Rauhala Ramblers: October 2010

This is a 60 acre site with 40 historical buildings, with costumed staff interpreters. There are activities at most of the sites, including; broom making, bread making, weaving, shoe making, candy store, restaurant, etc.

One of the first things we did was take a horse drawn wagon ride around the village.

Bakery

Twice a day, the pungent smell of freshly baked bread spreads over the central part of the Village. It comes from this red frame building, where the baker has been kneading dough since early this morning.

A hardwood fire is built in the red brick oven and once this is hot enough and the coals have been raked out, the pans are put in. The bakers make the dough from flour ground at nearby Bellamy's Mills. The bread is baked by heat radiating from the hot oven bricks.

While most farmers and townspeople baked their own bread, there was always a need for bread for travellers and inns.

The flour for the bread is ground at the mill then made into bread at the bakery.

sacks of flour

types of flour

Crysler Hall

The Doric columns of this imposing structure, each made from one great pine tree, were moved from the original site when this house was taken down and reconstructed in Upper Canada Village. It was originally built by John Pliny Crysler, a timber merchant. He was the son of the John Crysler upon whose farm the Battle of Crysler's Farm, had been fought (part of the War of 1812).

Crysler Hall was built as a residence. The sweeping circular drive, cast iron fence and formal garden all add to the dignity of this fine example of Greek revival architecture. It is not typical of most houses of the period, and would have been considered pompous by most residents. At the back, next to a sunken garden containing may plants from house sites.

Horse drawn boat

school house

Separating wheat to make into flour

Oxen would usually be used for this not human power

Broom Maker

We really enjoyed learning about broom making.

In the 1860s, making brooms was not a full-time occupation. Most were farmers who also made brooms to supplement the family income and hence, it was a small home trade done in the family home or in an adjacent farm-building. At this time, there was also competition from mass-produced brooms from the United States and Canada.

Broom corn was grown in Canada, near Sarnia, but much of it came from the central United States. Planted in rows like Indian corn, which it resembles, broom corn is a form of sorghum whose seeds are formed in a large brush at the top of the plant. Once the seeds are separated from the harvested brush, it is dried, baled and sent to market. Even in the 1860s, broom handles and thread were already being commercially produced.

Our village broom-maker makes two style of brooms: a round, earlier style and a more "modern" flat broom. Visitors are encouraged to watch a broom being made, inspect the tools and machinery of the time, and then visit the village gift shop where our brooms are sold. The broom-maker's house is a small log cabin built in the 1820s with an impressive stone fireplace of large, hammer-dressed limestone blocks. With its flagstone floor, the house is an excellent example of the skill of our early Scottish stonemasons.