So I just had what must have been the craziest + most eventful weekend of my summer hols thus far; I had three friends over from Toronto and Vancouver (and technically also a fourth from Nova Scotia) for the past few days, and they made the weekend a real blast! However as I write this, I have to admit that exhaustion is still plaguing my thoughts and actions; nevertheless I will try to provide this next component of Project: From Sea To Sea with as much readership quality as I can manage. Here we go -

Last Wednesday, I selected the Bytown Museum beside Parliament Hill for a documentative visit:

The Bytown Museum.

Of note however, is the fact that this time I didn’t go on the visit alone – I managed to drag Afiqah Radzi, a friend from Acadia University, Nova Scotia with me =D Thus, be informed that this post will also see an unusual amount of pictures of me in it hahahaha!!

But c’mon, cut me some slack guys! You try going around attempting to experience Ottawa/Canada while constantly being unable to snap any pictorial memorabilia of yourself at all of the awesome venues you visited – near torture I tell you! Anyway, let us begin – I’m eager to detail my visit to the Bytown Museum!

The Bytown Museum is located in the downtown section of the city of Ottawa, just by Parliament Hill, and flanking the south end of the Ottawa Locks. The place is a bit hard to spot, as it actually resides in the region below the bridge that props up both Wellington and Rideau Street, so if you do not know what you’re looking for, getting to this museum can be a bit tricky. The biggest directional tip that I can give all you prospective Malaysian students-cum-tourist visitors is to head to the bridge on Rideau Street which looks towards Gatineau, QC. Slightly after this section between the Chateau Laurier and Parliament Hill, there is a small flight of stairs that winds under the street itself – the Bytown Museum is on the left side.

Bleargh, something tells me I’m not being very articulate at all lol >.<

But, wonky directions aside, the museum currently occupies what is apparently the oldest stone building in Ottawa; the structure dates all the way back to the year 1827, and was once called the Commissariat Building when it played an integral role in the construction of the Rideau Canal. For the uninformed, the Rideau Canal is a series of man-made locks and waterways that begin in the Ottawa River and stretch all the way down to Kingston (southern Canada). The Canal is in modern times a very popular recreation spot for Ottawa locals, and as of 2007, also a UNESCO World Heritage site – making it an extremely famous tourist “destination” (I used inverted commas because I am of the opinion that you can’t really “be” at the Rideau Canal without being terribly imprecise) in the city of Ottawa as well.

As you can see, the Bytown Museum is an archive dedicated to the Rideau Canal.

The Ottawa Locks section of the Rideau Canal.

Heading down the flight of stairs, you get a glimpse of the Ottawa Locks – a section of mechanical floodgates that allow naval vessels to get from the Ottawa River to the Rideau Canal; more on this later. Now, if you squint a little here, you can probably see that the Bytown Museum is located to the upper left of this picture.

Very happy boy at the Ottawa Locks section of the Rideau Canal.

As Afiqah and I made our way up and into the museum, we saw this sign:

Hmmm, “Where Ottawa Begins” is a bit of a heavy tag don’t you think? I mean, that just says a lot about how important the Rideau Canal must have been (and is being) to Ottawa. Some of you may recall that late last year I spent an entire blogpost just being amazed at the incredibly unorthodox way by which the backwater and unruly logging town of Ottawa was somehow selected to be the capital of Canada by Queen Victoria. In extension, I can only appreciate the fact that a great impetus must have been needed by the city to even begin its meteoric rise up the ladder of development; I believe that the Rideau Canal was one of the main reasons as to why this ascension was even possible.

This fantastic waterway was built by a Royal Engineer of the United Kingdom – Lieutenant Colonel John By  – back in 1826; it took six years to complete, and was a marvellous engineering feat for its time. The Canal, which was aimed at connecting Lake Ontario and the Ottawa River, had to be built through what was then pure marshland in order to attain its goals of being a military waterway and also a trade route.

Let’s go inside:

As I have mentioned, the Bytown Museum was once the Commissariat Building, and part of the intense architectural considerations that went into the construction of the Rideau Canal.

An artist’s rendition of the opening of the Canal; the Commissariat Building is numbered “4″. Other notable sections do include the blacksmith’s shop (2), the military hospital and barracks (5), the Royal English Office (6) and the defensible lockmaster’s house (8).

Inside the museum, the very first exhibit was the lock system:

Here is the promised explanation of the mechanical systems of the locks of the Rideau Canal, the mechanism of which I think is nothing short of spectacular. Pictured here is a scaled-down model of the Ottawa Locks; notice how the water levels are different in the sections separated by the two gates, making it impossible for naval vessels to traverse them.

