The 2022 Guided Spirit Walks Roar into the 1920s  

As part of the Guided Spirit Walks creative team, I can tell you that our historical interests span widely, and we are always imagining up new ways to bring the stories of those buried in Victoria Lawn Cemetery to our audiences. This year, we present Roaring into the ‘20s: A New Chapter for our City and invite you into the stories of those who lived through the tumultuous period of 1920s St. Catharines. We might imagine the Roaring Twenties as a risqué period of flappers, jazz, and prohibition, and while these were dramatic parts of the era, the 1920s can be characterized by even more dramatic shifting social norms, economic and political turbulence, and rapid technological innovations. Some embraced these drastic changes as a signal of a better future, while others were apprehensive.

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Tapping into Spiritualism in the 2022 Guided Spirit Walks

This year’s Guided Spirit Walks at Victoria Lawn Cemetery roar loudly into the tumultuous era of the 1920s. The spirits on this year’s tour come from all walks of life; we hear from new immigrants arriving to St. Catharines to work on the construction of the Welland Ship Canal, a wealthy female philanthropist, an architectural visionary, a grieving widow, a proud wife, an unstoppable industrialist, and a journalist with a guilty conscience. While each may have little in common, the spirits are brought together, and connect to the audience, through our guide, the renowned spiritualist Jenny O’Hara Pincock.  

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Museum Chat Live! 506 – Canal Crossings: Bridge Accidents

On this episode of Museum Chat Live, your cohost Sara and special guest, Des, dig into the darker history that surrounds the canal crossings – the tragic accidents involved in bridge construction and maintenance, and other bridge disasters.

We turn our attention to this grim part of Welland Canal history in honour of the National Day of Mourning for Workers Killed or Injured in the Workplace held on April 28.

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Museum Chat Live E108 – The Fallen Workers

A staggering 137 men lost their lives as a result of accidents that occurred during the construction of the Welland Ship Canal. This number is shockingly high. To our knowledge, it is the largest loss of life in the history of Canadian government infrastructure projects.

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