Due to the ongoing issues caused by the Covid-19 virus, the executive of the Huronia chapter of the OAS has cancelled our May and June members meetings.
We will be reviewing our dates for members meetings moving forward at our executive meeting in May.
Stay safe and stay well.
Huronia Chapter - Ontario Archaeological Society
We encourage the practice of ethical archaeology in the discovery of the history of Huronia (northern Simcoe County) through archaeological research and discussion of the historic record and oral tradition. Please feel free to comment and or join and post on the blog. Blog contents do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Ontario Archaeological Society or the Huronia chapter.
Monday, April 13, 2020
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
A History of Wyebridge
Presented by Bonnie Reynolds
at 7 pm on Wednesday, March
11th in the Thompson Rm.
of the North Simcoe Recreation Centre, Midland, Ontario
Bonnie Reynolds
was born and raised on the family farm located just north of Wyebridge. Her
ancestors moved to the area in 1868 and were active members in the Tiny Township
community. Bonnie continues this
tradition. She graduated from university with a History major, worked for the
MNR on local historical projects and recently retired, after 37 years, as
librarian in the Children’ s section of the Midland Public Library. She is an
award winning historian and gifted storyteller whose extensive knowledge of
Tiny Township continues to be a valuable resource for those researching local
history and genealogy.
Open
to the public - No admission charge
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Bridging the Narrows
Please join us for a presentation on the
Mnijikaning Fish Weirs
with
Janet Turner & Elder Mark Douglas
7 pm on Wednesday, February
12th
in the Thompson Room
of the North Simcoe Recreation Centre,
Midland, Ontario
Janet Turner
is an educator with the S.C.D.S.B. and a former
avocational archaeologist. Mark Douglas is an
elder at the Rama First Nations. Together they will present archaeological,
historical and aboriginal stories of this millennia old National Historical
Site located at Atherley Narrows in Orillia. As well, they will discuss the
preservation and protection of the 1000s
of wooden stakes embedded in the silt and a proposed interpretive centre and
bridge at ‘The Narrows’ that will foster awareness of the site’s spiritual and
cultural importance to the Huron and Anishnabek who harvested fish there.
Open
to the public - No admission charge
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Rock art at Killbear Provincial Park
Rock art at Killbear Provincial Park
Please join us for a presentation by Orillia resident,
Please join us for a presentation by Orillia resident,
Paul Campbell
as he reveals previously unknown rock art
at Killbear Provincial Park, Killarney, ON. Using D-Stretch technology,
enhanced images hidden in these petroglyphs aid him as he relates his research
into rock art, early First Nations’ knowledge of our world and its hidden
nature.

Wednesday, November 13th at 7pm in the Thompson Room of the North Simcoe Sports and Recreation Centre, Midland Open to the public – No admission charge
Wednesday, September 04, 2019
Council Rock (Pieces of the Puzzle)
Art Duval Researches the origin of “Council Rock” found in Awenda Park area.
Following local
rumours about a rock relating to Treaty 5, also known as the Penetang purchase
has led to research that will be presented at the October 9th Meeting.
Art Duval, a local
researcher, will be delving into his discoveries about the history and origin of
the inscribed rock found in Awenda Park.
The questions he addresses are:
Is there a rock with names on it that relate to the Penetang Purchase?
Is it located in a logical place of historical significance?
Are the described names historicaly accurate?
What was the historical significance of the inscription?
What does it represent?
Who made it?
How was it made?
What does the archaeology say?
Please join us while we explore these questions with Art at the North Simcoe Recreation Center in Midland at 7PM on Wednesday October 9th.
The public is welcome to join us at no charge.
Monday, August 26, 2019
Research into the evolution of the three earliest buildings of Sainte Marie.
Please join us for a presentation by
Jim Shropshire
on his research into the
evolution of the three earliest buildings at the Jesuit mission of Sainte Marie
I, based on Kenneth Kidd’s archaeological excavations of the site from 1940 to
1941.
