Talking with Jenna Fitch from Kings Landing. They are having an event there called Maple, the First Taste of Spring. Jenna will share about this event and some background of Kings Landing.
Jenna: Our Maple Event has been going on for about 40 years. Visitors can come and get a glimpse into what life in the sugarbush was like in the 1900s.
The history of maple dates back many years. introduced by indigenous people in the area and then, shown to settlers as this amazing product that you can use. Very sweet, very nourishing and very energizing. We have a couple of houses open where we talk about life in the winter in the 19th century. And then we have demonstration of how they would boil that sap down to then make maple syrup and then eventually the maple candy, which is usually everybody's favorite.
It is just a fun day for the family to get out, learn a little history and just mostly have some fun. Take a horse and wagon ride as well. And then we do have our pancake breakfast in support of the Luxor Shriners.
Mark: So, talk a little more then about King's Landing itself. I know that, when the dam was put in, there were a lot of homes that were going to be essentially destroyed when the water filled. And many of those homes, or some of them at least, were moved.
Jenna: Yes, it was the late 1960s. And as you mentioned, the dam construction project was sort of underway or the plans were in place and a committee came together there is a lot of history in this area that eventually would be underwater.
So, they wanted to save different buildings or houses that had some type of historical significance. About 70 of these historic buildings are on our site. Some early after we opened, some in the late 1960s, and others in the 1970s. Kings Landing is now alive as a 19th century village where people can come and visit the different homes and the characters inside. We also have the shops, including the Blacksmith, the Carpenter and the General Store, which is my favorite.
We have been operating for 50 years now. July 20th was our official opening date in 1974. We will be having a celebration in the summer as well, on July 20th, to mark that.
Kings Landing – The First Taste of Spring
[00:00:00] I am Mark the New Brunswick Traveler and here we talk about New Brunswick stuff.
[00:00:13] New Brunswick's often referred to as a drive through province, going to Prince Edward
[00:00:18] Island or Nova Scotia but more and more were becoming a destination province where
[00:00:24] people are coming to spend the night, spend a week or spend the rest of their life.
[00:00:32] There's so many great wonderful treasures and natural resources here that we can experience
[00:00:38] from the Bay of Funday to Mount Carlton to all of the various things that are in between.
[00:00:45] On this podcast I'll be talking about some of those natural wonders.
[00:00:50] We're talking about some of the people that live in New Brunswick, past visitors that
[00:00:54] have come to New Brunswick and maybe even some ghosts that I find along the way.
[00:01:00] So for now let's get started.
[00:01:04] I'm here today with Jennifer with King's Landing.
[00:01:15] Welcome Jenna.
[00:01:17] Hello Mark, thank you so much for having me.
[00:01:19] I'm always happy to have somebody with a historical site that's on New Brunswick Traveler and
[00:01:27] I understand this coming weekend and then the following weekend you're going to have
[00:01:32] an event there called Maple the first taste of spring.
[00:01:36] So I'd like for you to just talk a little bit first about that event and then we'll
[00:01:40] get into talking about King's Landing itself.
[00:01:42] For sure, yes.
[00:01:44] So our Maple event, it's been going on for about 40 years now.
[00:01:49] So essentially visitors can come and sort of get a glimpse into what sort of like life
[00:01:54] in the sugar bush was like in the 1900s.
[00:01:57] So the history of Maple dates back many, many years introduced by like the indigenous people
[00:02:01] in the area and then Canada and then shown to sort of the settlers to be like, hey look
[00:02:06] at this amazing product that you can use.
[00:02:09] Very sweet, very nourishing, very energizing.
[00:02:12] So we kind of have a couple of houses open where they talk about like life in the winter
[00:02:16] in the 1900s, 1800s, sorry, 19th century.
[00:02:20] And then we have like a demonstration of how they would boil that sap down to then make
[00:02:26] like maple syrup and then eventually the maple candy which is usually everybody's favorite
[00:02:30] named like the long lick.
[00:02:32] They can pour that like hot syrup onto the cold snow which hopefully we have snow and
[00:02:37] then wrap that up on a little stick and then visitors can enjoy the maple candy on there.
[00:02:41] And yes, just a really fun day for the family to get out, learn a little history and just
[00:02:45] mostly have some fun.
[00:02:46] Take a horse and wagon ride as well.
[00:02:48] And then we do have our pancake breakfast in support of the lecture striiners so that
[00:02:53] can be they can enjoy breakfast if they want to and then head into the village and do
[00:02:57] both.
[00:02:58] And yeah, it's just a really fun day for the family.
[00:03:01] So talk a little more than about King's Landing itself.
