Local History Gets Musical with Paul Weber’s Ottawa Song Project

 Photos by Brian Cote August, 1870. The smell of cedar is in the air. It’s been a dry summer. Rain hasn’t fallen for months. Not terrible news for the men working on clearing the brush for the Central Canada Railway. The dry spell meant they could spend their days on the

Canada Remembers Colonel Atilla Altikat

 More than 30 years ago, a husband and father of two got up in the morning and got in his car to go to work. When he stopped at a red light at the corner of Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway and Island Park Drive in Ottawa, he was shot

Your Guide to Doors Open Ottawa

 This weekend, the doors swing open on more than 130 of the city’s historically, culturally and functionally significant buildings. Heritage houses and government offices alike will be unlocked for Ottawan's public viewing pleasure. We have selected a few of the many buildings that we think are essential stops on your journey

Man in the Shadows Sheds Light on History

 Former journalist and filmmaker Gordon Henderson’s first novel Man in the Shadows is a tremendously engaging historic novel about the assassination of D’Arcy McGee on April 7th, 1868. Photo of Gordon courtesy of Jason van Bruggen. To Canadian history buffs, the backstory is legendary: in 1867, three British colonies became

Summer Reading

 Be sure to add Ottawa Stories: Trials and Triumphs in Bytown History, by Clifford Scott to your summer reading list. A collection of historical vignettes will take you on a journey through Ottawa as it once was to where it stands now. Read about the devastation of fires and diseases

Awe-inspiring, Efficient Home Built Using an Antique Barn Frame

 With Joanna Plucinska Newer isn’t always better. Jason Gibson, owner of Gibson Timber Frames in Perth, believes that one can find enormous potential in a well-constructed old barn. Over the past 12 years, Gibson Timber Frames has dismantled and re-erected barn frames across Eastern Ontario. "We have finished a new