Greenwood Centre for Living History

The Greenwood Centre for Living History is a museum and historic property exhibiting the history of the area and the five generations of one family that occupied this home. It is operated by Canadian Heritage of Quebec through a local board of directors.

Artists and Artisans at Greenwood

The theme for this Greenwood season is artists and artisans, and as if to emphasize the point, Greenwood artisans have restored and renovated the hearth room and the porch, seen above and on the next page. While the Greenwood StoryFest remains the big event of the fall, Greenwood has already hosted tours of the residence and held several pre-StoryFest events. Ann Charney came to discuss her work and her new book, “Life Class,” and a children’s StoryFest event featured Valerie Redmond and her book, “Emma and the African Wishing Bead.”

A particularly interesting historical event was the Greenwood spring movies, which featured the “Gimli Glider” and a visit by the pilot Bob Pearson and several flight attendants who were on the plane. The Boeing 767 ran out of fuel halfway on a flight from Montreal to Edmonton because the ground crew had loaded too little fuel due to the shift from the English to the Metric system. The movies is about how the crew managed to glide the plane to a runway at Gimli and the pilot talked about how he flew the plane without any fuel.

Along with Home and Garden Tours, a Traditional Tea and Theatre on the Lawn, Greenwood is preparing for the 2014 StoryFest. As the event becomes well-known in literary circles across Canada, it attracts more well-known writers. This year Margaret Atwood and her husband have agreed to do a presentation. Based on the experience of last year’s demand for tickets for Michael Ondaatje, Greenwood will start to sell tickets online on July 1. Last year the tickets for the most well-known writers sold out as did the seasons passes so it’s a good idea to buy tickets early.

This year StoryFest starts in September and carries on into November. We’ll be showcasing most of the authors in our fall edition, but with the early start, you may miss out on Kate Pullinger and a discussion of past Hudson Family Businesses, both scheduled for September.

Scheduled for 7:30 pm on September 23rd at the Village Theatre, Kate Pullinger will discuss her work, including publications in digital form, and her latest novel, “Landing Gear.” She was born in BC and went to McGill University where she dropped out after, in her own words, “...a year and a half of not studying philosophy and literature.” She then spent time working in a copper mine in the Yukon before ending up in London. She is a Professor of Creative Writing and New Media at Bath Spa University.

Tickets for Kate Pullinger and other StoryFest events are available for purchase with a credit card through the link from the Greenwood website to A Theatre Panache page that processes the tickets for Greenwood.

On September 28th at 2:00 pm at the residence which was formerly Mullan’s Store, the owners will host a discussion of past Hudson Family Businesses in a story-telling format. Admission is by donation so you can’t buy tickets online. The Story-Telling event is always a good way to find out more about Hudson’s past.

In addition to being an organizer of major events, Greenwood is primarily a museum. Recently a visitor described a Greenwood tour she and out-of-town friends had experienced. They went on a rainy afternoon and were surprised by the quality and extensiveness of the exhibits and the overall experience. The guides were charming and knew their history. The artifacts were fascinating and the historical details rivetting. They concluded a very enjoyable afternoon with English tea.

Geenwood tours are available Wednesdays through Saturdays from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.