Rideau Canal Museum, Smiths Falls, Ontario

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Summer 2008 Newsletter
Meet the New Summer Staff…

Adam: This fall Adam will be going into his fourth and final year of a history degree at Carleton University. He is in charge of planning special events and keeping members informed of happenings at the museum. Look for regular e-mails from Adam throughout the summer!

Laura: Laura will be entering her 3rd year of a mass communications degree at Brock University in St. Catharines. She is the manager for the gift shop and Waterfall Café and is planning the Rideau Rangers Day Camp. Stop by, have a coffee and say hello to Laura.

Meredith: Meredith has just finished the second year of her journalism degree at Carleton University. This summer she will be acting as the media relations and advertising rep for the museum. Look for Meredith’s work in your local newspaper this summer!

What’s Going On At The Museum?

With the passing of Victoria Day Weekend the summer season has well and truly started. The beginning of the sunny months means the beginning of the summer series of events here at The Rideau Canal Museum. To kick things off, the Museum Gift Shop will be having a sale the first week of June. Almost everything in the store will be for sale so come by and shop for blown glass, jewellery, handmade soap, bees-wax candles, art prints, handmade cards along with children’s toys and games. You can even purchase a John A. Macdonald action figure!

Be sure to look at our Events Calendar for a detailed description of all other events the museum staff has lined up for the summer season!

Celebrating The Rideau Canal:
Ontario’s First World Heritage Site

By 2007 the Rideau Canal had already been recognised as a National Historic Site and a Canadian Heritage River. However, the greatest honour was yet to come.

In June of 2007 at a meeting in New Zealand, UNESCO designated the Rideau Canal as the fourteenth World Heritage Site in Canada and the first in Ontario. The Rideau Canal joins other sites around the world such as The Pyramids of Egypt and the Acropolis in Athens, and Canadian locations such as The Old City of Quebec and Rocky Mountain Park, as sites considered being of universal value to all of humanity. The designation as a World Heritage Site is the most significant global title any site can achieve. While this title is certainly a national honour it is also very important for the town of Smiths Falls: The Heart of The Rideau Canal.

This is where the Rideau Canal Museum comes in. The museum is much more than an information centre, rather it is the flagship for the interpretation and orientation of the entire canal system. The museum is dedicated to preserving and presenting the unique history and culture of the Rideau Canal. However, we not only presents the history of the canal but also the local history of Smiths Falls and other communities linked together by the national treasure that is the Rideau Canal.

From the construction of Able Russell Ward’s Mill and the Rideau Canal to the completion of the Smiths Falls Combined Lock Station in 1973, the museum presents the history of Smiths Falls alongside that of the Rideau Canal. The two stories intertwine to such a degree that both must be told together.