Latest news with #NationalHistoricSite
CBC
4 days ago
- General
- CBC
Africville Family Reunion features celebration, reflection
The latest generation of Africville descendants enjoyed the sunshine for children's day at the community's annual gathering in Halifax. Africville was razed by the city in the 1960s. The location is now a National Historic Site.
CBC
24-07-2025
- CBC
Africville Family Reunion returns with new safety measures
Social Sharing Improved lighting, additional security and a registration system will be in place at the Africville Family Reunion this coming weekend, in response to a shooting that left five people injured at the event last July. The new measures have been implemented as the result of a safety audit organizers requested after unprecedented gun violence at the event, which reunites former residents and descendants of the historic Black community. Running for more than 40 years, the weekend festival is one of the most important of the year for many people who return to what is now a National Historic Site, after the neighbourhood was torn down by the city of Halifax in the 1960's. "We want people not only to be safe, but we need them to feel safe so that they return back out here and join with us," said Irvine Carvery, president of the Africville Genealogy Society, which hosts the annual event. Carvery said some attendees had felt apprehensive about returning, but he is confident they're feeling better knowing precautions have been put in place. "I want them to come here, feel comfortable and enjoy the fellowship and renew old acquaintances and introduce new generations to their families," he said. People from across Canada and parts of the U.S. attend each year with as many as 5,000 people passing through the park during reunion weekends, he said. It was around 10 p.m. and dark when shots were fired last year, Carvery said, so the safety review suggested lighting throughout the park. That will be done this year using portable lights. "All of the grounds should be well illuminated for people throughout the weekend," he said. 'I am not going to be afraid to go to Africville' Participants will also be registered and given a park pass as they arrive which must then be displayed while they're in the park. Additional security is being hired and police presence has been secured for the weekend. In a statement, Halifax Regional Police confirmed officers will be on site and patrolling the surrounding area. "We want the community to feel like they can celebrate their history and culture without fear. We encourage anyone who sees anything concerning to flag down an officer or call police," the statement said. Paula Grant-Smith, who grew up in Africville and has never missed a family reunion, will return this weekend. "I'm going because that is something that we've always done and I am not going to be afraid to go to Africville," Grant-Smith said. She said last year's tragedy hurt her heart, and has shaken some of her younger family members. A niece and nephew who are around the age of ten are reluctant to go back. "To have that gunfire, they were traumatized then and they're traumatized now," she said. "If they do come down there, they won't stay." She supports the new safety measures but planned on returning regardless to continue her family's tradition of honouring the spirit of Africville. Police have not made any arrests in the case, and have said they believe people have information that could help their investigation. In April, the Nova Scotia government announced it is offering a reward of up to $150,000 to try to find those responsible for the shooting. There have been no further tips as a result of the incident being added to the Major Unsolved Crimes Program, police said, adding they are still hoping someone comes forward. People are expected to begin arriving on Thursday with reunion's events running from Friday through Sunday.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Andrew Johnson National Historic Site Cemetery closed, flagpole damaged
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — Andrew Johnson National Historic Site announced that its cemetery is closed to all access after damage caused by Friday night's severe storms. The historic site said the most significant damage was to the flagpole near the top of Signal Hill, where Andrew Johnson, the 17th president, and his family are buried. The flagpole's damage poses a safety hazard, so safety officials will evaluate the property before restoring access to the cemetery. PHOTOS: Damage seen regionwide after overnight storms 'In addition to the flagpole, the presence of damaged trees has necessitated the complete closure of the cemetery for public safety,' says Park Superintendent Aaron Shandor. 'Assessing and addressing the damage is the priority.' According to the historic site, no gravesites were impacted by the storms. The historic site also shared pictures of several large trees that had fallen on the property. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Marywood helps Garden of Cedar grow new features in Scranton
SCRANTON — Frank Dubas' invitation to Marywood University for its students to help design features at his nonprofit Garden of Cedar community lot in South Side came with a condition. 'I said you can do what you want, but I just have one challenge. The challenge is to design things that have form and function, because we are a garden, and that offer some sort of reverence or respect to the neighborhood that we're in. I think they've accomplished that,' Dubas said Thursday during a ribbon-cutting event unveiling the new features. The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a sculpture, native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic wall planter system (shown in photo), and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) Those features at the garden at 715 Cedar Ave. include native plants, vertical planters, bee nesting 'hotels,' and a hydroponic wall planting system and sculpture that pay homage to the city's history as a cradle of the industrial revolution. The collaboration broadly engaged hundreds of students over a few years, including in competitions and across several majors — architecture, interior architecture, business, graphic design, environmental science and math, said Michelle Pannone, associate professor of interior architecture. 'These projects don't just happen, they really do take a village,' Pannone said. 