Heritage

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(L) Mayor Mike Smith, recipient John Weichel & Joyce Johnston of the Heritage Committee. John is receiving the Heritage Lifetime Achievement Award.  (click here for more)

Sometimes I get asked about the history of the Marine Heritage movement in the community and the background behind the Propeller Club.

There now are two organizations, but they have common interests.  One is the Propeller Club and the other is the Marine Heritage  Committee.  They both hail back to an initiative spearheaded by John Weichel.  We will discuss the beginnings of the Propeller Club and leave the Marine Heritage Committee for another day.

The Bruce Coast is dominated by two things: wind and water.   For thousands of years people have used the waterways to move along the coast and up the rivers into the interior.  This is a rich history and it is of great interest.   Some of the most fertile archaeological sites are right here in Southampton, Port Elgin and the surrounding area.

John Weichel, a retired newspaperman, found that the knowledge of the past was slipping away as the area grew.  New people arrived to work and retire.  He decided to write a series of booklets called "Bruce Coast fo'c's'le"  and finally by popular demand a published book of his historical writings called Forgotten Times Marine History of Southampton and the Bruce Coast.  This is an impressive work of two volumes totaling 449 pages available locally at the Bruce County Museum and area book stores.

Here is one of the earliest documents talking about the Propeller Club and what it was all about.  A letter was written by John to the then Mayor Art Knechtel.  An excerpt from the November 23, 1992 letter is shown below:

"The Propeller Club is a loose-knit group of about 10 or 12 (Ron Seaman, Bruce Martin, John and Bob Trelford, Dave Reeve, Ron Beaupre -the marine historian--and a few others). We meet for a beer on Wednesday afternoon at the Walker House, and try to keep it simple. No constitution, no rules, no goals, no aims, other than to meet and talk -- sometimes about boats and the lake. Son Tim says its open to anyone who goes around in circles. He's not a member because of that thought.

If you are interested in dropping by any Wednesday, you would be most welcome. Starts about 4 p.m. and goes on for a few hours. Sometimes we meet at a cottage, etc.

We'll consider you an honorary member. If you miss more than two meetings you could be president."

Over time others came along.  You don't want to use the word join.  All were welcome, if they listened or had something to share.  A sure way to get accepted was to ask a good question.

Much later John asked me to come by and I did.  I was still working then, but I would drive up on a Wednesday, sometimes just to hear what the guys had to say.  So what went on each Wednesday?

All the people were fountains of knowledge because of their upbringing in the area or their intense study of history.  John Weichel and Ron Beaupre were nothing other than historical savants.  By this time Doug Johnson and others were regulars.

What was unusual was that people began to bring artifacts and old documents for others to see, study and sometimes identify and explain.  It was a lot of fun.  There was a real energy about the get togethers.  There was no chairman, nobody taking minutes or attendance.  People spoke to all or a few and what they said was heard and remembered on merit alone.

The writer Charlie Whipp caught the magic of the meetings in the following paragraph:

"It is a delightful organization, with no recognizable structure, no chairman nor secretary, bylaws nor minutes.  You simply go there any Wednesday afternoon at four, sit down at the Propeller Club Table (it's the one with all the old guys in baseball caps) order a beer and join one of the several conversations.  You don't have to sing to the Queen, pledge an allegiance, pay dues or fines or be somebody, or nobody.  If you seem to be a good fellow with an interest in marine history, someone my invite you back."

By this time John and his friends had already changed the Bruce County Museum's modest display of Marine History into a delightful and comprehensive exhibit that was a model for what has been done and is being done in the new Museum.  His booklets had become so popular that people waited for them to be hand delivered or arrive in the mail at distant ports.

Along the way there was an awakening in the community that was triggered by the founders of the Propeller Club.  Historic objects and things in the area began to take on an importance to everyone. It was not the dry, musty feeling that one sometimes gets.  It had a vibrancy.  People began to see economic implications too revolving around tourism and property values.

People are proud that they helped save one of the Range Lights from being coated in metal siding instead of cedar shakes or making sure that the old foghorn in the outer Saugeen River Range Light  was saved.  The whole thing grew because it had a single clear focus.

We will explore more sometime soon.

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Sunday, March 06, 2011