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Portland On The RideauPortland, OntarioOctober 2015Volume 1 Issue 4What’s happening in the Portland area !The Ride Across Canada Paul Nichols Riding across Canadato raise awareness for Contemporary VeteransA Perspective on Portland (continued from Issue 3) by Doug Bond March 2012VIBE: Venturing in Biblical Education June – Dec. 2nd Portland United ChurchRev. Takoui 613-272-2002I Love To Dance – Recreational Dance Classes – Portland Community HallPortland Diners Club Thursday October 22, 2015 12 noon 10.00ea at CountryRoads Community Health Centre. Lunch sponsored by Community PrimaryHealth CareCommunity Primary Health Care in Portland. (CPHC) (previously known asVON) Seniors 55 weekly Exercise Program - Portland Community Hall.A look back at the Big Rideau Lake Association’s 100th AnniversaryCelebration.Country Roads Community Health Care (CRCHC) in Portland.Seniors 55 fit exercise - Portland Community HallThe Portland Community Hall Board’s function is to make plans forupcoming activities and events, with fundraising, while looking ahead to thefuture. The Hall Board meets in the hall the 2nd Wednesday of each month.Guests are welcome.Congratulations !Portland Grocery Store received merit as aGarden of Distinction from the Twp. ofRideau Lakes 2015 Beautification Contest !Portland On The Rideau Newsletteravailable at www.twprideaulakes.on.ca1 of 6

Portland On The RideauOctober 2015Portland, OntarioVolume 1 Issue 4The Ride Across CanadaRiding across Canada to raise awarenessfor Contemporary VeteransPaul Nichols left Victoria, BC April 13, 2015 onhorseback to raise awareness of Canada’s veterans.This is a horseback relay across Canada. Paul’s wifeTerry and crew lead ahead with trucks, trailers andseveral horses.Terry will co-ordinate withcommunities to find our veterans who will be given ariding lesson. After completely and safely finished herlesson, veterans will be staged and ride with Paul for ahalf or part day through their own communities.August 26th Paul rode his horse (Chief) to the PortlandLegion, where he met up with his wife and the crew.For more information or to ride, go towww.communitiesforveterans.com or visit them onFacebook at Communities For Veterans- The Ride Across CanadaSource Article: Paul’s story:Communities for Veterans Foundation The Ride Across CanadaChanging the Faces of Canadian Veterans – The Ride Across CanadaPhone: 250-991-2463Email: communitiesforveterans@gmail.comAug. 26, 2015 stopover at the Portland Legion. Paul, Terryand some of the crew had lunch before heading off toLombardy. Go to www.communitiesforveterans.com. Theyare in New Brunswick and plan to be in Prince Edward Islandaround Oct. 10th.You can follow their daily travel plan online !Visit www.twprideaulakes.on.ca for more activities and events!2 of 6

Portland On The RideauOctober 2015Portland, OntarioA Perspective on PortlandDoug BondVolume 1 Issue 4March 2012In the 1830s, steam boats and barges were following the main channel of the Rideau canal along thenorth shore of Big Rideau Lake, remote from “The Landing”. Hence this tiny community of log cabinswas demoted to “Old Landing”. But the fledgling hamlet survived. Indeed it thrived as a trans-shipmentpoint for produce from the surrounding bountiful forests being cleared and fertile fields being extended:potash and wood, wheat and whisky. In fact, by 1842 Old Landing was prospering to the point ofwarranting a Post Office. It was duly decided that the community should be named after Sir WilliamCavendish Bentinck, Third Duke of Portland. This was obviously a title-in-total too long to scribe onto19th – century envelopes. So the community became known simply as “Portland”.Though situated hard by one of the largest bodies of water in the wedge of eastern Upper Canada,Portland lacked abundant power from falling water. The mills of Delta and Philipsville boasted waterwheels and turbines that spun much of the year. But in Portland ingenious and prosperous owners withnames like Toffey, Bolton and Brown had to resort to year-round steam power to spin their whirringblades and planers. Disastrous mill fires resulted from this proximity of boiler to sawdust. But theirprosperity was proven with regular rebuilding and modernization. Teamsters and teams used thewinter highway of the ice-covered lake and by spring-time Mill Bay at Portland teemed with logs fromthe forested shores of the Big Rideau. Fine windows, doors and fancy latticework became the fashion onbuildings near and far. The tradition of working with wood was carried into the mid-1900s by RothwellPerrin and Calama Homes, companies that thrived through Canada’s post-WW II building boom.No matter when a building was built, no matter its architectural form and features, every church, everyshop, every house, every structure is a chronicle of the travails and tales that happened with in its walls.Almost every household had its privy that stood as a vertical sentinel at the back of the garden in thosedecades before dependable winter heating and indoor plumbing. Some privies were immaculate to thepoint of being ostentatious. Some were less so. But on November 1st of each year, the raucousconversation at the “Hot Stove League” would be of all those privies that were now horizontal. Maybebetween laughs there was mention of the stalwart defender who had been trapped in his privy on theprevious e’en, door-side-down.Every rickety ice house smelled of musty sawdust through those dog days of summer before electricityand refrigeration. But each of these lowly structures was a silent reminder of those who perished ornearly so while reaping that winter harvest of ice blocks. That was the price paid by family and villageto have an ice cream social on July 1st for the community, to chill the “big one that didn’t get away fromthe lure and line of a gloating visitor. The ice houses of Portland were reminders to those who were lost,teamster, sleigh and team to frigid Rideau graves.Visit www.twprideaulakes.on.ca3 of 6

