MELDRUM BAY—After having been closed for several years the historic Net Shed Museum in Meldrum Bay will once again be opening its doors to the public, this Saturday, June 29.
“We’re pretty excited about it being reopened,” said Linda Lapointe, president of the Meldrum Bay Historical Society (MBHS), the owners of the building and a non-profit organization with charitable status. “I think for me it is about the building itself. This is a historic building where they used to make nets for fishing.”
“The artifacts in the building are amazing. It is amazing what is in there,” stated Ms. Lapointe. “Bill Steiss (a member of MBHS) has been preening and organizing the artifacts which date back to the late 1800s until after the second World War.”
The artifacts are going to be displayed in various sections, including fishing, lumbering, farming and other artifacts related to early settlers’ life, such as an old ice box, explained Ms. Lapointe.
A lot of work has gone into sprucing up the building, work that was necessary to reopen the building, said Ms. Lapointe. “The building is in very good condition. We have been continuing to do minor repairs on it. Bruce White (vice-president of MBHS) and Chuck Halliday did repair work on the roof, including fixing all the screws on the metal roof.”
“The floor in the main room inside the building is still uneven, and this is a long-term project to have this fixed, but it won’t be carried out this summer,” continued Ms. Lapointe. She pointed out new boards in the fascia in the front entrance are underway. And we will be updating (replacing) our solar panel as well as re-caulking the roof edge.”
The building is still sitting on stone and a long-term repair project for the building is to eventually lift the building and put in a new foundation.
“There has been no water leakage in the building,” said Ms. Lapointe.
As was reported last November, in the spring of 2023 a lot of effort was put in by volunteers and members of MHBS to clean and paint the outside of the building and clean everything inside. More work was carried out over the winter and spring and a funding application was made to the government to hire a young person to run the museum.
Ms. Lapointe pointed out Mary Bryan and Angela Wall did all the paperwork to send an application to Revenue Canada to reinstate the MBHS charity status.
The Net Shed Museum has not operated since the pandemic and the previous MBHS board were seeking someone to take over. “We were too slow in respond at the beginning. But when we found out the museum was being shut down, we decided we needed to help get it operational again,” said Ms. Lapointe.
An election took place for a new slate of MBHS board members in May 2023.
“One of the big achievements we have attained is MBHS getting charitable status from the government,” said Ms. Lapointe. “We have hired a young person, Justin Nussey, who lives in Meldrum Bay, to be the museum administrator for the summer.”
