Calendar of activities of the Stewart Museum

The bugle or drum roll announces the arrival of the Fort’s gun crew in preparation for the noonday salute of the Bloomfield gun. This 24-pounder built in 1810 will launch the summer programming with a bang heard even on Mount Royal! All summer, weather permitting, witness the Montreal Garrison Artillery unit performs one of this contry’s finest military traditions of the 19th century.

Show your Expo ’67 Passport and get free admission to the Stewart Museum. Visitors without a valid passport will pay a mere $1, the cost of admission in 1967! A series of photographs from that year feature the Museum’s contribution to that prestigious event that captured the hearts of everyone.

The annual children’s day is moving to Île Sainte-Hélène. On site, the Stewart Museum features living history, music, Recruiting Officer, etc. And to celebrate, all visitors will be admitted free of charge to the Stewart Museum. On Sunday, witness the pie-eating contest organized by Les habitants du Fort for the regimental officers.

A weekend dedicated to the apple! Organized in collaboration with the Fédération des Producteurs de Pommes du Québec, the Stewart Museum offers demonstrations, tasting, produce, conferences, games, storytelling, and great fun for everyone. Have you had your apple today?

Watch authentic 18th century military drills and parades re-enacted by the soldiers of La Compagnie franche de la Marine or The Olde 78th Fraser Highlanders. The Fort echoes with sounds of split-second drills, cannons firing, and exciting battle tactics with bayonets by the blue and grey uniformed French regiment. Dressed in their regimental tartan kilts, the Fraser performs Highland dances to the skirl of bagpipes and drums.

11:50 Firng of the Bloomfield gun (1810)

12:30 to 2:30 Various activities at the encampment

2:00 and 4:00 Manoeuvres and/or fifes, drums or bagpipes

The Sentry guards the entrance to the Fort. Remember the password or beware of the pillory! Costumed camp-followers re-enact daily chores required to service the soldiers of the Fort. Bread-making in the Fort’s outdoor oven, traditional camp-fire foods, period games for the children, weapon repairs and maintenance, tailoring, pillory, and more constitute “our daily bread”. Look out for the <@Ai>habitant<@$> and listen to his tales and legends.

Young visitors are invited to join the ranks of La Compagnie franche de la Marine and the Oldes 78th Fraser Highlanders for a living history experience of 18th Century military life. Dressed in uniforms of one of the regiments, the recruits are introduced to period drills accompanied by the regimental drum for a glimpse of soldiering in New France.

Follow the guide in a tour of the fortifications of Île Sainte-Hélène constructed in 1824 and the exhibition galleries of the Stewart Museum featuring collections of antique arms, cartography, archival documents, domestics utensils, scientific instruments and navigational aids. Visitors relive the times of great discoveries, voyages of the 15th and 16th centuries and the development of the St.-Lawrence valley. Guided tours of exhibition “Treasures of the Stewart Museum, 50 years of collecting” are featured in this year’s programming.

Choose from a fascinating program of thematic activities tailored to each group: A Discovery of the Fort; Algonquin and Iroquoian Tattooing; An 18th Century Science Room; Cartridges for the King’s Army; First Nations in Quebec before 1500; Fur Trade in New France; Hygiene in other Times; In the Steps of our Ancestors; Meeting People form the past; Military Geometry; 18th century Navigation; Old-fashioned Curling; On the Waterway; Tales and Legends; The Museum at School; The Recruiting Officer; Trails by Night, Trekking in the 18th century. Something for every taste!

Reservations required.

Opening Hours: Until October 9: daily, 10am until 5pm. Visitors have access to parking (P7), guided tours, boutique, canteen, and picnic tables. Montreal Museums’ pass accepted. Starting October 10: Wednesday through Monday 10am until 5pm. (Activities and/or dates are subject to change).

For more information call (514) 861-6701 or log on www.stewart-museum.org .