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Escarpment Magaz ine Spr ing 2012
Escarpment:
When and how was your interest in this region's
history first piqued?
Charlie:
My usual story is that when I was buildingmy ski shack
at Blue Mountain in the late 1950s, a local farmer, Charles
Campbell, came and talked to me about local Craigleith history
and particularly four subjects: 1. the shipwreck of the “Mary
Ward” on which his namesake Uncle drowned in 1872;
2. The Craigleith ShaleOil Works, he could remember the chim-
ney still standing; 3. the earliest settlers at Craigleith, especially
the Flemings and Campbells; 4. the Indian remains he found on
the farm behind my shack.
Charles Garrad is an internationally recognized ar-
chaeologist, historian, and scholar. He is Ontario’s
longest serving licensed archaeologist, and with vol-
unteers has located and registered over 90 archaeo-
logical sites in Ontario - some in The Blue Mountains
area. Recently he was awarded the Order of Ontario
- the highest honour and recognition that the Province
can give.Recipients are chosen only after an intensive
scrutiny and selection. Charles (Charlie) was given
the award for his contribution to Ontario's history.
Charles was also named 2011 Honoured Person by
the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma and Wyandotte
Nation of Kansas.
Charlie lives in Toronto, but spends much of the year
at his home here.He has worked closely with the town
of The Blue Mountains to establish the Craigleith Her-
itage Depot Museum and spent years studying ar-
chaeological evidence in the area. Blue Mountain
was once the home of an ancient race of Petun Indi-
ans who eventually migrated to Oklahoma and
Kansas to become the Wyandotte Nation.Charles has
spent a big part of his life researching the Petun and
initiated the archeological searches in The Blue Moun-
tains that uncovered village settlements and life his-
tory of the gentle Petun dating back 4,000 years.
He has made major contributions to the Town's histor-
ical records by writing commemorative plaques in-
cluding one about the Petun/Wyandotte Nation, one
on the shipwreck of the Mary Ward and one on the
Craigleith Shale Oil Works. Early, in my publishing days
of this magazine, Charlie wrote a few articles specifi-
cally for the magazine. It has been a great pleasure
to catch up with this accomplished man once again.
escarpment
people
BY DEENA DOLAN FINDLAY
PHOTO | CLAY DOLAN
C
HARLES
G
ARRAD
IN CONVERSATION