Jun 14 2024
June 2024 The St. James on-the-Lines Church, a small, unassuming, white clapboard-sided church in the lakeside town of Penetanguishene, Ontario, may not seem that significant on first inspection. However, there is a very specific reason why the British Union Jack flies outside the church: the St. James on-the-Lines Church is older than Canada itself. The …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/st-james-on-the-lines-church-historic-penetanguishene-church-has-served-worshipers-for-almost-200-years/
Jun 09 2024
June 2024 On the evening of 6 June, at Barrie’s Military Heritage Park, along the shore of Kempenfelt Bay, a large crowd gathered for a special Sunset Ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the beginning of the end for the Nazis and the Third Reich. Codenamed Operation Neptune, the Normandy landings on 6 …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/sunset-ceremony-honours-barrie-war-veterans-on-the-80th-anniversary-of-d-day/
May 30 2024
May 2024 For a man who loved football, the re-naming of Centennial Park football stadium to Rob Ford Stadium on 28 May, the day that would have been Ford’s 55th birthday, is a fitting tribute. The newly-rechristened Rob Ford Stadium is a 2,200-seat stadium, opened in 1975 in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke, that is primarily …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/rob-ford-stadium/
May 26 2024
May 2024 The historic southern Ontario town of Penetanguishene is a small, bilingual town with a history that goes back to the early days of New France and the French explorers who helped settle North America. French translator Étienne Brûlé was the first European to set foot in the Penetanguishene area around 1610, where he …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/you-are-here-giant-astrolabe-commemorates-french-explorer-samuel-de-champlains-arrival-in-penetanguishene/
May 21 2024
May 2024 Meridian Place in downtown Barrie, Ontario, was a busy place on Sunday, 19 May, for Barrie’s second annual Ukrainian Vyshyvanka Day Festival. Hosted by the Ukrainian Community in Barrie, Vyshyvanka Day is an annual holiday celebrated internationally, where Ukrainians celebrate their heritage and the symbol of the iconic Ukrainian embroidered shirt (vyshyvanka). With …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/barries-ukrainian-vyshyvanka-day-festival-celebrating-everything-ukrainian/
May 17 2024
May 2024 The Queen’s Hotel in the southern Ontario city of Barrie has been an institution for almost 175 years. Beginning as a tavern in 1850, it was known as Marks’ Hotel back then, named after proprietor Edward Marks. The three-storey brick hotel on Dunlop Street East, no longer offers rooms for the night, but …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/the-queens-hotel-a-popular-barrie-establishment-for-almost-two-centuries/
May 07 2024
May 2024 Thousands of police officers from Canada, America and abroad, marched through the street around Queen’s Park in Toronto in commemoration of police officers who have died in the line of duty in Ontario on Sunday, 5 May. While thunderstorms threatened to roll through the area, the rain fortunately held off for the day, …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/ontario-honours-fallen-police-officers-in-annual-ceremony/
May 03 2024
May 2024 Every spring, around the middle of April to early May, the cherry blossom trees come to life after their winter dormancy period. Each spring, the tree branches become covered with double petal blossoms, making it look like a flower within a flower. These deep-pink blossoms grow in clusters, making the trees look like …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/its-cherry-blossom-time-again-in-ontario/
Apr 29 2024
April 2024 Cemeteries can serve as a window into the past and can provide a lot of information about the history of a community. This is very true when it comes to old pioneer cemeteries, like the Union Burying Ground on Plains Road East in Burlington. Established in 1848, it’s the final resting place of …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/union-burial-ground-the-final-resting-place-for-united-empire-loyalists-in-burlington/
Apr 27 2024
April 2024 The southern Ontario County of Simcoe, named after Lieutenant-General John Graves Simcoe, the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada from 1791 to 1796, has a long, rich history, dating back to the early days of British North America. That history is celebrated at the Simcoe County Museum, an interactive museum that tells the …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/museum-takes-you-back-in-time-to-the-early-days-of-simcoe-county/
