Burk's Falls and District Historical Society president Linda Maurer makes the official announcement of the group moving into the Watt Century Farmhouse, along with Northland Power manager Calvin MacCormack. Northland is leasing the house to the society at a generous rate and also donating $30,000 to the group.

The Burk's Falls and District Historical Society is expanding to a second location at the Watt Century Farmhouse in Armour Township. The official announcement was made on Friday, Feb. 13 at the Chetwynd Road location.

"For 20 years the Historical Society had an agreement with Ryerson Township to have our museum out at the Midlothian schoolhouse, which was wonderful," society president Linda Maurer said.

When it started there wasn’t a whole lot in there, but 20 years later we're overflowing.

"This is a wonderful facility. It will tie in nicely with the Midlothian Schoolhouse, which will still remain open as well. They'll both have different features, but hopefully we have enough volunteers and members that can make it work."

The expansion is possible thanks to Northland Power. Two years ago Northland bought the Watt farmland to build Burk's Falls Solar East, the first of two solar farms in the area. When Northland bought the land, they also bought the century-old house and decided it was too important to demolish.

The Historical Society signed a lease for 21 years, less a day, with Northland paying about $10 every five years. During that time, the solar company will fund the heat, hydro, snow removal, and maintenance of the farmhouse. And beyond that they've given the society a $30,000 cheque to help repair the building.

"This is exactly the kind of community group that Northland loves to support," Calvin MacCormack, manager of the solar farm, said during the announcement.

"[The Historical Society is] doing a tremendous job of not only hounding us to get this moving along but really making a difference in your community in what is really a worthy endeavor."

"What we've done is brought a little of the capital to the table, but the group of people you have and your time and effort is worth much more than that and we do appreciate it."

There's another partner Maurer says was instrumental in helping this all come together.

When the Historical Society knew the deal with Northland Power was a possibility, they applied for and received a Nipissing East Community Opportunities grant to create a business plan. With the fund and support from the three municipalities, they hired consultant Karen Jones from North Bay to look at the viability of having two locations.

"This has been one of the most exciting projects that I've had the opportunity of working on for a while and I think the reason for that is that Rick [Evans, a project partner] and I saw great potential from the beginning and got a sense of what the vision and the big picture was. But it's the community passion that really struck us," Jones said at the announcement.

"Both Rick and I were very taken back by the community support throughout the region and the number of people who just wanted to get involved. And of course under the leadership of Linda and with Northland Power being so optimistic about that big picture and that vision, it's just been a really great project and I'm really looking forward to seeing how things develop and progress and thank you for the opportunity."

Maurer also thanked the three municipalities Armour, Burk’s Falls, and Ryerson for their ongoing support.

"On behalf of the village we're proud to congratulate the historical society on their huge success to the expansion here of Watt Farm," Burk's Falls deputy reeve Rex Smith told the audience. "To the society, job well done and we look forward to discovering more of our past."

The stars aligned and everything fell into place, and this is going to be an excellent opportunity for the area, Armour reeve Bob MacPhail said.

The Burk's Falls and District Historical Society meets on the fourth Monday of the month at 7 p.m. at the Fell Homes apartments, though the next meeting is on Monday, March 2.

"It's only been able to come together because we have increased our membership because of this project," Maurer said.

There is a definite interest in expanding what we have.