What grows on historical past? – Ontario Parks Weblog
Right now’s reflection on park historical past comes from Charlotte Westcott, former Discovery chief at Neys Provincial Park.
On the finish of a narrative, you shut the e-book.
A chapter has come to an finish and with that comes a way of deep finality.
Historical past, not like storybooks, by no means ends. There isn’t any ultimate phrase or web page – no e-book to place away. So how then do you inform the tales of historical past?
Neys Camp 100 was a prisoner of battle camp for German troopers throughout World Battle II. Then, it was a Japanese Canadian Internment Camp. Following that, it was an “industrial farm,” the place offenders from the Port Arthur District Gaol (jail) have been despatched.
Every period needs to be a narrative. Every a story with a definitive starting, center and finish. Or so it appears to me – an avid storyteller and e-book reader.
You possibly can finish this story in 1953 when Camp 100 was declared formally dismantled. However that may be akin to chopping historical past off in the midst of a sentence.
The buildings of Neys had been dismantled down into part elements and used to construct new buildings on close by shores. There they’ll witness new tales.
With the ultimate curtain being referred to as on Neys Camp 100, had the time come to replicate?
To ponder?
The story, so to talk, is over. A camp opened, operated, and closed.
However historical past by no means stops
Within the Fifties, Freeway 17 discovered the north shore of Lake Superior and guests slowly started to find the great seashore at Neys.
Within the Nineteen Sixties, the Neys space underwent an enormous change. Volunteer boy scouts planted hectares of non-native Purple Pines and in 1963, building started on a campground that lies roughly the place the prisoner of battle camp did 20 years earlier.
In 1965, Neys turned a provincial park.
While you encounter Neys at present, it’s fairly completely different from the way it was in 1941.
I got down to write this weblog in regards to the moss, timber, shrubs, and different beings that develop on the remnants of Neys Camp 100. As an alternative, I stumbled headfirst into the philosophy of historic preservation.
How do you decide a narrative?
Each snapshot of Neys is a part of its total historical past.
Development, operations, abandonment, destruction, rediscovery, and extra are all helpful, very important parts of the story.
To inform the story of just one half could be a disservice to the others. The reply I had discovered to what grows on historical past – is extra historical past.
Nature itself has turn out to be a storyteller, weaving its personal narrative into the material of Neys.
Lifetimes and lifetimes of historical past
One of many infinite delights of working for Neys Provincial Park is the individuals who approached me wishing to share their tales.
As a member of the Discovery workforce, I used to be somebody folks cherished to report their discoveries to! Nary a day glided by and not using a story, be it a couple of wildlife encounter or a tenting journey.
The factor that set my function at Neys aside is the historical past.
Like grains of sand accumulating on the seashore, guests introduced me items of tales and reminiscences.
I noticed letters from different generations, artifacts handed by way of households, treasured pictures, cherished tales, and tons of extra moments of cautious private stewardship.
I spent nearly all of my time both telling folks about Neys Camp 100 or being informed in regards to the camp by others.
My favorite tales have been from those that commented on the timber. The steadfast rows of pines are a superb marker of time for many who have been visiting Neys through the years since they have been planted.
Photographs of the younger Purple Pines have but to make it again to Neys, however I like to think about them. How would they’ve fended off fall storms? How would they’ve braved winter snows?
I appreciated the assistance of park guests in portray their historical past for me. I’ll always remember one park customer reminiscing about working by way of the rows and remembering when he was taller than giants.
Neys Provincial Park’s 60th anniversary
Neys Provincial Park celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2025.
Historical past by no means stops. As time strikes, the tales proceed to develop. With each customer to the park. With each storm. With each season and yr, the historical past of Neys continues to develop.
As I sit down to put in writing this weblog, I’m committing a miniature act of historic preservation. In that second as I put my fingers to keyboard, I’m inking an understanding into the world that might change with the following customer to stroll into my workplace.
There’s a temptation to suppose any act of preservation is certainly one of hubris. Who’re we to decide on when a narrative is full? How will you know that the story you might be telling is one which precisely and comprehensively captures a bit of this historical past?
Nonetheless, to put in writing a weblog is to not shut a e-book or to finish a story perpetually.
Historical past is at all times round us and by no means ends
At Neys, we are going to at all times be ready to listen to your tales.
Go to Neys Provincial Park to be taught extra in regards to the park’s historical past.
