More Carp History

Carp is a small village west of Ottawa, Ontario, in beautiful Canada, where James Paul, an Irish shoemaker, about 24 years of age, purchased some land to make shoes way back in history - actually around the 3rd of August, 1844. James bought this half an acre near the present Swan Pub (mmmm...Swan Pub), and on that site began to operate his shoemaker business. This is the first proven non-agricultural business on a site in what is now referred to as Carp.

Three years later, in 1847, James Paul moved his shoemaker business to Pembroke - possibly since all of the locals now had quality shoes. The reality is that the actual origin of the name Carp has never been established - yet.

Early pioneers told me that there never were carp in the river, but that there were thousands upon thousands of suckers and mud pout in the river. For the people who live by or near the banks of Carp River in the 1860's and even right up until last fall, the suckers were literally "meat on the table".

Another account, The Carleton Saga, written by Harry and Olive Walker, gives the following conjecture (p.422):

"When the writer researched the origin of the name Carp as it applied to the river and the village, a student of nomenclature in Montreal, Herman J. Rolland, wrote the following possible explanation: 'The French word for sucker is "carpe", and it would seem to me that coureurs de bois may have given the name "Carpe" to the river, as they must have known of its fishing conditions, and later on the village possible adopted the name of the river.'"

How will we ever know if there were ever carpe in Carp?

Carpology

If you take a day in Carp (or seize it) should it be Carpe Diem?
If we share rides in Carp, would we Carp-ool?
If you need something built, do you call a Carp-enter?
Should you park in a Carp-ort?

These and more important issues when we return...

You are going to have to buy the Village Green

Hello Carp.

If you don't buy the Village Green, about 100 other people will buy it, and they will build small houses on it, and move in.

Then they will overcrowd the school.

There will be no bananas left at Faith's Foodliner.

The good videos will be gone at Carp Video.

Your order from Carp Valley Chinese Food will be late.

The Carp Fair will have no parking.

Might seem minor, mostly because I chose minor issues to make it seem minor. What would be better is if none of the above happened, and we had the central area of Carp preserved forever as a park, museum, school expansion, etc...for all the residents of Carp who bought a square foot of the Village Green, to save it forever, in their name.

Start buying it up so that you can't move there now!

http://www.buythevillagegreen.com

Please?

No Water. Flooding rampant.

Interesting that in a year with so little precipitation we are seeing the kinds of floods that we are in the plains along the Carp River.

The mighty plains...the might river. Hah!

Who needs mighty...in our own little way this beautiful river, currently home to thousands of returning Canada Geese, has spread its own wings out across the neighbouring fields, trails and driveways and is gathering up a force of flotsam and jetsam bound for Kanata.

What is odd about this is that we can already see signs of the lack of water. A typical spring would have all of the ground spongy and muck would abound. But no, dry hard ground bites back at my struggling shovel, dust prevails from the top of the mounds beside the homes of future flower greatness.

But the floods range on along the mighty Carp...we secretly may start diverting the river to our perennials if the skies don't open up.

This marks my first blog about the weather...if I was more vane I would consider this a real technology breakthrough. Currently it's 17 degrees celsius, mostly cloudy, with winds gusting from the NW...ooh, this is fun.

Friends of the Carp River

The Carp River is a navigable waterway that comes under the jurisdiction of two Federal Acts - the Navigable Rivers Protection Act and the Fisheries Act. The Carp River watershed is located in the former municipalities of West Carleton, Kanata, and Goulbourn. The headwaters of the system are in the Glen Cairn area of Kanata just south of the Scotiabank Place (formerly Corel Centre), where the Carp River flows north into the Ottawa River at Fitzroy Harbour. The entire river is 42 km long, and has the unique distinction of being the only river that flows entirely within the boundaries of the City of Ottawa (since Carp was amalgated into the City of Ottawa a few years ago).

The Friends of the Carp River (FCR) is an action-based group of volunteers working together with landowners, recreational users, government agencies, and businesses to improve the quality of the Carp River. Our goal is to encourage new shoreline management practices, thereby helping to restore the ribbon of life along the river's length for the natural benefit of its human and wildlife communities.

There are lots of ways you can get involved and help out with various projects involving the Carp River.

Welcome to Carp, Ontario

Carp is a village west of Ottawa, Canada.

The village took its name from the Carp River which runs through the village. I live on the main street, which was formerly a section of the Trans-Canada Highway and carried much of the traffic coming from the west into Ottawa. However the village has now been bypassed with the development of the Highway 417, which means it is still easily accessible but quiet, safe, quaint and a great place to live.

The largest claim to any international fame (infamy really) is that the Diefenbunker, a Cold War museum is located within the village, but it's really all about the Carp Fair, where once a year the village is transformed into a turn of the century farm district fair, replete with heavy horses, all the livestock you can shake a switch at, games, rides and contests until the ribbons come home.

With the amalgamation of municipal governments in the region in 2001, Carp is now governed as part of the new city of Ottawa, which is still a contentious issue depending on whom you ask about it.

Carp is used as a mailing address for large areas of the former West Carleton Township. As such, residents of this large area will identify themselves as living in Carp although they may live large distances from the village proper.

A large farmers' market is held in Carp each Saturday from May to October. The Carp Fair is held in September; the first fair was held in 1880. It is now located at the fairgrounds. The fair attracts people from all over the city every year.

There are three schools in Carp at large: Huntley Centennial Public School, St. Michael's and Venta, a private school. Our children go to Huntley.

The area is surrounded by amazing biking, hiking, walking, mx-ing, and snowmobiling trails, joining into hundreds of miles of trails that lace their way back and forth across the Ottawa valley.

In January 1990, the Carp Farmers' Market became a reality for many residents of Carp and the surrounding communities. Before then, the Market was essentially a concept and a dream in the mind of Hildegarde Anderson, an active resident of Carp. Ms. Anderson had fond memories of the success of farmers' markets in her native province of Saskatchewan. After some discussion with a close friend, Kathy Fischer, she decided that a prairie-style farmers' market would provide the agricultural community and the residents of Carp many kinds of social and economic benefits. With a determined spirit, she pressed ahead to transform her dream into reality. Together with her friend Kathy Fischer and marketing specialist Bob Chorney (and volumes of information from Ministry of Food and Agriculture), she proceeded to develop a written plan and conduct a series of information meetings together with a publicity campaign to convince other members of the community of the need for and potential benefits of a farmers' market.

If it so happens that you are out enjoying the CARP FARMERS' MARKET be sure to visit the:

- Diefenbunker, Canada 's Cold War Museum
- Village Art Gallery
- Historical Cheshire Cat Pub
- Lightplane rides at the Carp Airport
- 7 area golfcourses
- 6 area riding stables
- Stan 's Mini-Putt
- The Swan Pub
- Fitzroy Provincial Park
- Pakenham 's historical 5-span bridge

....plus many more restaurants and services in and around the village of Carp.