I took a visit from my place in Long Sault, Ontario, Canada up to the lovely little community of Martintown, situated beside the Raisin River about 5-10 minutes away from my home. For those of you reading the blog for the first time, my name is James Hardiment. I am a singer/songwriter based in the area that was originally born in the UK in a place called Rochdale, just outside of Manchester in the United Kingdom. I’ve spent over half my life in Canada now, attending high school here in Cornwall, Ontario (about 15 minutes away from my house).
Being a member of the Focus Art Association in Cornwall, a non-for-profit visual arts club, which I was briefly the Vice-President of last year, I often get emails about local art related events in the community and surrounding areas. Last week I received an email regarding an art event up at the Martintown Grist Mill, when I got in touch they explained the events would be held on various Sundays this summer. When I told the organizer that I was also a singer/songwriter she offered me a chance to perform, I’m still working out the details but if it goes ahead as planned I’ll be sure to let you guys know on my official musician Facebook page! (If you scroll to the bottom of this site all my social links are there!)
According to the sign outside the Grist Mill, it was constructed by Malcolm McMartin’s son in 1846, Alexander, who went on to become a politician, militia leader, as well as a successful businessman. His father Malcolm owned many mills which provided a local service, deemed essential, in an era of poor transportation, it helped to create the town itself, and it’s named after the McMartin family. The mill would operate commercially until 1947. Created with the local fieldstone, the structure is 30 x 55 feet, and 4 stories in height. In 1986 it was near collapse, but has since been restored to the public, serving as both a museum, and local event space, since 2004. In 1997 the Martintown Mill Preservation Society, a non-for-profit organization took ownership and maintain the property, members will also guide you through the space, teaching you about the community, its roots, and origin stories.
It looks like if I do perform it will be outside on a stage that has been constructed in the front entrance of the mill. There appears to be plug ins so I should be able to plug in my speakers, and equipment to play the backing tracks. There will be plenty of musicians performing over the summer hopefully, liven up downtown Martintown a bit! I went down to the river and spotted a Heron, I snapped a picture but I was too far away for it to look good, with just my phone. Earlier in the year there is a big canoe race on the river, would love to check it out someday.
Inside the building you can still see some of the original equipment on display, much of the original gear has been transported to Upper Canada Village, which is a museum town that has a working historic mill for tourists. (Not too far away up the number 2 highway West from Cornwall, it’s a nice drive in the summer months for sure.) The 2nd level of the Grist Mill now serves as a museum, telling the rich history of the settlement, and some of the key people who made a difference over the years. Some artifacts are on display, and old signage, tools that would have been used, scale models of the local structures, and more. It was very interesting to delve deeper into a place I drove past on a regular basis, but actually knew very little about.
I hope to interview one of the members of the Preservation Society soon and go into more detail about the place. That was one of the goals of the blog, and podcast, to showcase towns, and people in the area which are trying to make a positive difference to the community. Many people will go off to a resort or major worldwide destination for a holiday, and that’s fine there’s nothing wrong with that, but there is so much to explore in our own backyards! I just want to show you there’s more out there locally than just work and home, especially now as things start to open back up again, and the world goes back to whatever normal is these days.
If you’d like to learn more about the mill you can visit their official website, I’ll post the link below:
Be sure to follow me on social media as I mentioned before to find out when I’ll be performing, I’m excited and grateful for this amazing opportunity, I love how supportive people have been for us local artists in the community. Hope to see you at some point, until then you can always check the blog to see what I’m getting up to.
That’s all for now,
James