However, upon closure of the lower gate, the water in the lock chamber is raised – by pumps and manual crankshafts – to the same elevation of the water in the upper navigation channel.

As the water level stabilizes, the upper gate opens up to allow entry into the lock chamber -

- whose matching water levels now allow ships to pass through. Ingenious.

Other exhibits in the museum:

Medicinal kit.

As many as 1,000 workers – most of the Irish – died during the construction of the Rideau Canal. Most of those fatalities were attributed to swamp fever or malaria; Lieutenant Colonel John By himself contracted the disease while he working in the area.

Some of the tools used in the area:

Video exhibit.

Pulley system.

As you can probably tell, the lighting in the area was a bit weak; as with all the other local museums here in Ottawa, I suspect it’s for item preservation.

Another thing in the museum that I thought was cool was this:

Deep within the bowels of the museum is a section of the Commissariat which was once known as The Treasury – it’s a stone vault that was once used to store away the salaries of the local workers, and also important documents belonging to the Empire. Take a look at those walls – they are three feet thick @.@

The second and third floors of the museum in turn provided for a glimpse of early life in Ottawa:

Second Floor:

Classroom slates.

Back rods. These were tied around childrens’ backs to force them to sit up straight @.@

This picture with the blocks I kinda like =) However the lighting which remains a constant thorn in my pictures spoils it a bit >.<

Third Floor:

Bytown was the old name given to Ottawa. At one point, it was famous for being the most dangerous town in North America, and people moving around the area always made it a point to carry arms with them – even in broad daylight. Thankfully that isn’t the case now lol!

Crest of Ottawa.

The keys to the old Ottawa City Hall. I’m just thinking they must have had a really big lock lol XD

Ottawa, 1832.

Ottawa, 1855.

Ottawa, 1918.

See that blackened patch? A few inches to the left of the “Exit” silhouette? Here’s a closer look at it:

If any of you know what this is supposed to replicate, then well done! You either know Ottawa like the back of your hand, OR you read my blog a LOT XD That my friends, is Parliament Hill. The reason it looks well, destroyed, is because:

The Parliament of Canada was burnt down in 1918; almost everything – from the centre block to the tower to the arrears of the building – was destroyed. One part of the structure survived though – the Victoria Library; it still stands to this day, and is thus the oldest construct on Parliament Hill.

This one is actually worthy of being in the Canadian War Museum; a relic of the First World War, this Bible saved the life of a Canadian soldier when it stopped a bullet aimed at his heart. The tome was given to him by his wife.

“May the Lord watch over you while we are absent from each other.”

Advance Ottawa.

-

Just as the two of us finished toying with the exhibits on the third floor of the museum, I noticed that it was very near to the closing time of 8.00pm. I rushed Afiqah down to the Boutique just in case there were any interesting trinkets worth getting, but we were to be disappointed – the shop was barely more than two half-empty shelves of dusty books with ridiculous prices and nothing to really commemorate the fact that one has visited the Bytown Museum of Ottawa -

Which brings me nicely into my customary review section of any museum visited on the basis of Project: From Sea To Sea. On a whole, I thought that this museum was definitely worth a visit, what with its picturesque views overlooking the Ottawa River and three solid floors of well-documented history.  Another credit to it is the fact that the building housing the museum itself reeks of pure history and 19th century engineering – I thought that was awesome. However, one gripe I did have with the place was the fact that  much of its exhibits were items which one can actually find along the Rideau Canal – in the forms of NCC billboards placed every hundred meters or so. As a result, I did not really find much of this museum “novel” in the sense that there wasn’t really anything that I had not seen before.

But again, I do give credit to the place because of the fact that I really felt the museum – managed by Parks Canada – did well with the limited space and small scopes of exhibition. All three floors felt like a coherent “whole”, and was effectively segmented all around. On a whole, there’s not really much to be wistful about this place actually – just hope the museum improves its giftshop, and you’ll be fine. In a nutshell, a visit is recommended -

Because I think that even if the prospect of open information and knowledge of the history of the city doesn’t appeal to you, I’m sure the right to say that you have been to the oldest stone building in Ottawa certainly does.

The Bytown Museum provides free admission on Wednesdays between 5.00pm and 8.00pm.

Thus, Irving Tan signing off; as always, extremely proud to bring you yet another portion of Project: From Sea To Sea – do keep reading and commenting guys!! It is all that keeps me going! =D

Before I go, here’s a final salvo – a picture of the view from the Bytown Museum of Ottawa at sunset:

Beautiful, don’t you think? =)

Cheers guys! =D