Exhibits & Events – Pinhey's Point Foundation

EXHIBITS

Each year new bilingual exhibitions are prepared by the Pinhey’s Point Foundation to complement and supplement public programming by City of Ottawa heritage staff. Throughout the house, visitors can browse period room settings and featured displays to learn about the Pinhey family and property, their gentry neighbours and the history of March Township. Objects and images are drawn from the Foundation’s collections and elsewhere.

A colour photo of the window into the second floor "privy" of Horacevlle showing exhibit panels for PPF's Profiles in the Past" silhouettes exhibit (B.E.) — Seen through a window at Horaceville is “Profiles from the Past”, a Pinhey’s Point Foundation display about the art of the 18th–19th Century silhouette portrait. The Foundation has a number of silhouettes, also known as profiles, in its collections associated with the Pinhey and Monk families. (B.E.)

EVENTS

Most summers, the Foundation holds a free public lecture series at Horaceville. These early evening talks are followed by refreshments and an opportunity to meet the guest speaker. We also occasionally host special members-only events and receptions.

2025 EXHIBITS

Meet the Gentry: Portraits of the March Township Colony of Officers and Gentleman

This exhibition assembles the known portraits of the retired officers and gentlemen whose families settled along the Ottawa River in March Township. Come look upon the faces of our community’s early leaders and learn more about them. Perhaps you will find an ancestor on our walls!

The exhibit is complemented this year by a number of framed nineteenth-century photographs of Monk family ancestral portraits, and Capt. John Benning Monk’s sword. Monk’s estate Beechmount was immediately to the north of Horaceville. Also on view are the portable writing desk and apothecary kit that Hamnett Pinhey brought to Canada in 1821: handsome examples of campaign furniture that also appealed to civilian emigrants because of their portability.

Spotlight on Lace

A small display of handsome handmade lace items donated to the Pinhey’s Point Foundation by Patricia Hutchison. They were originally acquired by Ruby Valentine Pinhey (1887-1967), possibly for her trousseau, and purchased in London, England, while she served as a Nursing Sister overseas during the First World War.

Herbals, herbaria, and pressed-flower books

The PPF collection includes a printed herbal or pharmacopeia of 1712 illustrating the medicinal uses of plants and animals. Some educated Victorian women were amateur botanists who inventoried and mounted specimens of regional plants in herbarium scrapbooks. For many other women albums of pressed flowers were an artistic or nostalgic rather than a scientific pastime. Small books of pressed flowers also became popular as commercial souvenirs. In this small display we showcase three small volumes of pressed plants, perhaps presented to Dorothy Pinhey (1895-1991) by travelling family or friends.

Colour image of page from Jerusalem, a small volume of pressed flowers from Holy Land sites — This little volume includes artistic designs made of dried flowers from identified sites in the Holy Land. Learn more about their history at Horaceville. (PPF collections, Gift of Betty Ann Koene)

Horace Pinhey

Hamnett Pinhey named his estate and imposing residence Horaceville after his eldest son, who would inherit it following the British gentry tradition. Explore with us something of the life of this shy man often overshadowed by his father.

Treasures of a Pinhey Childhood

This sampling of toys, games, books and other treasures of children from the Pinhey family should appeal to the young and young at heart.

A colour image of interior pages of "Schoenhut's Humpty Dumpty Circus" catalogue illustrating a group of Humpty Dumpty Circus Toys used with Schoenhut's Combination Circus Tent and Ring (PPF Collections, Gift of Betty Ann Koene) — Detail from “Schoenhut’s Humpty Dumpty Circus” catalogue (PPF Collections, Gift of Betty Ann Koene)

Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday, …

Laundry and ironing not your favourite household chore? This display will take you back to a time when there was no electrical power at Horaceville and doing laundry was hard and often dangerous work.

A colour photo of a 19th Century miniature sad iron for ironing lace made with cast iron base and wood handle, metal trivet (PPF Collections, Gift of Constance Snelgrove) — Miniature sad iron for ironing fancy lace work on women’s clothing, with its own trivet, 19th Century (PPF Collections, Gift of Constance Snelgrove)

For general information about visiting the site, please check the City’s Pinhey’s Point Historic Site Facebook page or the City of Ottawa Museums webpage for the site or call (613) 580-9638.

EXHIBIT/EVENT ARCHIVE

To view our archive of past exhibits and events, click on the following links:
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