers and artisans moved into the area. Crooks had many properties throughout Upper Canada and by the 1850’s he decided to sell Crooks Rapids.

Henry Fowlds, a fellow Scot who had prospered as a lumberman in nearby Westwood, purchased most of the lots in the village, renaming it Hastings after the Marquis of Hastings. His much improved grist mill produced flour under the name “Avon Flour’. He had several other enterprises in town including the ‘Albion Arms Hotel’ a family home converted for lumbermen and itinerant labourers. Fowlds built a carding mill on the south side of the river and then a woolen mill. Unfortunately, as with many of the buildings during this era, the structure burnt down taking with it a sawmill and sash and door factory. Fowlds retired in 1865 and his four sons James, Henry, Martin and William kept the lumber and flour businesses going until 1884. They built a four-floor solid stone structure of the Grist Mill which opened in 1872 and is still standing and producing electricity until this day.

Notes by Dr. Skye Morrison, artist, Founders Week Project, Village of Hastings