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Brant lauds heritage proponents

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Brant County has recognized several residents for their contributions to heritage preservation.

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Rui and Leah Freitas, of 240 Bethel Rd., received a heritage designation plaque for the work they have done to their home, also known as the McAllister Pioneer Homestead.

The building is considered a good example of how pioneers took material from the land to build their homes. The home’s interior and exterior and the property remain mostly unchanged even after 150 years, according to a county staff report.

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“We offer special thanks to everyone in our community who preserves local heritage,” said Coun. John MacAlpine, chair of the county’s heritage committee. “Our heritage is our record of who and what we are.

“It is our connection to our legacies.”

MacAlpine, accompanied by Mayor David Bailey, presented heritage recognition awards to:

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• Dan and Carol Lyn Brown, of Dan Brown House Reconstruction, who have restored and preserved more than 35 homes. A recent project is the Miles House on King Street in Burford.

• Jean Farquharson who has contributed  to the preservation of local history through her work at the Brant County Genealogical Society. She is also co-founder of the Grand River Heritage Mines Society.

• Rob Adlam who has shown leadership with the Canadian Industrial Heritage Centre, collaborated on several publications and produced a series of heritage films about the Cockshutt Plow Co.

• ARE Holdings Inc., which owns Arlington Hotel in Paris. The hotel, which dates back to 1850, has been renovated over the years but the owners always have preserved the original architecture.

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• Roger Sharpe, local historian and author, who has written several books, including Soldiers and Warriors, Canada’s WWI Boy Soldiers and The Paris Armoury, among others.

This cobblestone home at 16 Broadway St. W. in Paris is considered a rare example of the town’s cobblestone structures built by Levi Boughton. Submitted
This cobblestone home at 16 Broadway St. W. in Paris is considered a rare example of the town’s cobblestone structures built by Levi Boughton. Submitted jpg, BR

• John Strachan, owner since 2016 of the Charles Mitchell House that was built circa 1842 at 16 Broadway St. W., Paris, who has completed extensive renovations and brought the home back to being a downtown showpiece.

• Dale Robb, who joined the Paris Museum and Historical Society in 2004, who has served as a director, delivered historical presentations, edited the museum’s newsletter and conducted tours.

• Ann Geary and her son, Andrew Skuce, a heritage building restoration specialist, who have restored the GEM Theatre, a 1901 silent movie theatre, in Paris. They began by removing the carpet left by previous tenants and then removed the red-and-blue tiled floor of the A and P grocery store to discover the theatre’s original maple hardwood floor. The building, at 51 Grand River St. N., is called the GEM Marketplace and serves as an incubator for new businesses.

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