Jim Shropshire's interest in archaeology began in the early 1960's when he was living in Creemore. Jim met local farmers who often turned up artifacts in their fields and archaeologists visiting the area. Eventually, with his local knowledge as an asset, he worked for the Ministry of Lands and Forests, later the Ministry of Citizenship & Culture and on various archaeological sites in Huronia and southern Ontario. He's been a long-time member of the OAS, and served as President of the Toronto Chapter in the 1990's. He is currently a Huronia Chapter member and is presently conducting research at Sainte Marie I.
At 7pm on Wednesday, September 11th
in the Thompson Room at the North Simcoe Recreation
and Sports Centre, Midland,
Ontario.
Open to the public – No admission charge
Sunday, July 14, 2019
“In Search of a Homestead”
Please join us for a talk by John Raynor on
“In Search of a Homestead”
A few
of months ago the Huronia chapter of the Ontario Archaeological Society
embarked on a quest to find one of the original homesteads of a Metis/Voyager
families that came from Drummond Island to the Naval and Military
Establishments at the head of Penetanguishene Bay. 

My assumption, when we began this search, was that
most of these families that arrived here, stayed here and settled on the
military reserve lots set aside for the loyalist Metis on the west side of
Penetanguishene Bay opposite to the Establishments.
Tonight, we will explore that assumption and get a
broader view of where these families went.
At
7pm on Wednesday, August 14th in the Thompson Room at the North Simcoe
Recreation Centre, Midland, Ontario.
Open to public - No admission charge.
Sunday, June 23, 2019
“Flesh Reborn” by Dr. Jean-François Lozier
Please join us for a talk be the author on the book
Winner of the French Colonial Historical Society’s Mary Alice
and Philip Boucher Book Prize and finalist for the Canadian Historical
Association’s Best Scholarly Book in Canadian History Prize.
Département
d'histoire / Department of History, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
“By foregrounding
Indigenous mission settlements of the Saint Lawrence valley, Flesh Reborn challenges conventional
histories of New France and early Canada.”
At
7pm on Wednesday, July 10th in the Thompson
Room at the North Simcoe Recreation
Centre, Midland, Ontario.
Open to public - No admission charge.
Drawing on a
range of ethnohistorical sources, Flesh
Reborn reconstructs the early history of seventeenth-century mission
settlements and of their Algonquin, Innu, Wendat, Iroquois, and Wabanaki
founders. Far from straightforward by-products of colonialist ambitions, these
communities arose out of an entanglement of armed conflict, diplomacy,
migration, subsistence patterns, religion, kinship, leadership,
community-building, and identity formation. The violence and trauma of war,
even as it tore populations apart and from their ancestral lands, brought
together a great human diversity.
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Labatte Homestead Rendezvous
This event includes a tour of the historic homestead of the Labatte family who settled on Thunder Beach in 1834. Members of the Huronia chapter will be onsite at the home to welcome guests and provided some of the historical background of the family, what brought them to Thunder Beach and the log home that they built.
Thursday, May 09, 2019
What is collaborative research? Working together to investigate Huron Wendat ceramic traditions.
Dr. Alicia Hawkins at work in Huronia |
Please join us for a presentation by
Dr. Alicia Hawkins on –
What is collaborative research?
Working together to investigate Huron Wendat ceramic traditions.
Huron-Wendat oral traditions clearly indicate a long-standing relationship between the Huron-Wendat people and places in eastern Canada. However, archaeologists have focussed on the Huron-Wendat presence in Ontario. While there are many basic similarities in material culture, subsistence and settlement across the lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence valley, archaeologists have focussed on a few differences in material culture to define different "archaeological cultures."
Our research project takes a
different approach to investigation of the Huron-Wendat past. We examine
ceramic artifacts from the perspective of "communities of practice,"
or groups of people who share knowledge and learning. Using a series of
high-tech but minimally destructive or non destructive techniques, we consider
the sources of clays, the recipes for making a workable clay body and the
gestures used to produce pottery across a large swath of Ontario and Quebec
before European contact.
This project was conceived of by the
Huron Wendat nation, and developed as a partnership between members of the
Nation and archaeological researchers.
Co authored by - Alicia Hawkins, Louis Lesage, Amy St. John, Greg Braun,
Joe Petrus
Our June 12th meeting starts at 7
p.m. in the Thompson Room of the North Simcoe Recreation Centre in Midland.
