Community Memories online a way to share the stories of historic county structures

PICTOU - Community memories are going online in Pictou.

The Pictou County Genealogy and Heritage Society (PCGHS) has made a significant contribution to the Virtual Museum of Canada, a national initiative designed to present and represent Canadian heritage online.

Referred to as the "Community Memories" project, the Virtual Museum has created a forum for smaller museums to share local history of national significance on the worldwide web.

Scottish architecture of urban and rural Pictou County was a 12-month project, representing hundreds of hours of research, writing and development.

The site was launched in March and represents an immense contribution to documenting the region's historic buildings.

"The goal was to juxtapose historic images with images of the buildings as they appear today," said Darrell Burke, Curator at the Hector Centre and McCulloch House Museum.

The project was able to draw from photos in the archives at the Hector Centre and from the Pictou Historical Photograph Society. In-depth interviews were conducted with home and business owners to imbue the documentation with the human side of the buildings' histories.

The result is an extensive representation of Pictou County 's historic buildings with over 180 images by geographic region and detail on the two quarries in Nova Scotia, which were the main source of sandstone for the structures. The website is also an education of the distinguishing characteristics of 19th century Scottish architecture, complete with a visual glossary of terms.

"The mandate of the Hector Centre is to collect, preserve and share Pictou County history," Burke said. "The Community Memories project was a remarkable way to contribute to the literature on the distinct architecture of this region. It was a real joy and a privilege to be granted access to some of these magnificent structures."

He hopes the information on the site will assist students, researchers, writers and lay-historians.

"We're sure Pictonians will enjoy having a peek into the basements, attics and fascinating history of these homes," he added.

To view the project, log onto www.saveamoment.ca.