Upcoming events.
Upcoming events
Royal Tea Party
The Keswick Ridge Historical Society is happy to invite you to a royal tea party to celebrate our new teacup exhibit! This is a family event, perfect for your littlest princes and princesses and for anyone who is interested in history or wants to have a little youthful fun! Join the historical society in your best royal dress for tea and treats July 29th at 1pm. In addition to refreshments there will be guided tours available, scavenger hunts, and a princess storybook reading. This event is by donation, and is a great way to learn more about local history and bring together the community.
Please note: Royal/fancy dress is not required, however is strongly encourage as it enhances the fun. This event is a drop in/out event with some scheduled elements, but feel free to come and go as you like. Tours will also be available throughout the whole event and after. You can see the timeline below:
Opening: 1-1:15
Teatime: 1:15-2:30
Storytime: 2:30-3:00pm
Tours/Scavenger Hunts Available: 2:30-5pm
History Speaks! Letters from Scotch Settlement: The Mitchell Family"
This presentation will be on Zoom, but we will be showing it live from the Schoolhouse as well.
KRHS Monthly Meeting
All are welcome! Our meeting are once again held in-person at the Old Schoolhouse. They will also be live-streamed on Zoom for our members from afar, or those who wish to join from the comfort of their homes.
Email us at keswickridgehistoricalsociety@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link.
KRHS Monthly Meeting
All are welcome! Our meeting are once again held in-person at the Old Schoolhouse. They will also be live-streamed on Zoom for our members from afar, or those who wish to join from the comfort of their homes.
Email us at keswickridgehistoricalsociety@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link.
Pie Auction
Join us at our annual Pie Auction at the Keswick Fall Harvest Market! Watch auctioneer Troy Whittaker masterfully auction off local, handmade pies in support of the Keswick Ridge Historical Society. What will this year’s top-selling pie be, and will it beat last year’s Butterscotch Apple pie? Come and find out, and take home a local pie while you’re at it!
Keswick Fall Harvest Market 2022
Come out to the Keswick Ridge Community Hall and enjoy local farms, makers, and vendors! There will be food, live music, and, of course, the famous Pie Auction in support of the Keswick Ridge Historical Society.
Monthly Meeting
All our welcome to attend our Monthly Meeting. This month, we will be gathering back at the Old Schoolhouse for an in-person experience, but we will also be live-streaming, so you can join us via Zoom as well!
Canada Day Celebrations 2022
Celebrate Canada day in our community with a Tractor and Float parade, children’s activities, the (un)official opening of the Keswick Ridge Historical Society Museum, guided tours of the Mactaquac Beaver Pond trail, food trucks, strawberry shortcake, raffle, silent auction, talent show, and of course, fireworks to end the day!
History Speaks 2022: “Just the Usual Work”, by Dr. Michael Boudreau and Dr. Bonnie Huskins
This presentation will discuss the diaries of Ida Martin, which she kept faithfully from 1945-1992, and her social worlds, including family and faith, the working-class family economy, cars and trucks, aging and widowhood, and political engagement.
Born in 1907, Ida Martin spent most of her life in Saint John, New Brunswick. She married a longshoreman named Allan Robert Martin in 1932 and they had one daughter. In the years that followed, Ida had a busy and varied life, full of work, caring for her family, and living her faith. Through it all, Ida found time to keep a daily diary from 1945 to 1992.
Bonnie Huskins is Ida Martin's granddaughter. In Just the Usual Work, she and Michael Boudreau draw on Ida's diaries, family memories, and the history of Atlantic Canada to shed light on the everyday life of a working-class housewife during a period of significant social and political change. They examine Ida's observations about the struggles of making ends meet on a longshoreman's salary, the labour confrontations at the Port of Saint John, the role of automobiles in the family economy, the importance of family, faith, and political engagement, and her experience of widowhood and growing old.
Ida Martin's diaries were often read by members of her family to reconstruct and relive their shared histories. By sharing the pages of her diaries with a wider audience, Just the Usual Work keeps Ida's memory alive while continuing her abiding commitment to documenting the past and finding meaning in the rhythms of everyday life.
History Speaks 2022: Roger Nason
On Sunday, April 24 from 2-3pm, we will be welcoming our penultimate presenter of History Speaks 2022!
We welcome back Roger Nason, whose presentation at History Speaks last year about the original Peleg Tripp property at 570 Tripp Settlement Road and its evolution through the generations, provided insight into the life and times of those early families in the area. This year’s subject is “John Hamilton: New Brunswick’s Forgotten Black Inventor”.
You can join us on Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83136539610
Can't wait to see you there!
About the presentation: In our everyday lives we tend to take for granted those innovative tools and gadgets that have made our lives much easier or impacted society as a whole.
In the late nineteenth century this was the situation when John Hamilton, a first-generation Afro-Canadian from Saint John invented a practical method to help early train operators in New Brunswick to avoid disastrous derailments especially in winter.
New railways that expanded from Fredericton along the St. John River and northward through Keswick, Burtt’s Corner and beyond benefited immediately from the Hamilton Flanger of 1874. Likewise, other North American railroad owners recognized the genius in adding a mechanical device to clear ice and snow from the tracks, and ultimately save money and lives, yet, the Black inventor, who brought this invention to life, gained neither rightful recognition nor financial return. This is his overdue story of struggle and persistence.
History Speaks 2022: Dr. Leah Grandy
Join us on Sunday, April 10 from 2-3pm for the second installment of History Speaks 2022!
Dr. Leah Grandy will present “Researching Loyalist Stories: Using The Loyalist Collection to Recover the Lives of New Brunswick Loyalists.”
You can join us on Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83136539610
Can't wait to see you there!
This presentation will feature an introduction to the digital project, "New Brunswick Loyalist Journeys," with a focus on examining the stories of Elizabeth Green and Samuel Richard Wilson, as well as a discussion of the research process of using The Loyalist Collection to recover the lives of New Brunswick loyalists.
History Speaks 2022: Evelyn Fidler
Join us on Sunday, April 3 from 2-3pm for our first installment in History Speaks 2022!
We are very pleased and excited to welcome Evelyn Fidler, who will be presenting "Change in the River Valley: The Mactaquac Dam and the Creation of Kings Landing".
You can join us on Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83136539610
Can't wait to see you there!
About the presentation:
In the early 1960’s, families in rural New Brunswick were becoming large consumers of electricity, but the current power grid could not keep up. The New Brunswick Electric Power Commission began plans to construct the Mactaquac Dam and the ensuing head pond.
This head pond would displace many families who had lived along the banks of the Saint John River, some for many generations.
The sixties were also building up to the centennial year of the formation of Canada. A “pioneer village” was proposed which would include many of the buildings that were expropriated. As well, this project would celebrate the rich history of New Brunswick from the Loyalists to the Victorians. This village was Kings Landing Historical Settlement.
This presentation explores this era in New Brunswick history and its impact and change for the residents of the Saint John River Valley