What Makes Queensborough Tick? It’s the gentle bond of community that brings people home

By Lindi Pierce

The road heads north through the Cambrian Shield landscape, snaking around wetlands, climbing over rocky outcrops, past ancient maples and pine plantations. Suddenly the countryside opens up, fields falling away from the roadside, substantial farmhouses and barns revealing the earth’s secret, a band of good soil left by the glaciers for the settlers, who now lie in the roadside cemetery, to make something of. 

The road dips, curves over a narrow stone bridge, and snuggled around a mill pond a magical place is revealed. pHOTO BY LINDI PIERCE

‘Welcome to Queensborough.’ The road dips, curves over a narrow stone bridge, and a magical place is revealed. Natural and human-made beauty appears at every turn. The hamlet circles a mill pond, with tall pines reflected on its black surface. A picturesque weathered mill sits by the dam, and a sophisticated white house with its trellised verandah, a pristine board-and-batten church, an impressive frame hotel and homey Ontario farmhouses all wait to tell their story. 

There is a walking tour booklet to assist the curious visitor. And there are street signs, decorative planters, benches, historic plaques, an interpretive panel in a pond-side park that all contribute to a general spruced-up atmosphere. Leafy, well-groomed streets lead off in several directions, and there is a feeling of having arrived at somewhere special, and not just of passing through town. Daniel Thompson, who bought the Riggs’ mill and built his house in 1845, had a vision: “this is going to be a place.” How many other hamlets have a town plan, the Elmore plan from 1854, with house lots and streets carefully outlined? (Even Sir John A. owned house lots here.) Today, 160-plus years later, Queensborough still feels like a special place, and it is one town that is generating quite a buzz. 

In August 2019, over 600 people attended ‘Art in Queensborough/Queensborough in Art.’ Five years earlier 250 had attended the inaugural Historic Queensborough Day and then in 2017, after having heard what they had missed, 500 turned up. And between these extraordinary public events, there is a full year’s calendar of community activities: ham and turkey suppers, Easter egg hunts and pancake breakfasts, a trash-bash, and a children’s summer drop-in program, all held at St. Andrew’s United Church or the Queensborough Community Centre. And all this activity happens in a hamlet with a population of 75, expanding to 150 in the greater Queensborough area which includes the Rockies and adjacent roads. How does Queensborough do it? 

The signage welcomes visitors to “Queensborough: A Place of History and Beauty.” PHOTO BY LINDI PIERCE

Friends Elaine Kapusta, Katherine Sedgwick and Raymond Brassard, members of the Queensborough Community Centre committee, sit at Kapusta’s welcoming dining room table in Daniel Thompson’s home, looking out over the millpond, pondering the question. It’s true; there is something magical about Queensborough, its history and natural beauty. But it is also about people, a plan, and just plain hard work. 

Kapusta recalls growing up here. Her parents bought the mill in 1947. The community held a welcome party, and presented a gift that is still in the house. Kapusta and her husband Lud returned to the hamlet in 2004. She muses, “From the time it was formed, with four churches and the Orange Hall for local events, there was always a sense of community, a kind of shared vision that there is something special about Queensborough.” 

If only those walls could talk. For decades the historic Queensborough Hotel was a “resting spot” for visitors seeking refreshment and conversation. PHOTO BY LINDI PIERCE

There are the old country ways at work people pitch in and get things done. Like weddings in the old days, groups of 100 people fed from farm-house kitchens by the Ladies’ Aid, the Women’s Institute, and the United Church Women. Kapusta said, “There’s a book of how to ‘do’ church suppers, funeral receptions. Church and non-church people pitch in.” Organization — it’s in rural women’s DNA. Queensborough folk respond readily to a ‘call for pies’ and find themselves involved. There are leaders for each event, and younger folks are coming along to learn the skills the torch is being passed. 

This was the inspiration for the Community Centre committee’s sold-out pie-making workshop last spring. Oddly enough, pie is one of Queensborough’s most effective promotional tools – for who doesn’t like pie? Somehow, pie is a symbol of the good old days. Rows of fruit and cream pies stretched out on tables in the church basement at the legendary ham and turkey suppers could be on a Queensborough coat of arms. Since 2006, Queensborough pie has been fortifying participants at MACKfest (Marmora Area Canoe and Kayak event) after their conquest of the mill dam during their spring junket on the Black River. 

Sedgwick also goes way back in this village. In 2012, Sedgwick and her husband Raymond bought the United Church manse, the house that Sedgwick grew up in. The couple made the transition from Montreal to Queensborough (likely as challenging as it sounds) to occupy the red brick house where Sedgwick was ‘child of the Manse’ from age four to 12. She ‘gets’ pitching in to make things happen, old-fashioned family values instilled by her father, the Reverend Wendell Sedgwick. But the hamlet’s success is more than nostalgia. A Queensborough renaissance of sorts has begun. Like most communities, Queensborough’s population is shifting, as older community workers retire from active duty, and urban folk return home (“the diaspora”) or move in, drawn to the beauty and historic charm of the area.