Open to the public
at no charge.
Saturday, May 04, 2019
In Search of a Homestead

My assumption, when we began this search, was that
most of these families that arrived here, stayed here and settled on the
military reserve lots set aside for the loyalist Metis on the west side of
Penetanguishene Bay opposite to the Establishments.
My search began with a study
of the Osborne Papers that were published in 1901. The Osborne Papers are a
collection of narratives collected by A. C. Osborne of Penetang obtained by
interviews with some of the Drummond Islanders and their descendants. It is
from this document and other records that a list of names of the Drummond
Islanders has been obtained and here references are made to the places that
they first settled their families. This documentation quite often includes the
lot and concession number or other property location reference that allows us
to map out the settlement pattern of these families after their arrival at the
Establishments. Most of these properties are noted as being acquired by various
means between 1832 and 1837. (ONTARIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Papers and Records Volume 3, Published in Toronto in 1901 Pages 123-166.)
Papers and Records Volume 3, Published in Toronto in 1901 Pages 123-166.)
It is interesting to note that not all who arrived here, stayed here.
Some returned to what was now US territory and others to areas around the Sault
that had remained under British rule. Some went to points south like Holland
Landing and even York (now Toronto). Others went up the shore to places like
Byng Inlet and the area around Parry Sound. But most stayed around Penetang or
at least in northern Simcoe County.
So now we can focus our search on north Simcoe. The
records indicate that 40 plus families acquired Park lots that were, for the
most part, on the west shore of Penetang Bay with some showing properties in
what by 1840 was rapidly developing into the village of Penetang at the south
end of the bay. But, where did the others go? Were there other Metis
communities developing besides Penetang?
It
is also clear from the record that some 11 families seem to have developed
their homesteads close to the mouth of the Wye river on or close to the “old
Fort”. This clearly references the ruins of Ste. Marie among the Hurons build
by the Jesuits in 1639 and abandoned and burnt down in the spring of 1649.
These families salvaged much of the stonework from this site and recycled it
for use in their homes. One entrepreneur by the name of Baptiste Bruneau attempted to
establish an organized subdivision of lots that became the first such plan to
be registered in the township of Tay. Being close to the river mouth and
bordered by what is now the Wye Marsh, this was prime land for those who wanted
to continue in their lives as hunters, fishers and trappers.
The families
that are recorded as settling at “old Fort” are: Bareille, Bellval, Bruneau, Fortin, Martin, Oreille,
Quebec, Rondeau, St. Amand and Thibault.
Another group of people who most likely shared the
same interests as those on the Wye settled close to what the Huron/Wendat knew
as Cranberry Lake, now known as the Tiny Marsh, on lots between the 1st and 3rd
concessions of Tiny township.
The family names of Metis settlers at Cranberry Lake are Adam, Descheneau,
Gerroux, Goderoi, LeGris, Lépine, Peltier, Payette, Pricour and Roy.
A few
families appear to have acquired land more suitable to farming. Some of these
properties can be found on lots that front on what was the military road, soon
to become known as the Penetang road. This is now closely aligned with County
Road 93 between Waverly and Penetang.
The family names who appears to have settled on the military road are Corbier,
Corbière, Leduc, Legris, Vasseur.
Another few
families went further east towards Orillia and settled on land on the shores of
Matchedash Bay that would develop into the villages of Victoria Harbour,
Waubashene and Coldwater.
The family names of Metis who settled near the shores of Matchedash Bay are
Barbou, Berger, Craddock, Deschambault, Dusang, Labatte, Paradis, Parissien, Prousse.
The largest
group of settlers to seek out homesteads away from Penrtang Bay were those who
acquired land on lots in and around St Croix, soon to be renamed Lafontaine.
These properties were in the 15th, 16th and 17th
concessions of Tiny township most of which fronted on what we now know as Rue
Lafontaine between Simcoe County Road 6 and Cedar Point Road.
Family names associated with the Metis settlement of Lafontaine include Amiotte,
Boucher, Coté, Corbiere, Descheneau, Labatte, LaCroix, Lafreniere, Larammee, Mecier,
Messier, Pombird, Precourt, Thibault, Vasseur.
