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Message from the Chair.
One of the benefits of a newsletter is that it highlights the many things that have happened at the O'Hara Mill Homestead
since the last publication. Once again, I am thoroughly amazed at the accomplishments of our volunteers since last
spring………highly successful heritage events, completion of the new dam, restoration projects of the existing homestead
buildings, expansion of the hiking trails……….the list goes on and on.
So many visitors, from far and wide, continually comment on how well the O'Hara grounds and buildings are
maintained……….a further credit to the many folk who give so freely of their time and talents. It is worth the time to glance
through the O'Hara Visitors’ Book, to reflect on the glowing comments made by people who have enjoyed the efforts of our
volunteers.
And so I want to express my sincere thanks to all who have been a part of the O'Hara Mill Homestead in 2011. Your
commitment is appreciated and you should be proud of your achievements.
I look forward to seeing you at our Annual General Meeting at the Madoc Art Centre on Wednesday evening, January 18,
2012.
Dave Little.
Vintage limestone facing for the dam.
Thanks to the Public Works Staff of Madoc Township, all of the vintage barn foundation limestone, donated by John
Atkinson last year, was moved to the mill pond dam sight in late spring, 2011. During the month of August, volunteers Dave
Little, Al Sasenuik, Ralph Holland, Walt Kincaid and Jim Wilkinson began the laborious task of sorting, hauling and laying
this beautiful stone one piece at a time. Countless barrow loads of hand mixed mortar later, not to mention a few blisters, the
final results are extremely pleasing to the eye and blend in very nicely with the original saw mill foundation. Rumour has it
that both lots of stone came from the same quarry in the early 1800’s, but that has yet to be verified.
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Stop Log gantry.
The final piece of equipment to be installed on the new mill pond dam was the stop log gantry. This is a lifting device for
removing and installing the large wooden stop logs that control the water levels in the mill pond at different times of the year.
The lowest cost quote we received last year for this unit was close to $14,000.00, so volunteer Peter Sporring has redesigned
it, to be much more efficient and streamlined, in his own welding shop for less than $2,000.00. It was installed on the dam in
early November by Peter, Ralph Holland and Rod Woods. Water Resources staff from Quinte Conservation arrived on Nov.
15th. and 16th. to remove the top two logs which has lowered water levels by two feet. This leaves four feet at the dam and as
much as eight feet at pond centre, more than enough for fish, hibernating turtles etc. and.... winter skating parties.
Gardens and Trails.
Once again, thanks to our talented and hard working Gardening Volunteers, the herb and kitchen plots produced another
bumper crop, much of which was sent to the Food Bank in Madoc. The mature russet apple tree up the hill was particularly
laden this year but, just before we could harvest it, a black bear and her cub came in one night and did the job for us, leaving
exactly one apple and their odourferous calling card on the ground.
Thanks to Barb Brooks, Hazel Gill and Clara Hopkins, we now have some new additions to the walking trail system; The
Gold Trail loops east off of the Lois Wishart Way just north of the Visitor Centre; The Lime Green Trail connects the top
end of this to the north east end of the McEathron Trail; And the White Trail meanders along the east side of Deer Creek
from the Lois Wishart Way foot bridge to the McEathron Trail crossing to the north. Peter Sporring is in the process of
building some three seater rest benches to place at key points along these trails.
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The Horseshoe Pitch.
There's serious fun and competition in the pits when the horseshoes start to fly at Rengar
Horseshoe Palace in Belleville. Gary Batty, known in the area for his love of the sport,
hosts the club on his farmstead year round. Gary saw potential for a horseshoe pitch at
O’Hara Mill and, with his assistance, Dave Little has set one up in the grassy area just to
the east of the Visitor Centre. It was completed just in time for our Annual Corn Boil and
Gary showed up with three champion members of the Club to demonstrate the sport.
Anyone who would like to try their hand at it can ask for the professional set of shoes that
are kept in the Visitor Centre.
A new roof is installed on the Saw Mill.
Just a day before the stone facing on the dam was completed, a sudden rain storm occurred which sent the volunteers into
the saw mill for shelter. That wasn’t too successful as, over the summer, the old cedar shake roof had sprung leaks in over a
hundred locations. In order to protect the restoration work done over the last two years, it was decided to replace the roof as
soon as possible. New black steel was ordered, the old shingles were stripped off, the roof tarped over and a week later the
old saw mill was protected from the elements for many years to come. This is just one of the many examples of our
volunteers quickly addressing structural problems that occur on this Heritage site using your donations and monies from our
fund raising events........and we recycle. All of the new material purchased to build the scaffolding for the above project, as
well as much of the forming lumber from the dam restoration, was reused to build the new workshop in the south machinery
shed.
Other news of interest:
The school house foundation; The old cement block foundation supporting the one room school house has been slowly
crumbling away over the years. In between other jobs, Dave Little has been addressing this problem by replacing much of
this material with vintage limestone left over from the dam facing work and the results are quite appealing.
The machinery shed workshop; This has been an ongoing project over the year as materials and time become available. As
mentioned above, all the structural elements are from recycled lumber, freeing up funds for stuff we can’t make ourselves like
concrete for floor, electrical wiring and insulation etc. This project is now almost complete and will be ready for use by
volunteers to start restoration of many of the smaller items of our vintage machinery collection, not to mention it is a place to
carry out daily maintenance projects.
Fire Wood; We use a lot of fire wood over the year for the Corn Boil, Log House fireplace and the Christmas event. To keep
it dry for use, we have built a new small woodshed on the back side of the storage shed behind the school house.