A museum for Hemmingford?

by Carol Grégoire for Heritage Hemmingford  (December 2010)

At the beginning of the century, many generations before the coming of Wits End pub, an entrepreneur named T. J. McClatchie operated a store and shop at the same loca- tion. The shop produced among other objects cedar plumbing pipes for household drainage. Cedar logs were cut in four foot lengths, and bored through the center with a three inch auger. The bored logs were then put on a wood lathe and their outside diameter reduced to 5 inches, with one end male and the other female so as to be connectible. This type of plumbing may not have lasted long but before cast iron became available it told of the remarkable cleverness of our ancestors in using the material at hand for their needs of all kinds.

The picture shows Gaetan Fortin with a few of these extremely rare pipes, which he has managed to save and store in his trailer. They are a part of a collection of hundreds of such items that bear witness to the past of Hemmingford. Gaetan, now 76 years old, knows the history of every one of them and still awaits a permanent place to exhibit them and tell their story.

The preparation for the moving of the old 1884 fire station is finished. We hope that by the time you read these lines, this heritage building will be in its final resting place.