History of Central Manitoulin Historical Society:

About 1970 there was a considerable amount of interest in local history by many people in the Community. This was mostly fostered by Mrs. Mabel Wyman, custodian of the local Tweedsmuir Book on behalf of the Women's Institute. This movement lacked focus other than the promotion of the Tweedsmuir Book as a means of preserving local history and therefore gradually diminished.

About 1973 Jean Williamson, Public Health Nurse, and Douglas Lanktree, Elementary School Principal, discovered they had a mutual interest in history. They decided to begin meeting monthly to discuss items of interest, to begin collecting articles, pictures and artifacts to preserve them for the benefit of the Public and to invite others of similar interests to join their initiative. Membership numbers have varied reaching a peak of about forty in the early eighties when we considered seriously constructing a museum building. However interest declined when we were forced to postpone the project due to unfavorable grant regulations and difficult building restictions on museum construction at the time.

During this period Mrs. Jean Williamson was kind enough to allow us storage space for files, materials and artifacts in a couple of back rooms of her home. However in 1991 this space was filled to capacity and changes were necessary. We applied to the (then) Twp. of Carnarvon and were granted use of a room in the basement of the old school as storage space. This room is presently filled to capacity. In 1993 the Municipality acquired the land where the present Pioneer Museum now stands and a log cabin which was no longer useful to Brookwood Brae golf course. The log cabin was moved to location and with supplemental logs from the former Montgomery home in Spring Bay was reconstructed. The Municipality requested that the Historical Society furnish the building with furniture and equipment from the period prior to 1900 if possible and begin operations as a museum. Through the initiatives of the Society logs from old log barns in Tehkummah were purchased from David Jaggard, were moved onto location and rebuilt in 1996 and 1997 by volunteers into a log barn and blacksmith shop and equipped with suitable artifacts from the pioneer period. In 1998 a frame barn, donated by Harve Haner and family, was moved by a group of volunteers and reconstructed by a hired group of Mennonite barn builders as a shelter for pioneer farm equipment and machinery.

The objectives of the Historical Society were established at the beginning of the Museum Project as the collection and preservation of materials, pictures and artifacts from the Pioneer period in this area. We have been quite successful at this and have been open to the general public as Pioneer Museum for the past five summers. Last summer was the most successful when we entertained some seven hundred visitors including two classes of school children and the provision of a setting for a wedding ceremony.

We are in the process of adding a summer kitchen to our log cabin and building an admission area complete with washrooms and a small viewing area for displays. We plan this as stage one of a larger project which will provide better storage space and more room for displays, educational workshops and possibly an art gallery.

Douglas Lanktree, Past President

Edited for content by Tyson Gilchrist

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The Museum is open Monday - Friday 1:00 - 4:00 P.M., throughout July and August. 

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SPECIAL EVENTS - 2010

Thursday, July 15th, 2010 - 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. - Pioneer Craft Day at the Central Manitouln Pioneer Museum.  A Cooperative Event at the Pioneer Museum and Jack's Agricultural Museum.  The first ever Pioneer Craft Day was so successful last year that it's happening again!  It gives kids and adults the opportunity to try out new crafts with music, stories, a crossword scavenger hunt and more!  This year's feature is the Northern Maple Cow - a life size cow to learn how milking was done in the old days.  You can learn how to milk a cow without getting kicked!  Butter-making will also be featured. 

Local people will hold workshops on making bookmarks with pressed flowers, knitting a square, making a dreamcatcher, doing pottery on a wheel, looking up your family tree and more.  Local spinners, weavers, a lacemaker, and rug makers will all be on hand, demonstrating their skills and explaining aspects of their crafts, and people can participate in an old-fashioned quilting bee.  Please click here for more information.