Within the expansive boundaries of Ottawa’s beloved Central Experimental Farm, the city’s largest National Historic Site, are many distinct cultural heritage landscapes.
In this illustrated talk Patricia Jasen and Richard Hinchcliff, authors of the new book Building Canada’s Farm: An Illustrated Guide to Buildings at the Central Experimental Farm, will look at the history and cultural significance of three areas that make up the Farm’s pastoral landscape. They will go beyond the more familiar and renowned Dominion Arboretum and Ornamental Gardens to some of the special gems and distinctive green spaces that provide settings for heritage buildings in their midst. Despite some intrusive current changes, these places remain an integral part of the picturesque design created in 1886 by the Farm’s founder, William Saunders.
BOOK SALE:
Building Canada’s Farm: An Illustrated Guide to Buildings at the Central Experimental Farm will be available to purchase at the lecture. Cost is $25. Cash only please. All proceeds go to the Friends of the Farm.
SPEAKERS:
Patricia Jasen taught in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario for many years, before moving to Ottawa. Landscape history, women’s history, and the cultural history of medicine are among her research interests. Her publications include Wild Things: Nature, Culture, and Tourism in Ontario, 1970-1914, which looks at the origins of historic sites and nature tourism in the province, and Building Canada’s Farm: An Illustrated Guide to Buildings at the Central Experimental Farm, co-authored with Richard Hinchcliff.
With an academic background in history and economics, Richard Hinchcliff worked in journalism, photography, and public service. For the last 20 years he has photographed the Central Experimental Farm and explored its history. He is the author of Blooms: An Illustrated History of the Ornamental Gardens at Ottawa’s Central Experimental Farm, and co-author of For the Love of Trees: A Guide to the Trees of Ottawa’s Central Experimental Farm Arboretum, as well as Building Canada’s Farm: An Illustrated Guide to Buildings at the Central Experimental Farm.