Quinte Woodlot Association AGM
Location: O’Hara Mill and Conservation Area & Murphy Lumber
Date: Saturday, June 7, 2025
Time: 9:30 AM -3:30 PM
Join Us for a Day of Heritage, Forestry, and Community
Lumber has long been a cash crop the verdant Township of Madoc, and remains so today. At our annual meeting you are in for a treat: a glimpse at sawmilling in the 19th and 21st centuries.
The O`Hara Mill, where our meeting takes place, began operations in May of 1850, when James O’Hara Sr., whose father had immigrated from Ireland, and his son James O’Hara Jr. entered a partnership. The father built the mill and the son supplied the site with timber as well as water privileges. The mill continued to cut and sell lumber up until 1908, some fifty-eight years later. In the 1950s what is now Quinte Conservation took over the property; volunteers have since restored the sawmill to working condition.
On our meeting day, volunteers on site will demonstrate how O`Hara Mill saws timber using power from the river. Then we will travel a few kilometres to a contemporary mill: Murphy Lumber, on Highway 62 in the Township of Madoc. Katelyn Murphy, who sits on the Quinte Woodlot board, and her father Dan Murphy, owner of Murphy Lumber, will show us how they make lumber today, continuing a community tradition: the transformation into wood products of the bountiful trees that thrive across the region.
Mill volunteers are preparing a light soup and sandwich lunch for us. Lunch will be followed by a guided walk with board member and forester Peter Kuitenbrouwer. Afterwards we will travel a short distance to Dan Murphy’s lumber mill.
Meet at O’Hara Mill and Conservation Area, 638 Mill Road, Madoc, Ontario K0K 2K0
Registration: Ontario Woodlot Association by May 26, 2025
Cost: $20 for OWA members, and $20.00 for one guest
$40 for non-members
Quinte Chapter 2025 AGM Agenda.jpg
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