Museum team and visitors heading down the beach on horseback.
A woman dressed in historical 19th-century attire sits inside a wooden workshop, focused on a handcrafting task. She wears a purple patterned long-sleeved dress, a white apron, a white shoulder wrap, a ruffled white bonnet, and wire-rimmed eyeglasses. She holds and manipulates a woven, textured material in her hands. In the foreground, a white enamel pot with a black rim sits on a workbench alongside woven shavings and craft supplies. The rustic background features wooden walls lined with tools.

Wood Chip Hats Demo

Event
Join us for our Wood Chips Hats demonstration weekend. Making your own hats has been a common practice in New Ross since the community was first settled in 1816. At that time, both straw and "chip" hats were very fashionable in England and Europe. While some hats were shipped to Nova Scotia, their high price meant they were typically affordable only to wealthy individuals. After seeing the imported hats, resourceful women figured out how to use local materials to create wonderful reproductions. Wood chip hats were particularly time-consuming and difficult to make, so they were reserved for special occasions. The chip hats of Lunenburg County have always been normally made out of woven strips (or 'sheens') of yellow birch. The know-how to make these hats was handed down from one generation to another. Even now, there are people who still know how to do it. During our Wood Chip Hat weekend, come watch a demonstration on how this type of hat was created.

Location

Ross Farm Museum, New Ross

Date

Saturday 27 June and Sunday 28 June

Pricing

Regular admission rates apply.