The Queensborough Community Centre is a central hub for many vibrant community gatherings that support a general population of 75, which expands to 150 in the greater Queensborough area which includes the Rockies and adjacent roads. PHOTO BY LINDI PIERCE

Inclusiveness is a local value; inviting new arrivals with new skill sets and outlooks into local life ensures an infusion of energy and grows the community. Jos and Marykay Pronk, for example established a specialty machine shop in Queensborough, beautifying the old Bobbie Sager store in the process. Pronk donated his technical skills to create attractive signage throughout the hamlet, enabling residents and visitors to see the community with fresh eyes. 

Over 600 people attended Art in Queensborough/Queensborough in Art. PHOTO COURTESY KATHERINE SEDGWICK

Jamie Grant and Tory Byers fell in love on-line with the long-neglected 1862 Orange Hall, and came home to Grant’s roots. They laboured to restore the hall, showcasing its historic elements, and have created a homespun venue for The Blackfly Shuffle and Harvest Dance, family Hallowe’en events, and last summer’s hugely successful Art in Queensborough/Queensborough in Art event, which spilled outdoors into the Orange Garden. Grant and Byers bring design and networking skills — and loads of energy — to the hamlet. It was Grant who spun Sedgwick’s wording into the attractive chock-full Queensborough Events 2019 brochure. Sedgwick’s nostalgic blog, ‘Meanwhile at the Manse’ began in 2012 as a reflection of her return home, and recollections of the 1960’s and 70’s in the area (remember the Rock Acres Peace Festival?). Her popular blog has evolved into an interactive community bulletin board, celebrating local events and Queensborough life, from deer flies on Bosley Road to the imperative for a community church. 

Standing true and white against a beautiful blue sky, St. peter’s anglican Church was a cornerstone of community worship and activity. photo by lindi pierce

Today the hamlet’s original ‘General Store’ is lovingly cared for by current owners Jos and Marykay Pronk. photo courtesy Katherine sedgwick

Two Haliburton arm chairs await, an open invitation to visitors to sit down, relax and take in a waterfront view. photo by lindi pierce

Water enthusiasts enjoy a group kayak paddle at the MACKFest event. PHOTO COURTESY KATHERINE SEDGWICK

The indefatigable Kapusta, a lifelong Queensborough worker on countless successful projects, is now harnessing the marketing skills of a (for now?) city-based daughter to help with event promotion. There are so many more people contributing what they do and have in support of their hamlet: farmers and pie-makers, UCW members and pitching-in teenagers, retired business and media types, artists and musicians, designers and promoters, builders and handymen, gardeners and chicken raisers, church workers and stewards of needy heritage buildings. And not to be under-estimated, social media (especially since the demise of local dial-up service) is everyone’s friend, replacing the 2004 community telephone tree as a way of connecting locals and sharing news. Facebook pages for the Queensborough Community Centre, St. Andrew’s United Church, the Orange Hall and Queensborough Beauty make hamlet doings readily accessible. But it takes more than skill and good will to put on an event; nothing happens without a plan. A community survey came first, then the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) First Impressions Community Exchange, when Queensborough folks visited nearby Arden, and vice versa, and participants shared suggestions for improvements to their respective communities. In 2012, a planning event facilitated by Karen Fischer, agriculture and rural economic development advisor (‘ag rep’ in the old days) led to refining a vision statement and four goals for the community. The vision: to maintain a quality rural lifestyle through building community pride and preserving heritage, and supporting and developing a vibrant commercial, residential, recreational and cultural setting. The goals were: to develop community pride, preserve heritage, develop economically, and enjoy. And who can resist fun? No small wonder Queensborough events are so popular. 

Queenborough offers a full year’s calendar of community events: delicious pancake breakfasts and in-famous berry and sweet pies can fortify even the most ravenous of kayakers before and after a day of paddling along the water.

There were likely times when Art in Queensborough/Queensborough in Art didn’t feel like fun anymore. Brassard had the idea: it was a huge undertaking for a small community. The August 2019 enormously popular public event had it all. Heritage. The day celebrated Queensborough’s popularity as a destination for painting field-trips from the area’s celebrated art schools in Madoc and Actinolite – including one A.Y. Jackson, whose painting of a local house took pride-of-place. Famed folk quilter Goldie Holmes’ Queensborough quilt was on display. Ninety-one-year old Audrey Ross, an art student in the 1950’s, sat down for an interview with Sedgwick. Plein air artists worked around the natural beauty of the mill pond, acting as informal hosts, and people strolled in the sun. Food … church basement sandwiches, just for starters. So … How does the community of Queensborough do it? Why not go to their next event and find out for yourself?