at the Lac-Brome Museum.
Knowlton, April 18, 2024 – The Brome County Historical Society (BCHS) invites the general public to discover the history of the area through its new temporary exhibition entitled A-Z: The Path of Brome County’s Family Origins, at the Lac-Brome Museum. From May 18, 2024 to April 12, 2025, Brome County is in the spotlight. The opening of the exhibit will take place on Saturday, May 18, 2024, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm.
According to Rachel Lambie, Curator of the Lac-Brome Museum, « The exhibition A-Z: The Path of Brome County’s Family Origins highlights the close link between human beings and their land, in particular the way in which we preserve the local stories in our day-to-day lives. By using the lens of the street names’ origins, we pique curiosity, educate and enhance the importance of this collective heritage. »
Every name has a story. The BCHS traces the history behind the names of 26 streets and roads in the region, with a story for each letter of the alphabet. From East Farnham to Potton, from Fulford to Sutton, and villages in between, the exhibition presents stories behind names that are passed by every day. For example, Iron Hill Road is named for the hamlet through which it runs, which contains (as one might expect) a great deal of iron ore. This might seem like a wonderful thing for early European settlers of the area. Who would have expected that it would make life difficult for village surveyors, since the surrounding peat bogs were so rich in iron that compasses stopped working? This is one of the few roads in the exhibition not named after people! Sometimes a story is so good it needs to be shared.
The exhibition brings together an array of archival documents and photographs, carefully selected artefacts from the museum collection and excerpts from BCHS publications to enrich the presentation. In addition, the public will be able to view episode 5 of the recently released video Raising Spirits: Lost Nation, produced by the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN).
The exhibition is based on research carried out by Elizabeth Osborne-O’Donnell as part of a Young Canada Works project in the summer of 2023.
The Brome County Historical Society was founded in 1897 to preserve important artefacts and archives associated with historic Brome County. Its Lac-Brome Museum displays a Fokker DVII, a German biplane from the First World War, the only one in the world with its original livery. The BCHS has some 375 active members.
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