Portland On The RideauOctober 2015Portland, OntarioVolume 1 Issue 4In the back yards of many citizens of Portland there were to be found chicken coops from which togather a few fresh eggs daily. Some possessed a shed that was home to a cow or two for fresh milkdaily. And in those decades before Henry Ford, a few citizens prided themselves on stabling their veryown horse-power for their latest in buggies and sleights, limousines to church on Sunday, to meetingsand parades in far-off Newboro and Elgin and to business in Smiths Falls. And of course those privatesteeds plus the several at Seward’s Livery provided an endless supply of horse hockey pucks in winter,fertilizer for household gardens in summer.A full range of village businesses and services prosper. For example, there was the essential smithy(now site of the Firehall), the local cheddar cheese factory (now site of an auto repair shop), shops ofcartwrights and boatwrights (now site of The Galley).As the community prospered, first- and second-phase pioneer homes constructed of log and shake werereplaced with fine third-stage structures. Talented masons and carpenters worked with beautifulsandstone (Emmanuel Church – 1861 and Polk Store – 1891) and stucco (Snider House – 1850s), withlumber (Toffey House – 1892), with beautiful shiplap butternut (Clare Dowsett House – 1920s) withlocal brick (Methodist Episcopal Church – 1891 and Union Bank – 1903). Local places of residencemanifest features ranging from “Ontario Cottage” to “Italianate”. The results have been streetscapesdisplaying an eclectic spectrum of styles and features constructed through the decades leading up toWorld War I.Prosperous keepers of general stores were provisioners to the good burghers of Portland. But eachmerchant also had a loyal following of families who lived on hinterland farms of north Bastard andSouth Burgess, families who bartered their spring-time surplus of maple syrup and summer surplusesof eggs and meat for winter supplies of Salada tea and Red River Cereal. By the early 1900s, a Portlandmerchant might also provision the grand estates that came to dot the Rideau’s bays and islands, thoseresidences of the Edwards and the Southams, of Colonel Stuart, Viscount Kingsmill and others. Thesesummer folk, the rich and the not-so-rich arrived, some by shiny limousine or by Rideau Canal Steamer.Some came by rail to Portland Station, thence by Seward’s livery to the government wharf. Then inshades of Venice, water taxis took them to legendary cottages like Fancy Free or to lakeside resorts likeGarrett’s. Some sojourned at hotels within the village such as the Murphy Hotel. Some dipped a hookand line in the Rideau. For many, life and fishing was easy!A casual glance at an old-fashioned general store might lead one to think that “a store is a store”. Butlook and listen more closely. Enter Stanley Heath’s General Store at the corner of Main and ColborneStreets in the 1940s. Pass through that customary large central door between two customarily largedisplay windows. There was the usual long wooden counter polished by decades of boxes and bags,pillared by scales and meat slicer. Ever-ready wrapping string hung from a spool near the ceiling inanticipation of wrapping up a sale. Behind the counter were the usual shelves from floor to ceiling, hightiers stocked with puffed cereals, lower ones with Rinso. Bins filled with flours and sugars were at theready. (to be continued in Nov-Dec newsletter)Taken from A Perspective on Portland By Doug Bond March 2012Visit www.twprideaulakes.on.ca4 of 6

Portland On The RideauOctober 2015Portland, OntarioVolume 1 Issue 4Community Primary Health Care (CPHC)Deadline for Nov.–Dec. Issue 5 isHeart Wise Seniors Exercise ClassesOctober 25thThursday’s 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.(Sept. – May) Seniors 55 Exercisecd.bresee3@gmail.com613-272-8837Portland Community HallFor more information call613-272-8014I Love To DanceRecreational Dance ClassesPortland Community HallCountry Roads Community Health Centre (CRCHC)Seniors 55 Fit Exercise Program – Staying FitMonday & Friday of each week 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.(offered Sept. – May)Portland Community HallFor more information613-272-2799 (Emily ext. 256)Rideau Lakes Horticultural SocietyMonthly meetings are held in Portland Community HallDance InstructorWed. Oct. 7th meeting 7:15 pmTrish Thomson (Owner of Tropical Reflections & LandscapeProducts Depot) The Aesthetic Appeal of AroidsWed. Nov. 4th meeting 7:15 pmPenny Stewart (OHA Certified Judge)How to Exhibit – What the Judge is looking for Emily Beelen shares herknowledge and skills gettingthe most out of her dancers.Looks like a lot of fun time !ndWed. Dec. 2 Rideau Lakes Horticultural SocietyChristmas Dinner 6:30 pm Westport Legion HallMusic: Judi Longstreet & Celtic CombinationAdmission - 25Visit www.twprideaulakes.on.caFor more informationcontact Sue DunfieldTownship of Rideau Lakes1-800-928-2250 or emailsusan@twprideaulakes.on.ca5 of 6

Portland On The RideauOctober 2015Portland, OntarioVolume 1 Issue 4Saturday August 8, 2015Big Rideau Lake Association1915 - 2015Visit www.twprideaulakes.on.ca6 of 6