Woodstock Museum’s new Fall Series kicks off with lunch, learn and local lore

Kerrie Gill, education officer at the Woodstock Museum, said the Fall Lunch and Learn Series provides education, socialization and a light lunch. (Alex Hunt Photo).

Alex Hunt, Post Contributor

Woodstock Museum’s Lunch and Learn Fall Series invites residents to discover local history through talks by community historians and experts. Sessions combine education and social time, with lunch provided.

The Woodstock Museum National Historic Site (NHS) kicked off the series on Sept. 16 with James Gordon’s Songs of Our Hometown. The next session will focus on the secrets of the Woodstock Cemeteries, featuring local historian guest speaker Scott Gillies. The event will take place on Oct. 21 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“That’s going to be interesting. He's been doing Woodstock and Oxford County history for many years, so he's going to focus on the local cemeteries and the people that are buried there,” said Kerrie Gill, education officer at the Woodstock Museum NHS. “He will be talking about the type of headstones in the different areas. He’s got a lot of stores to share on the subject.”

The final session of the current series will take place on Nov. 18 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., featuring guest speaker Chris Harrington. He will discuss the soldiers commemorated on the Woodstock Cenotaph and share insights into the lives of local servicemen, along with the research tools he helped develop to assist others in exploring the community’s military history.

Gill said that military history can generate strong interest among visitors, but she adds that it can be a sensitive subject, as it involves both the experiences of people in the past and the ways in which war continues to affect communities today.

“We are also doing a partnership with him to do a school program on the World Wars for High School students, so he’s compiled a lot of research on the people that are listed on the cenotaph and made the research available for students and the wider community. There is always something to learn,” said Gill.

Gill said that the museum seeks speakers from the community, drawing on local historians, authors and experts with specialized knowledge of Woodstock and the surrounding area. The program features a variety of presenters who return regularly, offering topics that continue to engage and interest visitors.

“We’re hoping to give the idea to people that the museum is involved with research and the community and provides a fun place to learn and show some of those interesting, sometimes difficult historical questions and comments,” said Gill. “Canadian history as we know, is all very fraught with great and awful parts, so we like to touch on all of those things and we like that to be a relevant part of the community and it’s all been going very well so far.”

“We are talking about burials and cemeteries, which can be a touchy subject for a lot of people. Many individuals have different cultural beliefs about that subject. We can learn about the past from how people used to do things and how they have also changed and evolved to shape what our community is today.”

Gill said she pays close attention to audience questions following each talk, using the feedback to gauge public interest. The information helps guide future programming, ensuring events remain relevant and engaging for the community.