Janet Stewart·

I power-washed The Shack (again) today and this was revealed! Winnie McRostie must have etched this in the metal siding on the back of our ‘hobby house’ when she was a child…80 years ago(?)

Update-the mystery continues. Winnie was born in 1903. The siding was installed mo earlier than the 1940’s…she’d have been an adult by then, and as we know, she was a strict school teacher…unlikely to deface the siding in this way…hmmmm

Joan Halpenny

LOL…can’t imagine she would ever do that!

Janet Stewart

Joan alternate explanations?

Anne Turner

The siding was put on in the early 70s and there is no way she’d deface it. Nice to hear your description of her, Trina, . So right!

David Robertson

Wow .. lol … the siding looks like aluminum siding which was popular from the 1940’s to early 1970’s in Canada .. it would be interesting to know when that siding was installed.. I imagine it was installed for less maintenance .. It also would sure be interesting at what age she carved that into the siding.. I am a bit surprised as I could not see her doing that but obviously she decided to make to record her presence .. I wish she would have added a date as that would have been interesting.. Winnie was born in 1903 so if the siding was from the 1940’s to 1970’s she would fairly old when that was carved .. tahnks for sharing

Joan Halpenny

I remember when the siding was added so she was definitely an adult then.

Janet Stewart

Today we hosted Anne Turner (who came up from Kingston for the visit) – granddaughter of Fred and Eliza McRostie who purchased The Shack in 1916 (original owner/builder yet to be uncovered).

They had three children one of them being the infamous Winnie whom we have come to know through the stories…she was Anne’s Aunt.

Originally a hunting camp (ducks hang out in the rice fields on the other side of the lake), many improvements were made by various family members over the years. Winnie kept the place in pristine condition as her summer home when she inherited it in 1948 through to 2000 when she died at the age of 97.

The next chapter of the story is a sad one and we could see that Anne was still very upset that the house had been sold out of the family in 2001 and fallen into disrepair since then. She had always expected her grandchildren to grow up with the same wonderful memories that she has of the place

Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

The point at the lower end of Lake Park has had the name of Lookout Point for many years, and alternatively has been called Hammond’s Point and McRostie’s Point after cottage owners of the past fifty years. The bay and mainland shore behind it have been called Duff’s Bay and Duff’s Shore for the other William Duff and his family (Little Bill Duff) who lived there from the 1840’s.

Howard Morton Brown– summer cottages– Photo- Linda Seccaspina 2015

Collecting Carleton Place
June 12, 2019
·
#17: Central School, c.1962 ( where our post office is today)
John Edwards
Great photo. Lack of awareness and lack of our own cultural confidence is what causes destruction of our built heritage. Unfortunately, it still is happening. I remember teachers such as Winnie McRostie and Elsie Gardiner, who both taught at Central, who taught us about our proud Valley history. Not enough were listening

Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

This photo was taken in June of 1951. A teacher’s tea was held at Waves Inn on Franktown Road in honour of Mrs. Malloy who was retiring and Miss Cameron who was geting married.

Front Row (l-r): Margaret Galvin, Margaret Sturgeon, Iris Cameron, J.D. McAdam (Principal), Mary Malloy, Annie Anderson, Olive Robertson

Back Row (l-r): Dorothy Craig, Frances Churchill, Sadie Chamney, Janet Menzies, Hilda Cram, Alton Cassidy, Hector Dallamore (Music), Marray Kirkpatrick, Mary Cummings, Vivian Leach, Winnie McRostie, Verna Burnie, Stella McDiarmid, Leita Andison

David Robertson

I have many very fond memories of Miss McRostie.. I did a couple of jobs around her house as a kid and as with Bill Brunton payment was her famous shortbread cookies and a quarter ( I am older than Bill so pay a little less in my day) .. I used to go for math tutoring with Winnie and at the end of each lesson out came the shortbread cookies that were packed in her pantry in a black Magic or Moir’s chocolate box.. Winnie would usually give us 1 cookie as she did not want to spoil our dinner…. When I went to College, I would come for the weekend and if Winnie new I has home she often would stop over late Sunday morning (after church) with guess what shortbread cookies in a chocolate box for me to take back to Kingston. The other thing she will be remembered for is her love of stray cats.. She often would feed any stray cat in the neighborhood… After I graduated from college in Kingston , my first job was in Kingston.. As I walked home one night from work in Kingston, I heard this voice that was very familiar, so I walked around the corner of this small 3 storey apartment building to investigate.. I could not believe my eyes there was Miss Mcrostie trying to feed a stray cat.. She was visiting a friend at this building in Kingston and somehow befriended a Kingston stray cat. The next time I was home over comes Winnie with another box of shortbread cookies for me to take back to Kingston. I certainly miss Winnie McRostie. I have tried to make her cookies myself and I could never get it right .. Winnie shortbread cookies were old style Scottish shortbread about an inch think and cut into small rectangle shapes. PS: I never was introduced to her ruler.. I guess I was just good