In
addition to those families with homesteads associated with the village of
Lafontaine there were also some outliers to the north of the village on the
roads and trails leading to and on the beach of Thunder Bay itself. The only
Metis homestead of that time that was built on the beach in 1834 was that of
the Labatte’s. That family arrived in Thunder Bay by accident when they were
shipwrecked on their way to Meaford.
For more information on the Labatte homestead and the family who lived
there drop into the “Labatte Homestead Rendezvous” Saturday June 22nd
at the beach.
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Clayton Samuel King on family/doodem relationships
Please join us for a talk on Wednesday
May 1st by
Clayton will be
speaking as the
Heritage and Culture Coordinator for Beausoleil First Nation. His presentation will focus on the
family/doodem relationships that he has uncovered through his ten years of
research. This presentation explores the written clan signatures in Treaties,
petitions, requisitions, nominal roles and oral history regarding BFN and the
Chippewa Tri -Council.
This meeting will be held in the Assembly Room on the lower level of the Midland Public Library starting at 7:00 PM
- Open to the public at no charge.
- Open to the public at no charge.
Friday, April 12, 2019
Bruneauville?
While doing research regarding historical/archaeological sites that might be threatened by a change to the cultural landscape as a result of the proposed development of some industrial land across the Wye River from the Shrine and Ste. Marie I came across references to the settlement of Bruneauville. Bruneauville was a registered plan of subdivision for a village on the west side of the Wye River in the west 1/2 of lot 16 con 3 of Tay Township.
Saturday, March 16, 2019
“Alt-Wrong: Archaeology vs. the Populist Right”
Please
join us for a talk by Paul Racher on
“Alt-Wrong: Archaeology Versus the
Populist Right”
A look at the role of archaeologists as
Canada and Ontario grapple with right wing populism.
At 7pm on Wednesday, April 10th
in the Thompson Room at the North Simcoe Recreation Centre, Midland,
Ontario
Open to
public - No admission charge
Paul Racher is Vice-President, Operations
of Archaeological Research Associates and teaches Cultural Resource Management
at Wilfrid Laurier University. He has a B.A. in Prehistoric Archaeology from Wilfrid
Laurier University and an M.A. in anthropology from McMaster University. He began his career as a heritage professional in 1986. Over the
two and a half decades since, he has overseen the completion of several hundred
archaeological and cultural heritage contracts. He holds professional licence
#P-007 with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Sport (MTCS). Paul is an
Associate at the Heritage Resources Centre, a heritage think tank at the University of Waterloo, and a
professional member of the Canadian
Association of Heritage Professionals (CAHP). He also holds memberships in
the Association of Professional
Archaeologists (APA), and the past
president of Ontario Archaeological
Society (OAS).
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Métis History and Culture beyond Discovery Harbour
Join
us for a presentation of
Chapter
meeting: Wednesday, March 13th, 2019
Where: North
Simcoe Sports & Recreation Centre
Thompson Room - Time: 7 PM
Chapter meetings are open to the public at no charge.
Join us for a presentation of
Métis
History and Culture beyond Discovery Harbour
We will explore the historic and contemporary Métis through music and a presentation
by the Red Hot
Stove Pipe Band. The two founding members of this band, Basil
Lafreniere and Marg Raynor, are descendants of Metis, Louis George Labatte
& Julie Francoise Grouette, who migrated from Drummond Island to this area
in 1828 and settled on the shores of Thunder Bay Beach. Family artifacts will
be highlighted.
Thursday, February 14, 2019
Karolyn Smardz Frost to speak on African Canadian History.
In recognition of Black History Month and Simcoe County’s own Black Heritage, the Huronia chapter is pleased welcome Dr. Karolyn Smardz Frost to speak at our February 27th members meeting.
Our meeting will be held at the North Simcoe Sports and Recreation Centre, Midland starting at 7: PM.
Our meetings are open to the general public at no charge.
![]() |
Black church in Oro township |
![]() |
Karolyn Smardz Frost
|
Both
an archaeologist and an historian, Karolyn Smardz Frost explores North
America's rich African American and African Canadian heritage and specializes
in studying and teaching the Underground Railroad in the Great Lakes basin. She
is an adjunct professor at both Acadia and Dalhousie Universities, and is
consulting historical archaeologist for the Cataract House hotel excavations in
Niagara Falls, New York.
