aerial photos

Juney Vyfvinkel (née Garlough)

Juney Vyfvinkel grew up in Cook’s Tavern at Cook’s Point west of Aultsville, Ontario.





“In a way it’s a shame that it had to happen.

But it improved … The Seaway was born and therefore more ships could come through. And so it was more successful for the country, I think, than for the people who really lived in those villages and didn’t, don’t like the idea that they were gone.

But, then again, it’s progress and that’s what happens when progress happens.”




Juney Vyfvinkel’s Voice

Joint interview with Juney and Henry Vyfvinkel, Interview Audio Excerpts, Lost Villages Historical Society, LVHS Schoolhouse, Long Sault, Ontario. August 14, 2013




Progress happens.

Was engaged to Henry. There were a lot of auctions of old stuff but we didn’t want that then.

The Cook’s Tavern building was moved to Upper Canada Village. But father remembered it as their home not a museum.

I went to Chrysler’s Farm and became a United Empire Loyalist member.

Video



Video Excerpt: Joint interview with Juney and Henry Vyfvinkel, Lost Villages Historical Society, LVHS Schoolhouse, Long Sault, Ontario. August 14, 2013



In this video Juney Vyfvinkel discusses the improvements that came as a result of the Seaway and how, since people lost their villages, the benefit was more for the rest of Canada.

Those affected by the Seaway often have conflicted feelings about its pros and cons. Many still struggle with trying to understand and come to terms with their dislocation. This is not made easier by an official narrative that hardly acknowledges their dislocation; the destruction was cast as a necessary sacrifice for progress and modernity, for economic prosperity and national prestige.

Bio

Juney Vyfvinkel (née Garlough) spent much of her childhood at Cook’s Tavern set beside the highway just west of Aultsville, Ontario.

Her childhood home was of historical importance. It was destroyed during the Battle of Cryslers Farm in 1813 and then rebuilt in the 1820s. The building was salvaged and rebuilt by Upper Canada Village in the 1950s and early 1960s to represent 1867, the year of Canada’s confederation. Upper Canada Village is an historial theme park built as part of the Seaway project.

Juney now lives in Brockville, Ontario.