October 4 - 6, 2024
About Ladysmith
Up from the Front
“They came up from the front; the landing by the Ottawa River; up the rising ground to the place where the tall timber grew.”
The first were Egan's men, lumbermen looking for the great white pine, masts for the ships of Europe. And up in the hills they found the trees, and there they stayed and set down roots themselves.
They were Irish - English-Irish, Church of England and Church of Rome - who first came up the hills and founded homes.
And then, from across the seas, came the Germans, of the Emperor's army, exchanging their commissions for land in a peaceful country.
They wanted land high and dry, for they were from the lowlands of "der Vaterland" and they went up to the hill country and found what they sought. And they stayed too, Lutherans all, skilled artisians all, and they built the village of Ladysmith.
Greermount and Thorne Center and Thornby and Schwartz and Ladysmith became the focal points of Thorne Township. The hills of home; iron-clad, treed with the noble oak and pine and maple now attract many tourists who, like the pioneers, find these hills irrestible.
And that is who came, and why they came, up the hills to home."
The Board of Directors
President
Lorraine Bretzlaff
Treasurer
Nelda Bretzlaff
Secretary
Marlene Pasch
Coordinators
Denver Bretzlaff
Tara Peck
Dave Schock
Kim Cluff
Donna St-Aubin
Marguerite Born
Randy Born
Jennifer Mielke