She
is also an accomplished author of lively and intriguing narrative non-fiction.
In 2007 Karolyn won the Governor General's Award for I've Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost
Tale of the Underground Railroad. Her co-edited A Fluid Frontier:
Slavery, Resistance, and the Underground Railroad in the Detroit River
Borderland (2016), won the Historical Society of Michigan Book Award.
Karolyn's
newest volume, Steal Away Home (HarperCollins Canada 2016) tells the
story of Cecelia Jane Reynolds, who at the age of fifteen fled her Kentucky by
way of the Cataract House hotel at Niagara Falls NY. Reaching Toronto she learned
to write and began a correspondence with Fanny, the woman who had once owned
her body, asking the price of her own family's freedom. Thus began a
twenty-year correspondence between a freedom-seeker and her former mistress
that has no parallel in the annals of American slavery.
A finalist for the Atlantic Book and
Heritage Toronto Awards, Steal Away Home won
the Speaker's Award for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the J.J. Talman
Award for the best book in Ontario history over the past three years. The most
exciting news yet is that Steal Away Home
has been optioned for a five-part mini-series by Conquering Lion Pictures,
which produced the Book of Negroes
for television! Karolyn will speak about the archaeology of the Underground
Railroad, and tell the tale of not one but two excavations illuminating the
life of freedom-seeker Cecelia Jane Reynolds.
Saturday, February 02, 2019
Artifacts transferred to Simcoe County Museum.
Jeff Monague, a resident of Christian Island, Pipe Carrier and representative from the Culture and; Heritage Committee of the Beausoleil First Nation. |
On Feb. 1st, six
members of the Huronia Chapter of the O.A.S attended a Pipe Ceremony held
at the Simcoe County District School Board's Education Centre in Midhurst,
Ontario. Two of the Huronia Chapter's
attendees were Janet Turner and Jim Shropshire , both of whom were part of the
archaeological team that excavated the Molson Site from May to October, 1985.
Hosting the event was Corry Van Nispen of the SCDSB and Darryl
Wines of the Collections Department of the Simcoe County Museum.
The ceremony was conducted by Jeff Monague, a
resident of Christian Island, Pipe Carrier and representative from the Culture
and Heritage Committee of the Beausoleil First Nation. A member of the chapter presented a gift of tobacco to Mr. Monague, paying honour and due respect to him at this occasion.Sunday, January 27, 2019
When Archaeological Sites Are Offered For Sale
Archaeological sites and Real Estate.
Question: Should archaeological sites be registered on property title?
As one whose interest in
archaeology started when I was still practicing real estate, I have always been
curious as to why archaeological sites are not automatically registered on a property’s
title papers.
As an archaeologist, I see
part of our job as acting as custodians of the past, protectors of
archaeological sites and educators of the public about the footprints of
history that lie beneath their feet.
When I have asked this
question before, the real estate agent in me would say “would this registration
not have an impact on property values, and what about property rights? Would
those be limited?
When I have reflected on this
as an archaeologist, I say, “So what?”
As a real estate agent with an
increasing knowledge of archaeology that includes the location of sites within
my area, I found myself conflicted. I was bound by real estate law to fully
disclose whatever I knew or had been made aware of about any property that I either
listed or sold. As an archaeologist, there is an unwritten code of secrecy when
it comes to revealing site locations and municipal planning authorities are
strongly discouraged or forbidden to reveal the location of sites within their jurisdiction
unless a development plan proposal has been put before them.
This process seems a little
ass-backwards to me. If a developer sees a property within a designated growth
area or they choose to speculate on rural property on the edge of town, they
may put in an offer of purchase and then approach the planning authorities with
a draft plan. That property purchase, along with the costs incurred for the
preparation of a draft plan and a possible zoning change will require a
significant financial investment on behalf of the developer.
It is only at this point that
an environmental assessment is triggered, and as part of the process, an
archaeological assessment may also be required.
