Ottawa history told by Randy Boswell

Randy Boswell, now a assistant professor of journalism at Carleton University, formerly an Ottawa Citizen journalist, is the guest speaker next Monday, 25 July at 7 pm at Pinhey’s Point.

Boswell has been shortlisted for the Pierre Berton Award, Canada’s top prize for popularizing Canadian history, was the 2010 winner of the Yves Fortier Earth Science Journalism Award and was co-writer of a 1997 National Newspaper Award-nominated special project on Gatineau Park. He continues to write history-related news stories on a freelance basis and is pursuing various research projects that employ 19th-century newspapers to shed fresh light on political, scientific and journalistic issues and personalities of that era.

He will speak on Bytown surgeons Hamnett Hill and Edward Van Cortlandt who founded the Bytown Mechanics Institute and promoted natural history and archaeology.  Van Cortlandt’s 1843 excavation of an indigenous burial ground older than the Pyramids has prompted a recent reinterpretation of the Ottawa River’s cultural landscape.

Organized by the Pinhey’s Point Foundation. Admission free. Free parking. Refreshments to follow.

Located at 270 Pinhey’s Point Road in Dunrobin, 20 minutes outside of Kanata.  Take March Road off Hwy 417 to Dunrobin Road. Turn right on Riddell Drive. Follow it left onto Sixth Line Road for about 5km until you reach Pinhey's Point Road.

Tip:  There's no more pleasant a spot on the Ottawa River.