« All Events

  • This event has passed.

June 12 – Review of Daytripping in North Middlesex

June 12

Friday, June 12, 2026 was a gift — one of those days when you set out to explore and come home knowing you’ve made connections that will last. The Heritage Day in North Middlesex brought together some of the most vibrant archivists, artists, and community builders in this region. As a member of the Glencoe and District Historical Society, I was proud to take part. I also wore my Google Guide hat all day, uploading photos to each of these cultural spaces on Google Maps so that future visitors can find them more easily.

Ailsa Craig is roughly an hour from the Glencoe area, so the day required planning. I began in Parkhill at the Parkhill Artisan Collective, housed in the town’s historic Carnegie Library building on Main Street — a beautiful structure with wood floors, high ceilings, and the kind of central staircase that makes you feel like something important is happening inside. It is. I was warmly welcomed by Rebecca Bender and Ruth Cook, and found a collective in full celebratory mode: local artists displaying and selling their work, baking for sale, and the whole space humming with community energy. I came away with a beautiful handcrafted wooden cutting board — one of many pieces by local makers on display. This is exactly what a heritage building should be doing on a Friday in June. 

A short walk away, I visited the Parkhill Library, currently housed inside the municipal services building. The staff were wonderfully helpful, and made a valiant attempt at printing the County of Middlesex Road Map — a beloved resource for daytrippers that identifies every road in the county. It didn’t quite work on their small printer, but they found what remaining copies they had. I want to put in a word here on behalf of anyone who loves driving the back roads of Middlesex: please, County, keep printing that map and promote it.

From Parkhill I drove to Ailsa Craig, a town that turned out to be quietly astonishing in its commitment to heritage and the arts. My first stop was the Ailsa Craig Arts Centre, tucked behind Ye Olde Towne Hall — a maker space full of light and purpose. I had the pleasure of meeting my husband’s cousin Jan Bender, who is a member, as well as a new member who recently moved from Nova Scotia and threw herself into the life of this intergenerational creative space. The special exhibit that day featured a collaboration between the ACAC writers’ group and the Canadian Embroiderers’ Guild, London — original poems interpreted in textile. It was quietly stunning.

I stopped briefly at the Crown and Fox Pub on Main Street, which was preparing for its opening the very next day. We wished them well. Then I visited the Ailsa Craig Library — a welcoming, accessible space — before discovering the Auld Barn, a beautiful woodshop and gallery where I purchased another piece of wooden artwork.

The historical heart of the day came when I visited the Donald Hughes Annex Museum and the Marg and Leroy Walker Research Room, two buildings operated by the North Middlesex Historical Society that speak to an extraordinary level of local commitment. The Annex, in the village’s former Baptist Church, holds more than 10,000 artifacts and serves as the society’s central hub. The Walker Research Room, in the former Trinity Anglican Church, contains thousands of historical documents, photographs, and scrapbooks. I met active members of the historical society and three of the five students they have hired for the summer — all busy and enthusiastic in their first week. The society has recently acquired a third building, the Masons Hall on Main Street. Ailsa Craig is blessed with serious historians, generous donors, and a heritage infrastructure that many larger communities would envy.

My final stop was the Presbyterian Heritage Centre in Carlisle, where Ian Mason welcomed me warmly. I had missed the three mini organ concerts held earlier in the day — but I did get to play the organ myself. That was a moment I won’t soon forget, and you can read more about this remarkable instrument below.

The day ended beautifully at the New Moon Community Homestead on New Ontario Road, Ailsa Craig, for their monthly Farm Gate Friday celebration. It was everything the event promised: farm-fresh food, live music, local vendors, and a genuine sense of community. The Ailsa Craig Arts Centre collective was there. Kenny the interpreter from Fanshawe Village was there. A new collective growing flax and hoping to produce linen was there. Four of the ten farms involved with Ivey Business School’s regenerative agriculture project were represented.

The New Moon farmers have rotated their enormous vegetable garden into a new section of the farm — gorgeous broccoli and kale with no visible insect pressure, which feels like proof of something. My husband Ross Snider joined me at the end of the day and we drove home in the dusk well fed and full of good feeling.

Kudos to everyone who organized and hosted this day. Let’s keep collaborating.

Here is a Google Map with our points of interested marked.  Click the top right square: “View Larger Map“.  Click here for an itinerary to print: June 12th Itinerary 

 

North Middlesex Barn Quilt Trail

The North Middlesex Barn Quilt Trail highlights the region’s agricultural heritage and community storytelling through public art.  Go to  https://barnquilttrails.ca/trails/north-middlesex/  and printable map   or  this one

The Heritage Trail – North Middlesex

An interactive heritage map for North Middlesex and surrounding Middlesex municipalities:
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/374be4d414af4e9d881abde57158e2cb

 

The Presbyterian Heritage Centre

19 Falkirk Street, Carlisle, ON N0M 1P0  Carlisle United Church

Website – http://pcheritagecentre.ca/ 

A dedicated volunteer group has transformed space within an historic United Church into a new Heritage Centre, providing a permanent home for a significant national collection of Presbyterian artifacts after it was required to leave its former location in Toronto.

Carlisle United Church continues to worship in the lower hall.