As a real estate professional
who was aware of archaeological sites being located on properties listed for
sale, did I have the obligation to disclose this information? What would be the
ramifications of either informing or not informing my clients of knowledge that
I had about the property? Am I opening myself up to a lawsuit?
Archaeological surveys and
site report have been made available to municipalities in my area since the 1890s,
yet my experience has been that most, if not all, of the planners that I met
were unaware of, and frankly somewhat disinterested in the existence of, let
alone, the content of these reports. They believed that the checklist indicating
whether a property had archaeological potential was all that they needed. They
were not interested in, or felt the need for, an inventory or list of sites
within the municipalities they worked for.
Back to the potential for a
lawsuit. As that conflicted licensed real estate agent who also held an
archaeological license, I was waiting for the day when a developer sued a municipality
for negligence for failure to disclose pertinent information that could render
their development plan useless or less profitable than anticipated. The
developer not only faced the cost of the assessment, but he may also be
informed that a significant portion of the land that he had purchased could not
be built on. His claim would be that the municipality failed to disclose
information that they knew or “should have known” prior to his purchase of the
property. Fortunately, the only lawsuits that I was threatened with came from a
developer who did not want me informing residents of sites within that
development and a CRM company that did not want me to divulge information about
potential ossuaries within their contracted area that they had chosen not to
investigate or report, even though they had been indicated in a site survey and
a previous CRM stage 2 report. As a result, I lost my avocational licence for allegedly
interfering with a CRM professional contract, but I felt vindicated when one of
those ossuaries was dug up in the process of grading a lot for a home, and the other
noticed and brought to my attention by a property owner, who attended a public
meeting, who was curious about a strange depression in a greenbelt area not 20 ft
from the back of their yard.
So, in conclusion, for the
sake of full disclosure and our desire to protect sites, I would like to
suggest that we as archaeologists, through whatever organizations we belong to advocate
for archaeological sites to be placed on property title. They do it for dump
sites and contaminated soil sites, but not for ossuaries or other sites that we
and others see as important markers of sacredness and history.
Sunday, January 20, 2019
Ontario Bill 66 and its possible impact on archaeology in Ontario
Dear
OAS member,
In
the last president's message I called your attention to Bill 66 and some of the
impacts it could have to archaeological heritage and Indigenous rights (as well
as environmental protections) in Ontario. I indicated that comment on the bill
could be sent to Ken Peterson at planningconsultation@ontario.ca
by today, Jan. 20.
Since
that message, our past president, Paul Racher, has attended two consultations
sessions with the Ontario government on behalf of the OAS. While at one of
these, he learned about the government's plan to increase housing supply: http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/Page20902.aspx
While
the specifics of this plan are not yet fully understood, the rhetoric that is
being used suggests that the government wants to make approval processes faster
through "streamlining." They state that "The various regulatory
requirements and approvals were established to serve specific public interests,
policy objectives of government goals. Efforts to streamline these requirements
need to balance these multiple goals."
As
an organization, the OAS is committed to speaking out to protect archaeological
heritage. We have had representation at the consultation meetings we have been
invited to. We have submitted comment on Bill 66 and we will submit comment on
the proposed Housing Supply Action Plan. We have, and will continue to frame
this in terms of language that we hope the current government will understand:
that adhering to Official Plans, the Provincial Policy Statement (2014), and
Archaeological Master Plans decreases risk, cost, and duplication for
municipalities and developers because it allows for identification of
archaeological sites early in the approval process.
We
have been in touch with a number of organizations who we believe might also
have concerns about both Bill 66 and the Housing Supply Action Plan. This
includes Indigenous organizations and other heritage organizations.
Should you wish to assist the OAS in advocacy efforts you have a
several options.
1. You can comment on the Housing Supply Action Plan here until Jan. 25 (http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/Page20905.aspx).
2. You can contact your municipality, as several OAS members have
already done, as it is at the municipal level that many decisions about
planning are made.
3. You can assist the OAS by volunteering to help with advocacy
efforts. Members have made a number of suggestions about what the OAS could do
- ranging from issuing press releases to networking with various heritage
organizations. As a volunteer organization, we can always use assistance in
such efforts.
Sincerely,
Alicia
Hawkins
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