'They take the creativity, the passion of the students, the support and mentorship of the faculty, the various departments on campus and collaborators that supported us along the way — and of course the trust and vision of a client that believes in the next generation of students.' The largest new feature is a T-rail sculpture that represents a key part of the city's history dating to the mid-19th century, when the historic Scranton Iron Furnaces helped forge the industrial revolution. Still standing from a bygone era, the furnaces at 159 Cedar Ave. originally were operated by the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Co. between 1840 and 1902. It was the site of the first mass production in the United States of iron T-rails for railroads. Dubas explained how the sculpture represents the four main rails that were produced at the Iron Furnaces. The large, permanent artwork also has a grid representing a map of the South Side Iron District neighborhood, perforations representing rail lines that run through Scranton, wavy lines for the Lackawanna River and Roaring Brook, and a compass pointing to the Iron Furnaces, the Garden of Cedar and the railyard roundhouse at what is now the Steamtown National Historic Site. The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a T-rail sculpture homage to the city's iron furnace history of manufacturing rails for railroads (shown in photo behind a planting bed), native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a 'living T-rail' sculpture (shown in photo, an homage to the city's historic Iron Furnaces that made rails for railroads during the Industrial Revolution), native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) 'They really, really did a remarkable job,' Dubas said of the sculpture. With the garden having planters also representing the arches of the Iron Furnaces, Dubas said, 'There's a lot of representation, there's a lot of history here.' Iain Kerrigan, a 2023 Marywood graduate in architecture, and who was born in Scranton, lives in Old Forge and works in Wilkes-Barre, said he is very grateful to have been involved in the design of the sculpture. The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a sculpture, native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. Recent graduate Iain Kerrigan, at left, speaks during the event. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) 'It's great to have a positive impact on my local community,' Kerrigan said. 'It was a great opportunity for professional development while I was a student studying, which helped me in my career.' Sara Melick, a Marywood instructor of environmental science, said the collaboration between the university and the garden gave students the opportunity to go beyond the classroom and 'really to connect their education with real-world impact.' The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a sculpture, native plants, vertical planters (shown in photo), a hydroponic wall planter system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) Dubas founded the Garden of Cedar in 2018, began construction of it in 2022 and opened it in 2023. The garden features winding, raised planting beds and a planting wall that local residents can use to grow their own vegetables and plants. Dubas also has used the garden for various holiday displays, including having set out for past Valentine's Days a sea of thousands of large red hearts inscribed with individualized personal messages. The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a sculpture, native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. Photo shows Yamileth Palafox, 1, of South Scranton, whose family uses the community garden to grow vegetables and attended the event. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) Marywood's former president, Sister Mary Persico, I.H.M., recalled how Dubas had spoken of seeing a vacant lot at 715 Cedar Ave. and dreaming of putting 'something beautiful and wonderful' for the community there. 'You have to understand that things don't happen in life unless somebody has a dream to make them happen,' Persico said. 'And so, if he didn't have that dream when he walked by this lot, this would not be here today.' * The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a sculpture, native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas, at left, leaning on a bee hotel podium next to a T-Rail Sculpture, and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a sculpture, native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic wall planter system (shown in photo), and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a sculpture, native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a sculpture, native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas, at right, and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a sculpture, native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic wall planter system (shown in photo) and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a sculpture, native plants, vertical planters (shown in photo), a hydroponic wall planter system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a sculpture, native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 16, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a sculpture, native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. Recent graduate Iain Kerrigan, at left, speaks during the event. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a sculpture, native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. Photo shows Yamileth Palafox, 1, of South Scranton, whose family uses the community garden to grow vegetables and attended the event. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a sculpture, native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas, at left, and Marywood students and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a 'living T-rail' sculpture (shown in photo, an homage to the city's historic Iron Furnaces that made rails for railroads during the Industrial Revolution), native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a T-rail sculpture homage to the city's iron furnace history of manufacturing rails for railroads (shown in photo behind a planting bed), native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a sculpture, native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) Show Caption 1 of 13 The nonprofit Garden of Cedar in South Scranton collaborated with Marywood University to bring a sculpture, native plants, vertical planters, a hydroponic system and bee hotels to the community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. Garden founder Frank Dubas, at left, leaning on a bee hotel podium next to a T-Rail Sculpture, and Marywood students, recent graduates and professors held a ribbon-cutting unveiling event at the site on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) Expand
CTV News
15-05-2025
- CTV News
Alberta's Bar U Ranch now open for new season
A group of visitors enjoy the ride as a Parks Canada interpreter drives the horse-drawn wagon at Bar U Ranch National Historic Site. (Supplied/Parks Canada) (Ryan Bray/Photo: Ryan Bray)
