AWARD OF HONOUR

The Pender Islands Museum Building Restoration

The Pender Islands Museum Society

In 2003, the Pender Islands Museum Society obtained a long-term lease on a derelict farmhouse on Parks Canada property that was in danger of collapse due to its rotting post foundation. Over the next five years, the Museum Society salvaged the house and restored it to a close approximation of its original external appearance and to a condition suitable for public access as a community museum.

The lease with Parks Canada specified that the Museum Society would be responsible for the restoration of the house and would maintain and operate the building as a community museum.

The society began a three-phase restoration program. Phase One included the replacement of the rotting post foundation with a perimeter cement foundation, the provision of underground electrical, telephone and water services, installation of plumbing and electrical wiring for lighting and a security system, replication of the front porch, painting of the exterior, interior repairs and replacement of missing woodwork, windows sills, sashes and blinds, and the equipping of one half of the main floor as a museum with display cabinets, artifacts, and photographs. The new museum opened in 2005.

Phase Two, completed in 2006, involved the enlargement of the display area and the provision of office and storage areas in the main floor.  Phase Three was the replication of the large wrap-around veranda that was a distinctive feature of the house. The enclosed section of the original veranda that had contained the family bathtub was reproduced but to a fire-resistant standard to house the Museum's archival collection of irreplaceable photographs and documents. Phase Three was completed in 2008.

Over $120,000 and 1,200 hours of volunteer effort have been expended on the restoration of the Pender Island Museum project, which could not have been completed without the broad based support of the community.