CENTRAL BEDEQUE, P.E.I. — A week before closing for the season in September, the Bedeque Area Historical Museum in the William Callbeck Centre is marking a successful summer by holding a free open day on Sunday, Aug. 25, 1-5 p.m.
The normal $5 admission fee ($4 for seniors) will be waived, with visitors being able to make a donation if they wish.
This will be a last chance to see two temporary exhibits which close at the end of the summer. “Two Island Nurses of the Great War” tells the story of two highly decorated nurses with Bedeque connections: Georgina Pope of Charlottetown, whose father, William Henry Pope (a Father of Confederation) was born in Bedeque, and Beatrice MacDonald of North Bedeque.
Also coming down at the end of the summer is ‘The Five Signature Quilts” exhibit. These quilts were made in Bedeque, North Bedeque, Freetown and Chelton in the 1920s and 1930s by local church and other groups to raise money for good causes. They are embroidered with the names of almost 1,000 persons from the general area. Everyone who donated a set amount (sometimes only 10 cents) had their name sewn into the quilt. Come and look for the names of your ancestors and their neighbours.
Another new exhibit is on Lucy Maud Montgomery’s time in Bedeque. Montgomery taught school at Lower Bedeque for six months in 1897-1898 and the exhibit tells the story of her romance with Herman Leard, which she recorded in her journals, published in 1985.
There is also a display of three longcase or grandfather clocks in full running order. On Sunday, the owner and restorer of these clocks, Wendell Feener of Summerside, will be on hand to explain the background of these clocks and talk about clock-making in general.
The permanent exhibit on the Loyalist settlement of the Bedeque Bay area in 1784 continues, as does the exhibit on the history of the Borden ferry service and another on the culture of the Island Mi’kmaq up to 1900.
The museum also displays many objects from the late Howard Clark’s Red Barn Museum and tells the story of Callbeck’s Store, in whose building the museum is housed.