[00:03:04] I know that when the dam was put in there were a lot of homes that were going to be essentially
[00:03:11] destroyed when the water filled and many of those homes or some of them at least were
[00:03:17] moved.
[00:03:18] So give me a little of the history and background of King's Landing.
[00:03:23] Sure.
[00:03:24] So yeah, it was about the late 1960s and as you mentioned the dam construction project
[00:03:29] was sort of underway or the plans were in place and committees sort of came together
[00:03:34] because there were like there's a lot of history in this area that like you said
[00:03:38] you know, eventually will be underwater.
[00:03:40] So they wanted to save different buildings or houses that had some type of historical significance
[00:03:45] maybe because of who built it or because of who lived there and their involvement in the
[00:03:50] community.
[00:03:51] And so they saved a number of about 70 historic buildings all together are on our site.
[00:03:57] So some have moved over the 50 years that we've been open but many of them were moved sort
[00:04:01] of within the late 60s, 70s either by boat across the river or by over the ice or even
[00:04:09] allowing the road itself and just sort of moved to this area to then recreate sort
[00:04:15] of a 19th century village that we have now.
[00:04:18] So while it was never technically a village itself, it's you know alive now as a 19th century
[00:04:22] village where yeah people can come and enjoy visit the different homes and the characters
[00:04:27] inside portraying people from the past that we have a couple of shops as well.
[00:04:32] So like the blacksmith or the carpenter, the great store which is my favorite you want
[00:04:36] to do a little bit of shopping see what a general store of the era would be like and yes
[00:04:41] we're not operating for 50 years now July 20th was our official opening date in 1974.
[00:04:48] We'll be having a celebration in the summer as well on July 20th to mark that and yeah
[00:04:55] we're very much looking forward to celebrating the 50 years of our own history and the history
[00:05:00] that we also represent.
[00:05:02] So you're open this coming weekend in the following weekend and then when's the next period
[00:05:09] of time that you're actually going to be open there at King's Landing?
[00:05:12] So we'll officially open June 1st and then we'll be the plans to be open daily until October
[00:05:18] 14th and then that will be our sort of regular summer fall season and we usually wrap
[00:05:25] up with lovely Thanksgiving dinners and fall festivities but each weekend is dedicated to a different
[00:05:32] family or a different area in the village so they'll be focusing on the different homes
[00:05:38] that make up the village and then there might be some special events as well, some picnics
[00:05:43] or something.
[00:05:45] Little socials people can come and enjoy.
[00:05:48] So you're open during the week but then have special activities on weekends is that the
[00:05:52] way after you open the first of June?
[00:05:55] Yes, yes.
[00:05:56] So I mean every day you can come and explore the village but if you're particularly interested
[00:06:00] in a type of, you know, a certain family or a certain topic like we have a military
[00:06:05] weekend for example or one to do with like children's and school or something like that so
[00:06:11] we're soon going to have the list of the themes posted on our website so then sometimes
[00:06:16] people who get a season pass or locals can kind of be like oh I'd really like to come
[00:06:20] this weekend.
[00:06:21] So a season passes or something then are quite popular?
[00:06:25] Yes, yeah people who want to come more than once in the year usually people you know
[00:06:30] might come around opening time and then in the fall it also lets you in at Maple and
[00:06:34] then our Christmas event we have like a Christmas in the valley.
[00:06:38] Christmas in the village?
[00:06:39] No, Valley.
[00:06:40] We have a Christmas in the valley event sorry early December so it covers entry to all those
[00:06:45] events so you could visit Kinglanding like a hundred times if you wanted to for the price
[00:06:49] of two visits.
[00:06:50] So it's a pretty good deal here of the expanded Kingland.
[00:06:53] Now does Kinglanding spend time working with school-aged children?
[00:07:00] Yes, so it's something that we've been able to do a bit more of obviously the pandemic
[00:07:05] paused a lot of programs but over the past two years or so we've been reaching out
[00:07:10] to a lot more schools where we can have children come and do they could do a self-guided tour
[00:07:15] just kind of like explore the village with their teacher or they could have a guide
[00:07:19] who kind of brings them to certain areas to maybe learn about depending on their grade
[00:07:23] level it might be like what was life on a farm like or like what was a community like
[00:07:28] or what was an actual school like things like that.
[00:07:31] So we have different we have an education coordinator who could arrange group tour guides
[00:07:37] and group visits for schools so that's definitely something that we want to encourage a lot
[00:07:42] more and we do have a couple different children's programs in the summer are visiting cousins
[00:07:48] which is like an overnight camp we'll be coming back this year we're very excited about
[00:07:52] that but if the overnight stays a little too intense for some kids they could just come
[00:07:56] for the day so they can kind of be like a child in the village for the day and enjoy a day
[00:08:01] camp.
