#7th line

By the summer of 1919, Beckwith Township had reached a milestone worth celebrating. One hundred years earlier, the first permanent settlers had arrived with little more than determination, a few possessions, and perhaps an unhealthy optimism about Canadian winters. They found no roads, no cozy inns, no grocery stores, and certainly no one waiting with a welcoming committee holding butter tarts.…

Beckwith Mystery — Anyone Remember a Meteor Coming Down on the 7th Line?

The Mystery of Cross Keys Part 2

On Sunday at Beckwith; the people in an old shanty that was in such a state of ruin that cats and dogs could pass between the logs; and they will neither repair nor provide firewood lest it might make the minister comfortable. And they are seeking a new one from Scotland. Six months later, he records in his diary: “I set out for Beckwith to aid Mr. Buchanan at Sacrament. The barn and all it…

The Mystery of Cross Keys –Part 1

Church cross keys Four miles beyond Carleton Place on the Franktown highway is an interesting road which the old timers called the “Cross Keys.” It is the line between the sixth and seventh concessions of the township of Beckwith. It runs easterly, a mile or so between quiet homesteads; then comes to a dead end. A heavy cedar log fence bars further progress. There, inside the farm fence, near…

The Spirit of the 7th Line

Photo Source below: Carleton Saga, by Harry and Olive Walker, page 507. Does anyone have a photograph of the original building? From Bytown.net

A landmark to the Church of Kirk of Beckwith that is no longer with us. The stone church called “The Church of the Cross Keys” was built in 1832, replacing a log church building. It served the first two Canadian generations of the first large settlement…