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 The Bell Homestead's Melville House in Brantford where Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone is open for tours during Doors Open Brant. (Jim Fox/QMI Agency) |
BRANTFORD, ONTARIO - The text-messaging craze, cell phones and telemarketers can all be credited to -- or blamed -- on Alexander Graham Bell.
Perhaps these days, the inventor of the telephone would have summoned his assistant, "Mr. (Thomas) Watson," with a text message saying to come as he was needed.
Visitors can tour the Bell Homestead in Brantford where the phone was developed as well as the location of the first long-distance call.
Also during Doors Open events this month, visitors can learn about the quantum deep thinkers at the University of Waterloo and tour Woodside, a boyhood home of William Lyon Mackenzie King.
In London, there are eight new sites to visit including the London Model Railroad Group and Meadowlily Woods.
Doors Open, sponsored by the Ontario Heritage Trust and continuing through next month, invites people to "discover first-hand Ontario's hidden heritage treasures, some of which have never been open to the public."
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Hello, hello in Brant
Doors Open Brant on Sept. 25 features tours of the Bell Homestead National Historic Site, located high on the bluffs overlooking the Grand River.
The 1858 neoclassical dwelling, called Melville House and where the Bell family lived for 11 years, was where communication forever changed in 1874.
That's when Bell perfected the principle to allow his invention, the telephone, to work and where he was able to be heard in nearby Paris.
The museum, which is marking its centennial, includes an extensive collection of the Bell family furnishings and telephone paraphernalia.
Also on the property is the Henderson Home, an 1845-era frame house from downtown Brantford that was the first Bell Co. business office. It includes a collection of early and modern telephone equipment, including an operational 1920's telephone exchange.
Also, knock on these doors in Brant:
- Mohawk Chapel National Historic Site, marking its 225th anniversary, is Ontario's oldest Protestant church. Eight stained-glass windows depict early Six Nation's history, with native Chief Joseph Brant's tomb located next to a memorial to poetess Pauline Johnson.
- Grand River Navigation Co. is where historian Bruce Hill will talk about "canal fever" in Upper Canada that led to its founding in 1832. Remnants exist of the Brantford canal lock that led to the city becoming a major agricultural, commercial and industrial centre.
- Apps' Mill Nature Centre, a gift from S.C. Johnson and Son Ltd., is a 106-hectare section of Carolinian woodland straddling Whiteman's Creek. Events include guided interpretive family hikes and kids' nature crafts.
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Great minds in Waterloo
Scientists grappling with the biggest computations and most complex problems are working to harness the computing power of atoms by building quantum computers.
At Doors Open Waterloo Region on Sept. 18, learn how researchers at the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo use laser photonics, nuclear magnetic resonance, nanotechnology and other techniques to build a new breed of computers to harness the power of quantum mechanics.
Visit the labs, learn about the experiments, view screenings of the documentary the Quantum Tamers and attend a talk at 2 p.m.
Other spots to visit among 44 sites with the theme "Made in Waterloo Region" include:
- Woodside National Historic Site of Canada, built in 1858, restored and rebuilt in 1952, is an oasis in the centre of Kitchener. It's the boyhood home of William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada's 10th prime minister. A costumed interpreter gives tours through the furnished Victorian rooms, filled with family artifacts, and the gardens.
- The Tannery District in Kitchener was originally built from 1896 to 1956 as the Lang Tanning complex while the site now is being adapted for commercial uses. Retaining heritage elements with contemporary design and modern conveniences, makes it an example of the city's historic industrial architecture being reused for new technology businesses.
- The Residential Energy Efficiency Project (REEP) House for Sustainable Living is a 1905 renovated building that's filled with "green-living ideas." The century building has R-8 wooden arch-top stained glass windows and a $138 annual heating bill.
- Col. J. A. McIntosh Armoury in Cambridge is the 1914-era home of the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada. It is a "fine and well-preserved example" of the 1880 series of Canadian armouries with Tudor-influenced design, brick-and-limestone construction, corner towers and turrets.
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New sightings in London
All aboard at the London Model Railroad Group for Doors Open London, Sept. 18 and 19.
Open both days from noon to 4 p.m., the "Lake Erie International Railroad" O scale railway is in a former bus garage at 69 Holborn Ave. There are steam and diesel engines pulling passenger trains, freight trains and coal drags, circus trains, a trolley line and narrow-gauge mining railroad.
The seven other new Doors Open locales are: Brainworks, the 1910 home of cigar magnate Jose Gaste; Dutch Canadian Society of London and District; Montessori House of Children; City of London Planning Division; Ivey Spencer Leadership Centre; Meadowlily Woods green space; and the Red Antiquities Building.
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If you go:
Doors Open events are free to attend and generally run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. or 5 p.m.
- All event information: www.doorsopenontario.on.ca
- Brant: www.doorsopenbrant.ca; (519) 752-2483
-Waterloo Region: www.region.waterloo.on.ca/doorsopen; (519) 747-5139
- London: www.doorsopenlondon.ca; (519) 930-2140