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Visitors to the Maidstone Bicentennial Museum on the weekend stepped back in time to 1812, when voyageurs cleaned deer skins while Indigenous warriors and British solders fended off American invaders.
The 15th annual ‘Essex County in the War of 1812’ event in Lakeshore saw costumed re-enactors from Fort Malden National Historic Site, Provincial Marine Amherstburg, Maidstone Voyageur Corps, Kentucky Militia, Earl of Moira and a Royal Scot set up camp on the grounds of the museum.
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With tents staked and campfires burning, settlers worked alongside Indigenous people on day-to-day chores, while militia recruits trained on muskets nearby.
“If you go from camp to camp … you have everything you need to know about life in 1812,” said curator Victoria Beaulieu.
“The gardens, the cannons, there’s the period cooking. It’s how they lived and how they fought and it’s just basically a camp that educates everybody on that period in 1812 in Essex County.”
There were demonstrations of historic weapons, period cooking, textile and weaving, blacksmithing, rope making, hide tanning, mini militia — and the highlight of the day — the musket and cannon firings.
“It’s an annual event and it is a fundraiser for the museum,” Beaulieu said. “But it’s an important part of the education aspect, sharing the history.”
The museum’s garden has more than 70 plant species, including those used for Indigenous medicines and some endangered species, Beaulieu said.
Bicentennial Museum and Gardens
The museum and gardens, located at 1093 Puce Rd. in Lakeshore, are open to the public Tuesdays to Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., through the summer months.
Admission is by donation. Guided tours are available for a fee.
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