Monday 29 August 2011

Pride of Baltimore II Sails into Amherstburg with guns firing

Alexander Greenham, 2, of Amherstburg checks out the steering wheel of the Pride of Baltimore II, a Baltimore-based tall ship that docked in Amherstburg on Saturday and invited the public aboard for tours.

Photograph by: Dan Janisse, The Windsor Star, The Windsor Star

There's a certain romance and sense of adventure about the Pride of Baltimore II.
But according to crew member Carolyn Ceavey it sometimes appears more romantic than it really is.
"Some of the more gritty details kind of get glossed over," the 27-year-old said Sunday during a free tour of the ship docked at Duffy's dockyard in Amherstburg.
A lot of elbow grease goes into maintaining the 157-foot tall ship, she said, recalling the hours she has spent meticulously painting and cleaning.
Not to mention the constant lookout shared among the 12 crew members while at sea.
Ceavey recalled standing on deck in the middle of the night for four hours in the pouring rain and 4 C weather - a shift she said she would like to forget.
However, Ceavey said the crew members do it for their love of sailing.
"There isn't a person here that's in it for the money," Ceavey said. "It's all about heart and commitment to sailing and keeping the tradition alive."
Ceavey, from the Boston area, has called the tall ship home for the past 10 months.
The ship arrived Saturday at noon with its four cannons firing and sails billowing in the wind. Free tours of the schooner drew a crowd of thousands.
The ship is owned and operated by a Baltimore-based non-profit organization Pride of Baltimore Inc., and relies on private donations. It was built in 1988 as a reproduction of an 1812-era topsail schooner privateer. With her sails spanning 107 feet in the air, she can hit 15 knots, Ceavey said.
Anne Rota, Amherstburg's manager of tourism and culture, said the ship's visit is a way to bring attention to the town's bicentennial commemoration of the War of 1812. The festival called Roots to Boots will run Aug. 3-5 next year.
The ships's captain, Jan Miles, said he enjoyed discussing the War of 1812 with town residents.
James Bruce, a 68-year-old Amherstburg resident, carried a book of tall ships with him as he toured the schooner. He had Miles sign the page bearing the Pride of Baltimore II.
Bruce said he has tall ship models at home, but nothing compares to standing behind and gripping the ship's wheel. The Baltimore is the third tall ship Bruce has been on.
"It's beautiful," he said. "I think I'd like to take her for a ride."

The tall ship Pride of Baltimore II attracted thousands when it docked Saturday in Amherstburg.

Saturday 27 August 2011

Thorold Bicentennial

Local News

Shawn Reimer is the main artist behind the Thorold's mural site. Reimer poses in front of the Laura Secord and War of 1812 tribute mural, the most recent project to be painted onto aluminum panels.

More Photos

Murals tell story of Thorold’s heritage

Mural paintings in process of being converted to aluminum panels

By Carolyn Goard

Posted 7 hours ago

Over 20,000 square feet of murals along the Greater Niagara Circle Route tells the story of Thorold's history.

The paintings have been there for about five years, but just a few years ago the Thorold Murals Committee decided to repaint the murals onto new and improved aluminum panels.
With over 11 different murals covering the back of two industrial buildings on Wellington St. North overlooking the trail, each painting depicts a notable moment in the city's history to tell the story of Thorold's heritage, including the history behind the four Welland Canals.
According to the Thorold Murals Committee chair of eight years, Dale Robinson, the murals are a "must see" and she predicts once the artwork is finished, more tourists will come from out of town just to see the paintings.
Up until 2005 when the first mural was painted, graffiti covered the buildings. But in 2008 Robinson and her husband Jack decided to refurbish the original murals that were painted onto the buildings' bricks.
Tora rents the northern building where some of the artwork resides, but since the neighboring building has been vacant for years, the heating and cooling extremes in temperature changes have raised some challenges, causing the original paintings to peel off and wear away.
Robinson said as opposed to the brick, the aluminum will preserve the paintings better, is higher in quality and will not only be more permanent, but can be moved if the need arises.
"We needed to be sure the murals are no longer fixed to the building," Robinson said. "In the case any of the buildings are ever sold, the murals could come down easily."
The purpose of the murals is to allow tourists and residents to make connections with the paintings and Thorold's heritage. "We take pride in our history and it's a way to help people connect to our city's story."
It's all in an effort to enhance and promote the 160-kilomtre trail that runs along the Welland Canal and in between the lakes; 13 kilometres of which is in Thorold.
According the Robinson, Thorold's section that stretches from Lock 4 to Welland is the most interesting, and can be referred to as a landmark for the city.

About ten years ago Robinson and her husband Jack saw a mural while eating lunch in Brockville, which sparked the idea to start a similar project in Thorold. "That was when we realized we need to do something to connect Thorold to its heritage. We thought we could turn one of Thorold's eyesores into an asset."

