Shakespeare’s Cairn is a focal point for remembrance and historical reflection, connecting future generations with their roots.
To remember those who settled the area in North Easthope Township, Perth County, in 1936 a memorial cairn was erected beside No.7 Highway at the village of Shakespeare, Perth County, Ontario, (originally Bell's Corner) to commemorate all the pioneers who settled in North Easthope up to 1850 is all due to Miss Mary McLennan.
On May 28, 1936 at 4 p.m., it was unveiled by Lord Tweedsmuir (the novelist John Buchan), Governor General of Canada, who said in his speech, '100 years ago this was a land of mostly swamp and forest. Today it is a smiling country-side. It has blossomed like a rose. I have a strong personal feeling because I was born in Perthshire in the homeland and many of your great grandparents came to this land from Perthshire. Perth is a great county and in one way it is closely linked with this part of Ontario. Perthshire in Scotland was the meeting place of the Highland and Lowland people. Canada has followed that example. May this cairn be always here as a memorial to that of which you people are so proud'.
The plaque on the cairn is inscribed, '1832-1936. In Memoriam - The Pioneers of North Easthope'. The list contains 188 names. As 88 years took their toll on the structure on May 28, 2024, repairs were started to save this beautiful memorial.
Mary MacLennan of Stratford, Ontario, published a book, The History of the North Easthope Pioneers, in 1937 containing reminiscences of the early pioneers. Two interesting stories told by grandchildren of a couple of the immigrants are very intriguing. One such character John Crerar “was a whiskey smuggler all his life in the old country from the time he grew to manhood and the Excisemen were after him, so he fled to Canada. His name was not really “Crerar” but McIntosh, having assumed the name “Crerar” to disguise himself.” Another story told by a grandchild about George McCallum, who stood 6 ft. 2 in and weighed 250 lbs, was a smuggler his whole life.”
It was through the efforts of Mary Louise McLellan, (sister of Sir John McClennan) that the memorial came to fruition. After visiting her brother in England the year prior he encouraged her to preserve the history of North Easthope pioneers where he had been a schoolteacher at the age of 19 years.
The idea of a Pioneer Memorial grew, and she suggested it to another historian, Miss Katherine McCallum, a descendant of Pioneer McCallum who had recorded genealogically North Easthope. She agreed to the idea, and they called for a meeting through the local newspaper for all those who were interested in a Pioneers Memorial to meet at the Township Hall at 8 p.m. in June 1935. Not knowing what to expect, few people showed up to the meeting.
However, several grandchildren of the original settlers were very keen on the idea of building the memorial. McLennan wrote “From the commencement of the memorial scheme, nothing but a Cairn Memorial was considered by our committee. As the memorial became more widely known, and opposition to a Memorial Cairn arose among the descendants, which group desired Memorial Gates at St. Andrew’s Church, two miles north of Shakespeare.” To settle the matter McLennan went to Toronto and consulted with three of Toronto’s leading artists and sculptors, the Founder and Principal Emeritus of the Ontario College of Art; and two staff members. They unanimously agreed a cairn was the best choice for the memorial. Mr. Reid drew plans and specifications for a cairn and sent a twelve-foot model of it to her in Stratford. The committee agreed on the model to be used for the Memorial Cairn. Discussion of having names inscribed on it and a poem were considered and approved.
After another meeting was held, they commenced to canvas for money with great zeal. The local Press published the lists of paid-up subscriptions, and this aroused interest from far and wide.
Now the question as to where it should be placed. The first option was to locate it at the cemetery at St. Andrews and this was deemed to be inappropriate as not all the pioneers were buried there. The second choice was outside the fence of the cemetery, but this also was not approved. The third choice was to locate it beside Knox Presbyterian Church as this is where the pioneers passed by on their way to the wilderness of North Easthope. This too unfortunately was not possible as the road Engineer advised it could not be passed due to a by-law. The Chairman of the Committee purchased on the advice of the Roads Committee Engineer of Perth County, a plot of land forty feet square facing Highway 7.
The granite for the cairn was gratuitously given by Mr. McCallum, Mr. Laing and Mr. Kelly from their respective farms. They also contributed sand and gravel. A contractor from Stratford built the underground base of the Cairn, five feet deep, seven feet square, of solid stone and cement with a batter which made the base of the Cairn at ground level, five feet square. Two stone masons from Stratford, Messrs. Dunnem and and McIntosh, experts in their craft, built the Cairn from the model and specifications given by Mr. Reid. Mr. Reid also designed the tablet with the one hundred and eighty-eight names inscribed and engraved by engravers of Toronto, Alexander & Cable, the tablet being chrome-plated on nickel. Mr. Duncan McDonald, of Johnstone, Glasgow, Scotland, grandson of Pioneer Peter Sinclair, kept his promise in making it possible to put the list of names on the tablet, by sending a cheque for $75.
McLennan writes, “At four o’clock in the afternoon of May 28, 1936, the Memorial Cairn, erected in memory of the North Easthope Pioneers, in the presence of nearly one thousand spectators, including the committee, descendants of the pioneers, the Member of Parliament for the County, the Warden and Engineer of the County, the Reeve of the County, leading clergy of the City of Stratford and vicinity, representatives of Historical Societies from Toronto and Hamilton, was reverently and lovingly unveiled by His Excellency, Lord Tweedsmuir, the Governor-General of Canada; accompanied by her Excellency, Lady Tweedsmuir, members of his suite and the Mayor and Mayoress of Stratford.”
Lord Tweedsmuir stated, “I am always glad to see a Memorial erected. It means that those responsible are connecting themselves with the roads which lead into the past, and, unless people remember those roads, there is no future for them.”
