Winter Memories in Rural Niagara
From sleigh rides to ice skating to chopping firewood, wintertime invites nostalgic memories from our childhood. The Brown Homestead Oral History Project collects life stories to gather a deeper understanding of everyday life in rural Niagara, including holiday traditions and winter pastimes. Sara Nixon reflects on the value of oral history, and shares winter-related memories gathered from the oral history interviews conducted this Fall 2024.
“The Welland River was only, I would say maybe 100ft from the house. So all the neighbours would get together and we'd have a lot of skating parties. We'd play hockey. On a Sunday afternoon, people seemed to congregate on the river. And you might find 100 people just skating around playing hockey…” - Lanny Brown
Learning from Stories
What was wintertime like in rural Niagara 70 years ago? Even 50 years ago? How much snow would fall? How did families celebrate the holidays? What were popular winter pastimes? Like skating parties on the Welland River.
These questions seem quite simple, and perhaps even mundane, but they are invaluable to our understanding of everyday life at specific moments in time. These questions also likely sparked specific recollections from you, the reader. Recounting and sharing lived memory helps us make connections between the not-too-distant past and the present. We can situate our own lives and experiences and perspectives in relation to these sorts of stories. And this matters.
The Brown Homestead Oral History Project
In Fall 2024, The Brown Homestead launched our Oral History Project and began conducting life story oral history interviews. The project seeks to collect memories and gather a deeper understanding of everyday life at The Brown Homestead and of the rural communities immediately surrounding the property. While we intend to grow this project over several years, we first invited members of the Powers family, who grew up here in the John Brown House through the later half of the twentieth century, as well as descendants of the Brown family who grew up on multigenerational farms in nearby south Pelham and Wainfleet.
Conducting Interviews
So far, we’ve conducted three interviews with four people, with plans for at least four more by Spring 2025 [1]. These are life story interviews, meaning we ask open-ended, guiding questions pertaining to a person’s earliest memories growing up through to adulthood. We also take a shared authority approach [2]. With interviews generally ranging between 2 to 3 hours, we cover topics such as childhood play and chores, family traditions, school and hobbies, friends and relationships, getting around and going out or into town, and careers and family life - to name a few. We also explore legacy and what it means to live in a home built by a United Empire Loyalist family, or being descendants of that family.
Lessons & Values
Though we’ve only heard from four people so far, it’s already quite apparent that life in rural Niagara continued to be isolated and hard work through to the mid-20th century. Family was also the critical centre of everyday life. Parents, siblings, and extended family were a tightly knit unit. They were who you relied upon for support on the farm and in the home. And they were who you socialized with, shared with, and played with. In rural Niagara especially, family mattered most.
Winter Memories
There also seems to be a consensus that winters in rural Niagara were cold, snowy, and made perfect conditions for skating. Cozy up with a cup of nostalgia, and watch or read below for memories of wintertime in Niagara. Be sure to share your own memories in the comments below!
Driving Down The Welland River
“Sometimes in those days, we got a tremendous amount of snow. So the roads would be blocked. And just across the river was the highway, the Kings Highway #3… was over there so we could drive the the car down the bank, cross the river and up the other side to get on the highway. That's the only way we got out to go anywhere. That was quite a thrill to drive up down the river.” - Lanny Brown
Stringing up Christmas Cards
“And at that time, because most people still used the mail, it would be Christmas cards. And then you would run a string from one corner to the next like a long line, and you would fold over. And that's where all your Christmas cards went to… These are things people don't do anymore because we know that… a lot of people don't send Christmas cards… So that was kind of like an old tradition.” - Wendy Ann (Jessome) Douthwaite
Sleigh Rides at The Farm
“Our farm, or the barn itself, had what they call an approach. It was a hill going up to the second story where you could drive up there with the horses and wagon hauling in the hay, things like that. So in the winter that was a good place to sleigh ride. So sometimes some of the neighbour kids would come over and, especially on a moonlit night, we'd be out there sleigh riding. You’d sleigh ride down this hill and ride on to the river and go down the river as far as the sleigh would go.” - Lanny Brown
Skating on 12 Mile Creek
“Most of our winters, it was cold all winter long, snow all winter long. Whereas nowadays, because of the temperature difference. Oh, we used to take our skates down to the bottom of the hill, put our skates on and we would skate the 12 mile creek and we would go for miles and miles. You're lucky if it freezes over nowadays. And it's even smaller than what it was…” - Wendy Ann (Jessome) Douthwaite
Snowstorms & Staying Home Sick
“We had some pretty big snowstorms in the winter. And I remember one of the neighbours took - the three farms that were close by - took the kids on a sled with horse, horse- drawn sled to school. The roads weren’t plowed out, and, yeah, that was quite nice…
….I remember one winter [my brother] Lanny was quite sick. He had scarlet fever. And of course, back then they used to doctor, the medical doctor of health would come around with a red placard and tack it on your door! And we were home from school. The other three of us were home from school for I can't remember now. It was probably over a month. And, you know, it was hard finding things to do… because it was in the dead of winter and my dad would go to the bush and cut wood because we burned wood in our furnace, and we'd go and kind of skate in any little pond or anything we could find just to keep busy, something to do.” -Elizabeth (Brown) Porritt
Thoughts & Reminiscences
I can’t help but want to cozy up by a fire while watching the snow fall when hearing these stories. They also remind me of growing up in Niagara in the 1990s. I didn’t ride sleighs down hills on farms, but I did often toboggan and spent hours building forts. Though I never skated on a local river or a creek, my very first date with my high school sweetheart was at a local arena. And my youthful experiences are very different from what winter means to children in Niagara today - where there is a lot less snow and a lot more storms.
These sorts of personal stories are rarely found in history books - but this is why their nuances are so valuable. Oral history fills gaps in the historical record, giving texture to the written word. They capture the voices of ordinary people, offering new perspective, thoughtful reflection, and deeper human connection to the past. The oral record preserves stories that might otherwise be lost, and this is the objective of The Brown Homestead Oral History Project at its very core.
Come along for this journey with us as we learn from our neighbours and community members.
Sara Nixon is a public historian and Community Engagement Manager at The Brown Homestead.
[1] The Brown Homestead’s approach to interviewing is based on shared authority, a collaborative concept where the participant shares just as much authority in the direction of the interview process as the interviewer. The participant has ownership over their stories and memories, and chooses what to share; we are simply the stewards committed to preserving and presenting each life story with the utmost respect. I consider being in the interview’s chair a true honour. It is a privilege to listen to the life stories of people I’ve only known for a short time. It takes vulnerability to crack open early memories and share parts of your past. I do not take this role lightly.
[2] For these first interviews, we were fortunate to have Owen Urquhart, a graduate student in the MA History program at Brock University, assist with note taking and recording. Not only was Owen’s assistance vital to the interviews, but it was also great to discuss theory, ethics, as well as the major themes that emerged from the stories we heard.