Defiant Builders: How Loyalists Constructed a New Society from Stone with Michael Bussiere
- Day: Wednesdays
- Dates: May 8 – June 12, 2025
- Time: 1:30pm – 3:30pm
- Location: Online, via Zoom
- Price: $175+HST
Zoom Information will be sent by email 1-2 days prior to the lecture date.
Overview
Buildings provoke interaction: the building of buildings; the occupancy of buildings; the maintenance and legacy of buildings. That interaction stems from and leads to the formation of families, communities and, in the case of this lecture series, the formation of a country. This lecture series is a people’s history told by a remarkable collection of humble and robust stone structures that dot Ontario’s towns, canals and rural landscapes in what is the greatest concentration in North America. It has selected for its subjects the oldest stone buildings constructed by Loyalists, their first-generation descendants, and others who emigrated from Great Britain in the formative years of Upper Canada. They are material expressions of dynastic endurance and symbolize the building blocks of a defiant new society: home, faith, government, and industry.
This lecture series includes 135 original colour photographs, maps, historical images and illustrations.
- Week One: The First Tentative Steps towards Nationhood. A review of architectural styles and construction techniques in New France and the arrival of the Georgian style following the American Revolution.
- Week Two: Dwellings and Settlements in the Colony of Québec. Early building methods, materials and tools. Six stone homes of the pre-War of 1812-14 era. Settlement expansion in the post-war era. Stone home of the Rideau corridor.
- Week Three: The Formation of Religious Communities (part one). Challenging Anglican Hegemony and the Clergy Reserves. Cooperative Scots in the cradle of Confederation.
- Week Four: The Formation of Religious Communities (part two). The Presbyterian flock of Lanark County. The first parishes of the Church of England. The arrival of Lutheranism.
- Week Five: Education and the Judiciary. Constitutional evolution and governance. King and Crown: Ontario’s oldest courthouse and municipal building. Reverend Wm. Macaulay and the court of the Prince Edward District. A Teacher’s Residence defends the Crown. Algonquin School, S.S. #11
- Week Six: Industry and Commerce. Peace, order, good government, and prosperity. The Old Stone Mill National Historic Site. The Pride of Lyndhurst: Ontario’s Oldest Foundry and Bridge. An Industrious Lieutenant-Colonel on the Raisin. The Cobourg Barracks or Brewery. “The most important centre of Civilization in Upper Canada”
About the Lecturer
Michael Bussière is a retired professor of media and technology in art and culture (adjunct architecture) at Carleton University and was one of Canada’s first virtual classroom researchers. He has been published by MIT Press, uChicago, uPlymouth UK, uAlberta, etc. Michael is an avid backcountry paddler with a deep interest in Canadian history.

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