Robinson said launching the initiative wasn't easy and it took time to raise money for funding, but today the artwork represents Canada's largest mural, with tourists coming from "all over" just to see the paintings.
A group of volunteers meet biweekly to enhance, maintain and clean up the mural site, which has been home to many incidents of vandalism over the years. St. Catharines' artist Shawn Reimer and his team of staff are responsible for getting the paintings completed.
What has made the project possible is the help from a committee of volunteers and community donations. In 2006 the committee received a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, however the majority of funding has come from within the local community and its merchants.
Just recently the Thorold Lions Club jumped on board to help the cause, which Robinson has been of "great" assistance in getting the overgrown area cleaned up, so one day the murals can be seen from the road.
"It's fantastic to see the community rallying around the cause," Reimer said.
On Friday, August 19 Walker Brothers was added to the list of supporters for its $20,000 donation. The company's vice president, Mike Watt, said the reason he wants to support the initiative is because he believes the murals will be something permanent for Thorold.
"It's a visible thing we can do to have an impact on the community." He added it's a way to give back to the city, alluding to the recent problems associated with odours emanating from the company's landfill, affecting residents in the Welland Canal area.
The Welland Canal mural was the first piece to be painted on the aluminum panels, but the most recent project to be completed is the Laura Secord and Battle of Beaverdams mural—an 1812 commemorative piece paying tribute to Thorold's role in the historic war and its veterans.
Another notable piece is the pulp and paper mural, which shows the development of the industry in Thorold from the time when ships loaded with pulpwood brought forests of trees to the city's many paper mills, to when Abitibi Bowater began using recycled paper to make newsprint.
But according Reimer, the main artistic force behind the project, the Welland Canal mural is single-handedly one of the most significant murals on site, telling the story of its construction and the disaster when a portion of Lock 2 collapsed.
All of the mural content on site is approved by the city's resident historians, John Burtniak and Alun Hughes.
The committee is in the process of working on a booklet to tell the story of each mural panel, and in time for the War of 1812 bicentennial celebrations next summer, it also plans to create an audio walking tour.
Blank aluminum panels have already been installed at the Nick Basciano Centre for the next mural on deck: a tribute to Thorold's history in sports.
"We have an amazing history here in Thorold; one we can all take pride in. We are truly grateful to our generous supporters and our hard-working volunteers who have enabled us to tell this story," Robinson said.

Thursday 25 August 2011

Three Books, Two Centuries And One English Regency by Stephanie Barron

This statue in Weymouth, England, commemorates King George III entering the 50th year of his reign in 1809-1810. It was donated to the town in 1809.

August 22, 2011

As the summer winds to a close, I'm thinking about the bicentennial. Not the one we celebrated with tall ships 35 years ago, but the one just across the pond: the 200th anniversary of the English Regency.
It's a term often associated with fussy furniture, but it refers in fact to the last nine years of King George III's life, when he was put in a straitjacket and his son was asked to mind the throne. The Regency began with a massive kickoff party in the summer of 1811. It ended with George III's death in January 1820. In between, the English got food riots, Luddites, Jane Austen and Waterloo.
For most Americans, the period comes down to one man: Colin Firth, whose star turn as Austen's Fitzwilliam Darcy still brings grown women to their knees. For those who'd like to know more about those racy nine years, a few good books come to mind.

Naval power was a defining aspect of the Regency. Vice Adm. Lord Horatio Nelson's annihilation of the combined French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar took place a good six years before George III went insane, but to understand the period you must know something about why Britannia ruled the waves. Adam Nicolson's Seize the Fire is a good place to start. The grandson of English writers Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson, Adam Nicolson has a passionate love for the sea and ships. Whether you care a whit for naval warfare or not, his prose is lyric enough to carry his grand ambition: to understand the cult of heroism that surrounded Nelson and the Royal Navy, which literally scuttled Napoleon Bonaparte's planned invasion of England. To read this book is to know why Napoleon would destroy most of the old world in order to own it — and why England refused to let him.

We all use the word "Waterloo" as shorthand for "utter defeat," but few of us can walk our way through those three brutal days of battle in June 1815, when it seemed civilization itself hung in the balance. Alessandro Barbero, an Italian military historian, brings the terror of cannon fire in the ripening rye fields to vivid life. If for nothing else, read this book for cavalry officer Frederick Ponsonby's matter-of-fact account of surviving 36 hours on the ground while the French trampled, stabbed and robbed his wounded body, apologizing profusely as they abandoned him to his death. That Ponsonby survived the ordeal seems a peculiarly British triumph.

2011 is also the 200th anniversary of the publication of Sense and Sensibility, the first of Jane Austen's trenchant novels of Regency manners; but to my mind she captures the period best in her last book. Set between Napoleon's banishment to Elba and his return at Waterloo, Persuasion is a bittersweet, autumnal tale of second chances and love regained. It perfectly captures the ambitious striving, the social upheaval, the vast uncertainties of the Regency period — and the desperate yearning of those who waited in silence for warriors who might never come home again.

