About Us
Welcome to the website of the Burk's Falls & District Historical Society. We are a non-profit group of people from the Village of Burk's Falls, Township of Ryerson & the Township of Armour area who are dedicated to the preservation of our local history. We operate two Heritage Centres in the community and hold special events throughout the year. We are always interested in acquiring donations of historical items relating to the area and would welcome your participation in our activities. Please explore the site for more information about our activities.
Discover the past in two ways with the Burk's Falls and District Historical Society. Go back to school at the Wiseman’s Corner Schoolhouse in Ryerson Township, complete with desks, chalkboard, and an antique bell. Then, step into another era at the Watt Century Farmhouse in Armour Township, a re-creation of an early 1900s-homestead. See Burk's Falls through the eyes of those who settled here 125 years ago.
Membership
Become a member for benefits and help support the community.
Events & Workshops
Witches, monsters, and superheroes unite! Join us for a spooktacular costume party! It’s our second year of partnering with the Burk’s Falls Lions Club and Burk’s Falls Royal Canadian Legion to host the annual Halloween Party on October 31st. We are very excited to be a part of this fang-tastic annual community tradition. Come join us for some Halloween themed fun! We have fun activities planned and plenty of candy and treats to take home. The party will be held upstairs in the Karl Crozier Room at the Burk’s Falls Arena from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Free Admission. Treat yourself to a sweet Halloween bash! If you would like to donate prepackaged candy to the party or volunteer on Halloween night, please contact Charlene Watt at deputyclerk@armourtownship.ca
Our summer student, Morgan McLaren created promotional videos of our two Heritage Centres. Step back in time and see what we have to showcase. Plan a visit to see these amazing artifacts in person!
The former Baptist church in Burk's Falls has been renovated into a new home - but it retains some of the history. View the video by 705Blackfly of how the old was mixed with the new!
Friendship pins were the ultimate and totally awesome childhood accessory in the 1980s! Forget bracelets and matching necklaces, the original friend symbol was a safety pin. Having a safety pin full of beautiful beads was a badge of honour and totally tubular. It was a sign of friendship to gift another person a pin loaded up with your specially placed beads and you could never have too many. You gotta bounce on over to our table at the Burk’s Falls Fair on Monday, September 2, 2024 to learn how to make a totally rad, 80's inspired friendship pins to share with friends. Guaranteed, your pins will be epic! Let's bring back this retro trend! Like, totally brush up on your 1980s slang here!
Heritage Festival 2024 was the biggest celebration yet! We had over 100 vendors, over 150 cars in the car show and tons of free attractions. Our Southeast Almaguin Firefighter Challenge always brings in a crowd and the firefighters showcased their skills and stamina in the sweltering heat. Armour Township handed out over 44 cases of water in the 5 hour event! This year, we had Tina Turley and New Boots entertain us along with Christina Hutt. The live music was spectacular! MP Scott Aitchison joined in on the fun with the dunk-a-politician fundraiser along with municipal representatives from Armour, Ryerson, Magnetawan, Perry & Burk’s Falls. We thank our co-host, The Township of Amour for their extensive support of the event! We appreciate our volunteers, our sponsors, our local non-profit organizations, our local business donations and all the municipal staff and council that participate in Heritage Festival. Volunteers are the glue that hold a community together, there is no doubt that! Heritage Festival is a community event like no other and the popularity is spreading outside of our municipal borders. This is wonderful news! Heritage Festival is very unique and we are very proud to partner with the Township of Armour to host an old-fashioned type of gathering that brings everyone out to create unforgettable memories – FREE ADMISSION – FREE PARTICIPATION too! Visit our Heritage Festival page for details on the car show winners and additional details on the event.
We're hosting a Psychic Reading Day this summer at the Watt Century Farm House Heritage Centre! This event always book up fast, please contact us at info@burksfallsdistricthistoricalsociety.com or text 705-571-3308 to purchase tickets. Limited seatings.
ATTENTION!!!! Heritage Festival DOES NOT charge for vendor sites or car show registrations! It has come to our attention that there is scammer posting to Heritage Festival and our Facebook posts that there are openings for Vendor sites and asking for money. This is inaccurate - our vendors market is full for 2024. As mentioned in our posts, the contact email for this event is deputyclerk@armourtownship.ca If you see a comment stating otherwise, please report the comment and if you have any questions, please call Charlene Watt at 705-382-3332.
Join us at the Wiseman's Corner Schoolhouse, 112 Midlothian Road, Township of Ryerson , for "Stories with Krista" and step back in time. Museums are often thought of as places that collect, care for, display and interpret objects, Krista is adding a new element to our heritage centre. Look inside our schoolhouse and you’ll find stories about the foundation of the institution, the history of the building, the collection, individual objects and the people who made, used, sold or owned them. Let Krista open a window and provide a peek of times gone by.
