Heather Darch

“When Death Says Come”

Par Heather Darch / 1 juin 2022

Even in the late 19th century, it is estimated that a third to a half of all live births in Canada ended in death before the age of five. These calculations of child death probability were even greater for Black, urban and poor children.

Wild Blue Yonder

Par Heather Darch / 9 mars 2022

This is the tragic story of a CF-100 jet that crashed in a field just north of Bedford, Quebec killing its two-man crew on December 4th, 1956.

Pocket treasures

Par Heather Darch / 30 novembre 2021

Family lore says that Reynolds carried his black lacquered, papier-mâché snuff box throughout his time as a soldier and prisoner-of-war and as a settler in Missisquoi County. It was his treasured object and survived the travails of war and displacement.

Freedom wrapped up in a bow

Par Heather Darch / 24 août 2021

The Dutch government still sends thousands of tulips to Ottawa as an ongoing thank you for the liberation and for providing sanctuary to the Dutch royal family who lived in Canada in exile. The little orange bow in the Missisquoi Museum’s collection represents the fact that freedom had, and still has, a price.

The Resurrection of Andrew Weatherwax

Par Heather Darch / 15 juin 2021

Andrew Weatherwax whose body had apparently been discovered at the wharf in Pike River in early July of 1856 returned from the dead in 1867.

Justus Makes His Mark

Par Heather Darch / 12 mars 2021

Justus Billings may at one time have been a slave, but this free Black man was part of the early community of St. Armand and actively participated in its development as a labourer and farmer and in its defence as a soldier.

The Bugler’s Coat

Par Heather Darch / 24 novembre 2020

A khaki woollen jacket with red trim, gold buttons and fringed epaulets stands out in the Missisquoi Museum collection.

More Poetry Please

Par Heather Darch / 24 juin 2020

In 1904, a sixteen-year old Tom Eliot, while camping on the shores of Lake Memphremagog, climbed Mount Orford and wrote a poem about his adventure. It’s not a good poem! As Dr. Philip Lanthier commented, “There was no sign here of the genius that would produce, a mere seven years later, the subtle ironies of…