Heritage

One of the biggest heritage problems facing the County is whether to preserve or demolish. Of course, I’m referring to our architectural history. As far as preserving or demolishing your personal stuff—that’s personal.

Preserving architectural heritage is an important part of our sense of community. When we, the community, identify with our streetscapes, we have that as our common dialogue and it generates a sense of belonging. We are positively affected by our surroundings when we feel a sense of place. In Prince Edward County, our sense of place is like some kind of County GPS. People who have lived here for a long time—perhaps a lifetime—identify locations by the buildings in the area. And they identify those buildings by using the family name of the people who either live there now or, more likely, by the original family. As many a County sage has pointed out, locals of long standing rarely speak of locations by County road numbers or street names. We’re often flummoxed by tourists or newcomers who know the rural route numbers and proper street names better than we do. Our buildings are part of our identity. Our buildings are our guidance system.

Did I say I had a point-of-view or two? Indeed, I did and I do. The structures in question, currently known as the old Rock’n Rogers pizza place and the convenience store, were built over Lane Creek. Back in the day, before the days of the convenience store and Rock’n Rogers, people might have used Lane Creek as a landmark for their navigation around the village. And it isn’t the first time humans have decided to divert a waterway by making it subterranean or by rerouting it to make way for a building. It won’t be the last time this happens. The problem with erecting a building over water is the water. No matter what you do to keep nature out, it is a force with which we have never really been able to reckon. The immense damage done to those two buildings was caused by the failure of a manmade device designed to keep nature at bay, designed to allow Lane Creek to flow underneath the buildings. Kudos to the engineers who created that original culvert. It has lasted for many decades. But now it has failed and we, the community, are left to decide what’s next. Homework has been done. Without factoring in Lane Creek, those buildings could be considered a part of our collective sense of place. It has been suggested they could be considered preservation-worthy. Many people already feel that is so. As part of the Wellington streetscape, it is irreplaceable. The demolition of this portion of Wellington’s streetscape is a very contentious issue and will, without a doubt, cause conflict within this community. Some will see dilapidated buildings as the potential for a parkette. Others will see an opportunity for repair and restoration or rebuild. Still others might hope to see the return of Lane Creek, a waterway that hasn’t seen the light of day for generations.

In my humble opinion, without regard for the extraordinary financial burden to the community, I believe we need to take stock of our community’s heritage building inventory. Mistakes have been made in the past. I think our sense of place, our County GPS, our connection and common dialogue to and with our built heritage has to be at the very top of our list of advantages.

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca