History
The Mishkodeh Centre for Indigenous Knowledge will expand on the way we understand the history of these lands and waters.
History did not begin with newcomers such as Thomas Need who was one of Bobcaygeon’s first settlers. The history displayed at the local A. Sheila Boyd Museum and the Kawartha Settlers’ Village focuses on the period of time during the building of the village of Bobcaygeon (founded in 1834) and the last 200 years.
Now, with the addition of the land-based learning experiences that will be available at the Mishkodeh Center for Indigenous Knowledge, we will begin to explore the history of the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg and the story of their relationship to the land. A story that stretches from 13,000 years ago through to today. This is more than a history of dates and timelines but stories that celebrate Indigenous Knowledge, language, culture and spirituality. We will be invited to see history through two different lenses. The juxtaposition of these two aspects of history side by side will challenge visitors to broaden their perspective and to reconcile our differences. The history of this particular 3.37 acres is very special.
If one steps onto a path leading into the Mishkodeh (aka Boyd Property) you are walking on lands familiar with human footsteps for thousands of years. Some of the ancient, giant trees living on this land also know the long history of human activity. This Mishkodeh has been cultivated through burning, a technique the Michi Saagiig used as a land management practice. It has housed fishing and hunting expeditions and acted as a natural meeting place near the fast running, shallow rapids for a millennia. When Europeans first traveled over these nearby waters, they marvelled at the beautiful meadows filled with fruit and nut trees. They rejoiced at the bounty of the land and the health and prosperity of the Indigenous people living there.
Over the centuries, beginning in Bobcaygeon in the early Nineteenth century, settlers moved into these Indigenous territories, often setting up their cabins, outposts and villages on these beautifully cultivated Mishkodeh. Thomas Need was one such young man looking to make his fortune in the ‘new world’. No one asked for permission to take over these beautiful and pleasing clearings. Despite that, Need was welcomed by the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg families. When he was almost starving, venison and dried fish were provided to him. When he needed advice and traveling companions the men and women of the land were there to help. Need himself recognized after a few years that he had entered a ‘garden of Eden’.
The Indigenous worldview that each person has the responsibility to be a good steward of the land and to consider the reciprocal nature of relationships to the land and all the plants and animals is what made this place so idyllic. There was harmony in the natural order of everything on the land. Need, like other settlers, brought with him a worldview that saw the land and its gifts as commodities: as something to be harnessed and used without the reciprocal nature of good stewardship. The dams, sawmills, gristmills, and the need for deeper waters to accommodate steamboats were hallmarks of many pioneering communities and Bobcaygeon was no different. These practices had a devastating effect on the Michi Saagiig as Manoomin (wild rice) beds were flooded and salmon runs came to an end bringing Indigenous communities to the brink of starvation. The impact continues to this day.
After Need went back to Britain his manager, Mossom Boyd, took over his businesses. Boyd, and others, continued to rely on the good will, skills and co-operation of the Indigenous families and clans.
So, the trees on the Mishkodeh watched as many of their own were cut, more land was cleared and a small cabin morphed into a mansion filled with generations of Boyd family members as Bobcaygeon grew and prospered around it. Eventually all but one moved away for bigger cities and bigger enterprises. Miss Sheila Boyd lived on in the rambling house, giving back to the village and its inhabitants. Then she too was gone and then the house. The land moved from owner to owner until today. We are now presented with the opportunity to re-open the property to our entire community, Indigenous and Non -Indigenous.
Bobcaygeon’s settlement history, way of life and contributions to what we now enjoy in Bobcaygeon are on display at our local museums. We are now learning, however, that the scars of colonization run deep and that there is so much more to be learned and understood.
The Mishkodeh, with its ancient trees, is ready for us all to join on a path of connecting, learning and healing through a Mishkodeh Centre for Indigenous Knowledge – a cultural program space for education, exploration and understanding of one another on a path to reconciliation.