[00:08:02] So preservation of property is a very important aspect and I know in the United States
[00:08:09] we have Williamsburg we have Old Salem we have various areas that have been able to preserve
[00:08:17] the property and not only the property but the lifestyle itself.
[00:08:22] I think that's pretty much what is happening there at King's Landing.
[00:08:26] Yes absolutely yes to show how life was like you know 200 years ago and it's you know
[00:08:33] you might be able to see some similarities but definitely an entirely different way of
[00:08:38] life than what most people are used to today you know some kids might come and have never
[00:08:44] seen a sheep or something or have never seen a garden for example I remember when hearing
[00:08:48] a story about a child who didn't know what like a laundry line was so it's just like these
[00:08:54] simple things that yeah it's just like a totally different world even though it was the place
[00:09:00] that you're familiar with but the lifestyle was just totally different.
[00:09:04] So if my listeners want to get more information about King's Landing they can find all of
[00:09:09] that information on your website. I'll have the link on the show notes and I know you're
[00:09:15] only about 25 miles west of Fredrerton so I'm sure you get a lot of people from the
[00:09:21] Fredrerton area that come and visit.
[00:09:23] Yes yeah we get a lot of support from like the Fredrerton capital region so that's even
[00:09:28] including Harvey is really nearby in NACWIC, even little communities like Millville so
[00:09:34] yeah we get lots of support from the locals which is incredible and we're very very happy
[00:09:38] with that. Yes all the information can be found right on our website or you're into social
[00:09:43] media on our Facebook or Instagram as well.
[00:09:46] Oh that's great I always like to finish the interview with individuals by asking the question
[00:09:53] what's special to you about New Brunswick?
[00:09:57] Yes, when New Brunswick to me is special because you can pretty much get anything you want
[00:10:03] out of the province even if it doesn't seem like that to outsiders people like to say
[00:10:08] it's the drive-through province but I think it's definitely worth spending more time.
[00:10:11] I mean if you want to go to the beach you can do that, if you want to shop you can do
[00:10:14] that.
[00:10:15] If you like theater or art you can find places to do that camping, nature and you know
[00:10:21] not a lot of people around so very peaceful and overall it's just yeah a really pleasant
[00:10:26] place to live and visit.
[00:10:29] And pleasant places to live and visit are very important in this time.
[00:10:34] Yes absolutely.
[00:10:37] Well thank you for the time that you spent with me and the information that we've received
[00:10:42] about King's Landing looking forward to finding out more about Maple itself when I make a trip
[00:10:51] from St. John and spend one of the weekends there with you.
[00:10:56] Yeah well look forward to having you and hope you have a lovely time.
[00:10:59] Thank you for your time Jenna.
[00:11:01] Thank you.
[00:11:08] We have a couple of items coming up yet this month.
[00:11:11] First of all of course is the one that we just had an interview about and that's Maple
[00:11:16] the first taste is spring.
[00:11:18] Again I'll be on the 16th and 17th of March at King's Landing.
[00:11:22] I hope that you can perhaps attend.
[00:11:25] And then the other is the travel log that's going to be at the Fredrinton Playhouse.
[00:11:33] The title of it is in the footsteps of Joni Mitchell.
[00:11:37] There's going to be a number of Canadian musicians that will be honoring and performing the
[00:11:43] timeless work of Joni Mitchell.
[00:11:46] That is at the Fredrinton Playhouse on Friday March the 22nd at 730.
[00:11:52] I'll have some links in the show notes just a couple of more things that I'd like to mention.
[00:12:00] First of all there's a podcast called NB Polypod that comes on every week and talks about
[00:12:10] some of the political decisions that are being made in New Brunswick with balanced insights
[00:12:18] as to the implication of those decisions.
[00:12:21] The other is Canada Land.
[00:12:23] I listen to this on a weekly basis and it's a pretty good balance of what is going on
[00:12:29] in Canada.
[00:12:30] News from New Brunswick and news from Canada on these two podcasts.
[00:12:36] You should check them out and the links are on the show notes.
[00:12:40] I've spent a real joy being with you today.
[00:12:49] I appreciate you taking the time to listen to the podcast.
[00:12:53] If you go to my website mbtraveler.com, you can leave a comment.
[00:12:58] You can come to do a rating and I look forward to seeing you back here again next week.
[00:13:03] And oh by the way, you can also buy me a copy there on that website if you care to.
[00:13:10] Have a great day and a wonderful week.