The Charter of the French language and its regulations govern the consultation of English-language content.
Shawville Walking Tour
Thanks
This year marks 30 years of the Shawville Historical Walking Tour, first launched in 1995. It started as the brainchild of former Shawville Mayor Randal Beattie. The original project came to life largely thanks to Sandra Carson, Norman Pilon and Gordon Graham.
The current Municipality of Shawville Council (Mayor Bill McCleary, Councillors Richard Armitage, Bill Hobbs, Brent Leach, Julien Gagnon, Katie Sharpe and Denzil Yach) decided to update and replace the weathered walking tour signs of the initial 1995 project.
The new refreshed signs are made by the Pontiac Printshop and feature brand new QR Codes. These codes allow visitors or residents to use their smartphones to access additional photos and information, which hopefully, enhances the tour experience with some modern technology.
And thank you to the Pontiac High School welding program for working on some new frames to fit those panels.
A special thanks go to Jon Stewart and Alan Sibbald for their time, expertise, and patience in helping bring the QR code component to reality.
Two of the original 1995 signs ended up lost and had to be created again from scratch. We appreciate Venetia Crawford and the dedicated volunteers at the Pontiac Archives for information.
Additional thanks to Scott Campbell, Wesley Tubman, Norman Pilon, Gordon Graham, Ann Kelly, and Darlene Young for their time and efforts in bringing this updated tour to completion.
The 1995 project was sponsored by the Municipality of Shawville, the Pontiac Development Corporation, and the Government of Canada.
The initiative brought plenty of information, pictures, advice, and encouragement. Thanks, back in 1995 went to Elsie Sparrow at the Pontiac Archives. This also included Clarence Wilson, Brian Drummond, Reverend Jim Payton, Reverend Daryl Macpherson, Ina Kilgour, Doreen McNab, Annie Gamble, Norval Wilson, Mayfred Dods, Orla Mee, Shirley Caldwell, Eleanor Black, and Neil Sly. Robert Bertrand, M.P. Pontiac-Gatineau-Labelle supported the project too.
For those interested, walking tour maps are available at Town Hall and the Shawville-Clarendon Library. Or you can follow along by scanning a QR Code when you find a sign. So, walk all 10 stops in order or just choose your own Shawville adventure.
Here’s to taking some footsteps into the past.