Those of us who love the Regency are sometimes accused of escapism to a sedate and romanticized England long since lost — but as these books prove, struggle, change and survival have always existed. Even 200 years ago, in the ballrooms of Jane Austen.
Stephanie Barron writes a series of books featuring Jane Austen as a detective. Her latest is Jane and the Canterbury Tale.
Three Books... is produced and edited by Ellen Silva with production assistance from Rose Friedman and Lacey Mason.

USS Constitution Immortalized on a stamp

Old Ironsides given US stamp of approval

The USS Constitution, which played a vital role in the War of 1812, is shown in full rigging with its top masts in the old Charlestown Navy Yard. (David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

By Meghan E. Irons

Globe Staff / August 25, 2011

The US Postal Service has picked Old Ironsides, the beloved US Navy frigate berthed in the old Charlestown Navy Yard, as part of its Forever Stamp series and to pay tribute to the War of 1812.

War of 1812: USS Constitution Postage Stamp to be Issued in 2012

With this stamp, the U.S. Postal Service commemorates the bicentennial of the War of 1812, a two-and-a-half year conflict with Great Britain that many Americans later came to view as the nation’s “Second War of Independence.”

For the stamp design, the Postal Service selected a long-admired painting of the famed USS Constitution by Michele Felice Cornè, circa 1803.

Constitution acquired the nickname “Old Ironsides” during a victorious battle with a ship of the Royal Navy at the beginning of the War of 1812.

The majestic warship — which is today docked at . . .

Read more at: beyondtheperf.com

The stamp, “War of 1812: USS Constitution,’’ marks the ship’s role in the conflict with Great Britain, hailed as the nation’s Second War of Independence.

“It was picked for winning a pivotal war,’’ said Stephen Kearney, who heads stamp services. “It gave the US a sense of optimism that it could defeat the British.’’

The Postal Service unveiled the stamp on Facebook this week, and images of it are on Twitter and Beyond the Perf sites. With social media, the Postal Service hopes to reach a broad, diverse audience interested in stamp collecting and other historical subjects.

The Navy, which has been training sailors on Old Ironsides in Charlestown, is repairing the vessel, the world’s oldest commissioned warship, in hope of taking it for a commemorative sail next year, the bicentennial of the war. But it is unclear whether the 214-year-old wooden vessel can handle the ride.

Peace Gardens

http://www.btapartners.com/BiNational/Peace-Garden.aspx

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Quilters and Hikers

Wednesday, August 24, 2011 9:35 am

SACKETS HARBOR — It’s “a once-in-200-years” opportunity. The Seaway Trail Foundation is asking quilters and nonquilters to make quilts with War of 1812-era colors and patterns for the Great Lakes Seaway Trail 2012 War of 1812 Bicentennial Quilt Show and Challenge event.
Organizers are reaching out to American history enthusiasts and re-enactors, children and people of all ages from the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Native nations, and internationally to enter and attend the commemorative event to be held March 17 and 18 at the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Discovery Center in the War of 1812 heritage community of Sackets Harbor.
Guidelines for making “cot to coffin”-size (30 inches by 70 inches) quilts using a variety of fabrics, including cotton, linen, silk, wool and linsey-woolsey, and patterns common to the 1812 period are online at www.seawaytrail.com/quilting.
Jane Austen-style quilts also fit the time period.
Entries must be committed to the show by Jan. 15; quilts must be completed by March 3.
Nearly 175 people or groups have registered to make quilts so far.
The Great Lakes Seaway Trail 2012 War of 1812 Bicentennial Quilt Show and Challenge guidelines suggest studying the research works and books of noted quilt historians Barbara Brackman, Anne Orr and Pepper Cory.
Brackman, of Lawrence, Kansas, suggests that a quilt in medallion or strip format would be a good patchwork design for the historical era. “Patterns that were popular during the 1812 time were simple stars and basic nine-patch and four-patch variations,” Brackman said. “The War cut into fabric imports into America but well-to-do women already had stashes of imported French, English and Indian chintzes and calicoes in a variety of colors, and loved to mix large-scale and small-scale prints. For those thinking of using fabric reflecting the domestic prints of the time, indigo blues, browns and a touch of pink would be among the best colors.”
Brackman has designed a reproduction collection of prints from the era for Moda Fabrics; the “Lately Arrived from London” collection should be available in quilt shops by the end of this summer.
The Seaway Trail Foundation is sponsoring the event as part of a host of War of 1812 Bicentennial commemorative plans for tourism, cultural heritage and military history programs in 2011-2014. The March 2012 show will be the kickoff for a 2012-14 traveling War of 1812 educational exhibit.
“The Great Lake Seaway Trail 2012 Quilt Show marks our 12th year of shows that celebrate the themes that attract domestic and international visitors to our National Scenic Byway. We are excited about the potential of the 1812 Bicentennial Quilt Challenge cultural and heritage theme to draw diverse interest groups to the Seaway Trail region,” said Seaway Trail Foundation President and CEO Teresa Mitchell.
The 518-mile Great Lakes Seaway Trail along the freshwater coastline of New York and Pennsylvania is a National Scenic Byway offering American travel experiences.