Bancroft - North Hastings Heritage Museum

08/14/2026

08/14/2026

08/13/2026

Community Living, North Hastings Community Integration Association is celebrating their 61st Anniversary in 2026.
2025 marked 60 years of this amazing organization in Bancroft. Those years were marked by the creation of a book of remembrance that recalls, in photos and essays, many of people, activities and ceremonies over the years. The Museum was honoured to receive a copy of the Anniversary Book, to archive, from a wonderful group from Community Integration. So much has been accomplished over the years and there is a bright and beautiful future ahead for everyone. Thank you for thinking of the museum as a place to store your memories.

08/07/2026

Stopped by this afternoon to connect with the summer students at the Bancroft - North Hastings Heritage Museum and wish them well as they head into their next chapter.

Not everyone was present, but I wanted to recognize all of the students and share where they are headed this fall.

Ashtyn Loney: Fleming College, Fish and Wildlife Technology
Lane Humen: Acadia University, Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
Tamas Szasz: University of Waterloo, Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and Financial Management
Eszter Szasz: University of Toronto, Bachelor of Science in Archaeology and Evolutionary Anthropology, 4th year
Morgan Walker: Entering Grade 10 at North Hastings High School

A special thank you to Mary and the entire Board for all the work that happens behind the scenes to make the museum possible, and to all of our summer students for the energy, curiosity and enthusiasm they have brought to the museum through the Canada Summer Jobs program.

I love seeing young people helping to preserve the stories of those who came before them while creating stories of their own.

The future is bright! ⭐️

08/07/2026

It was wonderful to welcome MP Shelby Kramp Neuman to the Museum/Visitor Centre today to celebrate the students who are participating in the Canada Summer Jobs Federal Program. The Centre is open 7 days a week during July and August, only because of the students. They are amazing ambassadors for Bancroft and North Hastings. Thank you to each of them. Thank you Shelby for your support.

08/02/2026

08/02/2026

It was a pleasure to give Town of Bancroft mayor Paul Jenkins a tour of our museum today.

08/01/2026

Can you find Bancroft on this globe?

This is a globe showing how the earth looked 240 million years ago, and you can go see it in person at the Bancroft - North Hastings Heritage Museum . Open daily 10am-4pm on Station Street beside the Post Office.

During the Permian, 240 million years ago, the moon was 14,000km closer to the earth than it is today, and there was only one gigantic continent on earth, called Pangaea. Just as the land was all connected at that time, almost all of the world's water was one continuous ocean called the Panthalassic Ocean. The concentration of the world's waters and the nearness of the moon meant that the tides were extremely violent. On Pangaea, a huge interior desert formed when mountain ranges blocked most weather systems from reaching the center of the continent. A huge desert formed - the Great Silver Desert, and Bancroft was in the middle of it.

Eventually, Pangaea would split apart and great lakes would form along the rift valley that would eventually become the Atlantic; this changed the weather on the continent enough to put an end to Bancroft's desert years and bring life back to the badlands of limestone and coal.

07/28/2026