Steven Anderson

She helped me with math and English when I was a wee lad. Our neighbor for first years of my life. Always had fresh baked cookies. When ever asked what was her secret to growing old and healthy. Her answer was I only drink boiled water. Lovely old sole.

Brenda Mattey

She was an amazing lady.

She would hand out homemade fudge on Halloween!

Paul Anthony Percy

She helped me with math sweet lady

Kelly Sherrard

She used to tutor me in math. Play me the piano on a break or go for a walk around the lake when she was at the cottage. Always loved spending time with her.

Caroline Anderson

Loved her, loved going to both her house and cottage for one whole year of math.

Gail Johnson

She taught my son in math for a free hair wash and sent him to the maple leaf dairy for cookies and asked for the change but was careful not to give him 2 didn’t want to ruin his supper

Janet Stewart

We now own her cottage on Mississippi Lake. We bought it ‘as is’ – full of her old treasures, and have since come to know her nieces Anne and Joan. Thank you for sharing these memories here.

Julie Carey

I lived on Moffatt street as I kid just 2 doors down and went to Carambeck. Mrs.McRostie was my favourite person. Her fudge was the best! She made it at Halloween for all the kids. Kids and parents came for blocks for that homemade fudge. She was an amazing person who’s door was always open to anyone who needed it.

Colleen Deschamp

I went to St.Mary’s and she would often be a substitute teacher. Nice lady-She had the best Halloween candy lived on Moffatt St. We would race to that side of town for her fudge.

Leslie Garagan

She tutored me in math. Grade 4, many many years ago but I can still picture her kitchen and smell the freshly baked cookies when I entered. More importantly She taught me to love math. I think of her every time I pass her house.

Bill Conall

From Miss Galvi to Miss McCrostie was quite a transition, though both of them were adept with the wooden ruler.

Corrie Lang

Her cottage is at the very end of Lake Park road.

It still stands

Ross Nichols

I remember Miss MacRostie clearly. For years I would run in to her we talked, she was a sweet little lady. In the classroom you did not cross her, back then The teacher had a prerogative of sending you to the principal or dealing with disciplinary problems. She never sent anybody to the principals office. Most pupils in her crosshairs would’ve preferred the principal over her. Lol

Andrea Nephin

Miss McRostie was my Grade 2 teacher @ Central School, taught both my parents & was great friends with my grandmother,Winnifred Armour, also a former teacher in a 1 room schoolhouse.

Ginny Huether

I only knew the sweet Miss McCrostie , as a neighbour . She did love to bake, and Halloween everyone went to her house looking for her fudge and some years she would make a really good toffee !

Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum ·

Elizabeth Beggs McRostie posed for a formal winter portrait at the G.E. Willis studio. It was located in the Bell Block on Bridge Street and in operation from 1884 to 1896. Eliza grew up in Watson’s Corners, worked as a seamstress, and in 1902 married Fred McRostie, who ran a grocery store here in town at the corner of Bridge and Bell Streets. They lived at 213 Moffat Street, and Elizabeth kept a daily diary until her death in 1948. Their daughter Winnifred (Winnie) was a well known school teacher in town

And one other thing does anyone remember Ms McCrostie, not sure I spelt that right, she was a teacher, I met her after she retired when she took on students to tutor. I went to her summer before I went into Grade 7. She had a house on Moffat St. just south of High st. and a cottage at Lake Park. I was down there tonight and can not remember or find the cottage. I remember swimming at the small beach and her cottage was near there.

James R. McIsaac

Mrs Winnie McRostie was a very strict teacher, would give you the ruler, on the other hand I went to her house to get tutored in Math and she would give me home baked cookies, very nice lady, I picked her up in the Ambulance later in her life and she would remember….