Gananoque

Cultural Resources:

Gananoque provides a number of resources pertaining predominately to cultural heritage. The most apparent assets of the town are the cultural resources. While lacking, in some areas, interpretations of the history, many structures remain standing, which tell the story of foundation through industry to recreation and tourism. Some structures include:

• Colonel Joel Stone’s sawmill at the head of the Gananoque river as it flows into the St. Lawrence – the focal point of settlement and development of Gananoque
• Arthur Child Heritage Museum of the Thousand Islands
• Has a substantial collection for material culture on the history of the 1000 Islands and Gananoque, with a strong focus on the War of 1812 including a gun claimed to be that of pirate Bill Johnston
• Various churches representing spiritual expression
• Waterfront factories
• Representations of typical Island and shoreline housing/cottages – Cultural Expression

Points of Interest:

• Colonel Joel Stone and the founders
• War of 1812 and the Raid of Gananoque
• 1000 Islands Railway – Important for outlying farmer surplus being shipped to waterfront
• Gananoque – Clayton Ferry
• Pleasure Craft boat-building
• St. Lawrence transportation – 1852 – 1980s
• Story of Elizabeth Barnett and the attempted raid by the Upper Canada and American Patriots in 1838

Potential Sources:

• Although there is a small library for local history in Gananoque, these sources can be found at any major library such as Queen’s
• Gananoque Heritage Committee
• Tim Compeau, Heritage Museum Collections Curator
• Compeau, presently a PhD candidate at UWO, has a comprehensive understanding of the museum and other cultural resources of the town and has done extensive research on its founder, Joel Stone and Loyalists of the area and in a greater context
• http://www.colontelstone.ca, one of Compeau’s websites, studies in depth Colonel Stone and the founding of Gananoque
• Compeau will be an excellent source of information for the region and a key to many other resources, human and material, in Gananoque. A potential candidate for involvement in the project.

Akenson, Donald. The Irish in Ontario: a study in rural history. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1999.

• An excellent source for the history of Gananoque and greater Leeds and Grenville
• Available at Queen’s University Library

DeZwaan, George. The little Birmingham on the St. Lawrence: an industrial and labour history of Gananoque. Kingston: Canadian Theses, 1987.

• A PhD thesis available at Queen’s library and archives, discusses the labour history of Ganaoque and the importance of the early factories in its rise and subsequent decline with the closures
• Available at Queen’s University Archives