It was 1800 and hemp had a future in Eaton Township. And then it didn’t.
These days I am reading the two-volume Eastern Townships Adventure by Bernard Epps, the late Bernie of Gould Station. It’s a riveting read, the story of the Townships in the 1800s and its transformation into farmland by immigrants.
One Hugh Finlay, Bernie reported, toured Eaton Township in September 1800. He had high praise for Josiah Sawyer and his associates. He wrote about ˝a settlement called Cookshire, where there’s a school already established that has 30 scholars.˝ He found «abundant» crops and urged a road be built north to Quebec City so farmers could market their wheat, oats, peas, millet, kidney beans, buckwheat, Indian corn, potatoes, turnips, tobacco, flax, pumpkins, squashes, and yes, hemp.
Hemp had a glowing future. The military-minded British government needed hemp for rigging and caulking their tall ships. They thought Lower Canada (Quebec) could supply it, and set up a ˝Board for the Encouragement of Hemp.˝
With Governor Craig’s blessing, in 1806 entrepreneur Jesse Pennoyer established hemp plantations in the area and began building a hemp mill in Waterville. To be successful, he needed two things: good quality hemp seed, and a road to Quebec City.
Governor Craig did build a road to Quebec―Craig’s Road. It was begun in October 1810 and completed in January 1811. Alas, a few months later, the spring thaw rendered the road dysfunctional. With the impending War of 1812, Governor Craig had more pressing priorities of a political and military nature.
Pennoyer persevered. His hemp grew well, but he was not able to get it to market. In 1811, he complained to a friend ˝that he hadn’t been able to sell a single pound of hemp since he’d begun in the business five years before—save a small quantity made into rope.˝
About hemp, he wrote, ˝As far as it has been tried, it grows extremely well. No country or soil (Russia not excepted) will produce better hemp than this part of Lower Canada.˝
In the spring of 1812, a flood badly damaged Pennoyer’s unfinished hemp mill. ˝That was the end of the hemp business in the Townships,˝ Epps wrote.
For more of the Craig’s Road story, visit 100objects.qahn.org. For more about the hemp story, look for The Eastern Townships Adventure, to be published this fall by the Townships Sun and partners.
DAVID FRANCEY, Aug. 3
Here’s hoping it’s not too late to get tickets for four-time Juno award winner, David Francey, returning to the Townships for a concert at The Piggery Theatre, 215 Simard, North Hatley, on Saturday, August 3, at 8 p.m. Tickets: $35/person, at piggery.com/boxoffice or 819-842-2431.
BROOKBURY’S 100th, Aug. 3
Brookbury Hall celebrates its 100th anniversary on Saturday, August 3, from 1 to 5 p.m. with an Old Fashioned Afternoon featuring sandwiches, tea and scones, old fashioned games outdoors, and a book of memories and pictures. The event is free of charge, at the Brookbury Community Centre, 571 Brookbury Road (aka Route 255). Info: harperjm55@gmail.com, or 819-872-3205.
A garage sale planned for Saturday, September 14, at the Brookbury Hall. Info: Brenda Bailey, 819-884-5984.
CONCERT, Aug. 4
Biscuits, Storms, and Melodies (Biscuits, tempêtes et mélodies) is a young-in-spirit, young-in-years concert in collaboration with Valérie Milot and Production Anémone 47. ˝It’s an ode to the imagination that allows both children and adults to let themselves be carried away by the music.˝
Here’s how it goes: ˝Simone is bored; his mother confiscated his tablet. She’s really not happy! But suddenly the sounds coming from her window seem to come to life. Thanks to her abundant imagination, musical worlds inspired by delicious cookies, breathtaking storms and celestial melodies unfold before her eyes and ears!˝
The concert is on Sunday, August 4, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Cookshire-Eaton Art Gallery, 125 Principale West. Free of charge.
CANTERBURY
The Canterbury Centre’s public market is on every Saturday until the end of August, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., featuring weaving, jams, baked goods, vegetables, honey, and maple products. Info: Candy, 819-657-4661.
LINE, VOLUME, IMPRINTS
An exhibit of works on paper, constructed around line—˝a line which defines an imaginary volume, that of the body or space˝—is at the Cookshire-Eaton Art Gallery. The show features Eric Daudelin, Francine Simonin, and Lisa Tognon, in collaboration with the Eric Devlin Gallery.
Another exhibit, by Sandra Tremblay, treats the phenomenology of imprints, paintings where pictorial and psychic imprints are energized: ˝a sensitive look at the living traces that relational experiences leave in oneself over the years.˝
Both exhibits are at the Cookshire-Eaton Art Gallery, 125 Principale West, until August 18, Wednesday to Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.
EATON CORNER
The Eaton Corner Museum is open Thursday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with temporary additions to the permanent exhibits. Admission: adults, $8; seniors, $6; and youth (up to age 18), $4. A family of two adults and two youth, $20. Info: 819-875-5256, and the Musée Eaton Corner Facebook page.
MURMURING IMAGES
Outdoor images projected onto the walls of Victoria Hall and other buildings take you back to the beginnings of Eaton Township. Beginning at nightfall on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Murmures du Canton, at the Parc des Braves, 85 Principale West, Cookshire.
CHURCHES
Anglican. Sunday service: August 4, at 9 a.m., at St. Peter’s, Cookshire, and August 11, at 10 a.m., at St. John’s in Brookbury. To find services in the deanery, check the schedule at deaneryofstfrancis.com/calendar/. Info: 819-887-6802, or quebec.anglican.ca.
United. Sunday services are at 10:30 a.m. in these locations: August 4, at the Sawyerville United Church; August 11, at East Clifton United Church. Info: 819-889-2838. For pastoral care, call Rev. Spires at 819-452-3685.
Baptist. Sunday services are in French at 9 a.m. and in English at 11 a.m., at the Sawyerville Baptist Church, 33 rue de Cookshire. For information, please contact Pastor Michel Houle at 819-889-2819.
Do you have news to share? Call 819-640-1340 or email rawrites@gmail.com by August 1 for publication
August 14.