This project reflects years of commitment and care and offers visitors insight into faith history, congregational life, and the evolution of rural Presbyterian communities.

Host: Ian Mason, (647) 494-4559,   pcheritagecentre [at] gmail.com   

CARLISLE CEMETERY TOURS

Carlisle United Church Cemetery is one of the primary and historic cemeteries of North Middlesex.  The earliest gravestone dates to 1854.  It is maintained as an active cemetery.

Mary Simpson plays the tracker organ in the Presbyterian Heritage Centre in Carlisle, North Middlesx

A Note on the Organ at the Presbyterian Heritage Centre

The organ at the Presbyterian Heritage Centre is one of the last eight remaining pipe organs produced by the Edward Lye and Sons Company of Toronto before the firm was reorganized by the founders’ grandsons as the Lye Organ Co. It is a small two-manual, eight-rank tracker pipe organ, installed in Dorchester Presbyterian Church in 1930. It was virtually a twin to a 1919 instrument installed in the same church before Church Union in 1925 caused that earlier organ to be relocated to Dorchester United Church. The 1930 organ was rescued in January 2025, restored over nine months, and installed in the Heritage Centre in November 2025. By the first week of December it was fully operable and tuned — a tribute to its two organbuilders.

The recital on June 12 was performed by Ryan Baxter, a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at Western University’s Don Wright Faculty of Music, where he studies solo piano performance and also takes courses in Indigenous studies through the Memegwaanh Indigenous Learning Honour program. Ryan holds multiple diplomas in piano, organ, and piano pedagogy, and has been awarded both a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship and an Ontario Graduate Scholarship. He serves as Music Director and Organist at Rowntree Memorial United Church in London. His program included works by Bach, Mendelssohn, Lefébure-Wely, Rheinberger, Healey Willan, Ernest Tomlinson, and Denis Bédard — a beautifully considered selection for the instrument and the occasion.

The Marg & Leroy Walker Research Room

158 Church Street, Ailsa Craig, ON

The former Trinity Anglican Church houses the Marg & Leroy Walker Research Room. The Research Room contains all of the Historical Society’s archives, including thousands of historical documents, photographs, and scrapbooks documenting the people and places of North Middlesex.

Hosted by North Middlesex Historical Society northmiddlesexhs@gmail.com 

 

Donald Hughes Annex Museum

159 George Street, Ailsa Craig, ON

Open 10 – 5:00 p.m. 

Website – 

Located in what was once the village’s Baptist church, the Donald Hughes Annex Museum serves as a central hub for Ailsa Craig’s local history. The building now functions as a gallery and collections space.

With more than 10,000 artifacts, the exhibits feature an eclectic mix of local—and occasionally not-so-local—objects. There is always something new being brought out for display.

Hosted by North Middlesex Historical Society northmiddlesexhs@gmail.com 

Ailsa Craig Arts Centre (ACAC)

160D Main Street, Ailsa Craig, ON N0M 1A0   (Located at the back of Ye Olde Towne Hall)

 Regular Hours: Tuesday, Thursdays & Saturdays 1 – 4 pm

Website: https://ailsacraigartscentre.wildapricot.org

The Ailsa Craig Arts Centre is a membership based, intergenerational learning centre where people can explore and further their creative potential.  Every six weeks we have a new exhibit featuring artists from the community and surrounding area. On June 12 we are especially pleased to present a collaboration between our writers’ group and the “Canadian Embroiderers’ Guild, London” where original poems have been interpreted by textile artists.

We host drop-in groups such as cardmaking, knitting, and crocheting; special interest art-based groups such as watercolour; a writer’s group, a book club, and several youth programs. A wide range of classes are scheduled year round. 

The ACAC is a legacy project by the Ailsa Craig Quilt and Fibre Festival and completely volunteer run.   ailsacraigartscentre@gmail.com

Parkhill Artisan Collective 

233 Parkhill Main St, Parkhill, ON N0M 2K0

Open 10 – 4 p.m.

Website – https://www.parkhillgallery.ca/about-us 

We are a membership based art centre located at the Parkhill Carnegie Gallery.  We  offer a showcase for local artisans, a teaching area for workshops/classes and a group meeting space for local groups in the area of North Middlesex, Ontario.  

This beautiful building with its central steps, the wood floors and trim,  and high ceilings make a great setting for concerts, special events and displaying works of art.

One aspect of our mandate is to preserve this building for arts and cultural purposes; another is to offer opportunities for emerging artists. 

Website – https://www.parkhillgallery.ca/about-us 

Host: Rebecca Bender  (519) 870-1974    carnegiegalleryparkhill@gmail.com

 

June 12th at the New Moon Community Homestead

New Moon Community Homestead 

27093 New Ontario Road, Ailsa Craig, ON N0M 1A0

Open 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. 

Website – https://newmooncommunityhomestead.ca/ 

On the  second Friday of each month from June to September there is an evening filled with delicious farm-fresh dinners, live music, and an array of amazing local vendors. The store will be open, so after enjoying your meal, you can grab fresh groceries and make it a one-stop shop for all things tasty. 

 

Additional Stops & Points of Interest

  • Parkhill Library

Details

Date:
June 12

Organizers

Glencoe & District Historical Society
Presbyterian Church Heritage Centre (PCHC)