Reprinted from The Packet, December 18, 2014
Local history buffs create Southwest Arm Historical Society
Members of the Southwest Arm Historical Society are (left to right): Jim Avery, Don Smith, Eric Stringer, Elaine Spurrell, Wanda Garrett, and Lester Green
Lester Green and Eric Stringer share at least one thing in common.
“Each of us has our own stuff and I got to thinking what would happen to this once we were gone,” he told The Packet.
So he started to think of the possibility of forming a local history group, with the aim to share, and preserve, all the bits and pieces of local folklore.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Last fall, Stringer and a small group of like-minded people formed the Southwest Arm Historical Society.
Green, who lives in St. Jones Within, got involved when the group decided that, in terms of history, the entire Southwest Arm, including the Hillview to St. Jones Within peninsula, would be included.
Their first decision was simple, to set up a virtual museum, via a website, so that all of the information and photos could be organized and made easily available to anyone who had an interest in the local history.
The website www.swahsociety.com was officially launched Dec. 1.
The well-designed site, created for the group by Jason Soper, already contains a significant amount of information and is easy to navigate.
Stringer said the virtual museum is “the best way to go because it’s accessible for anyone, and it doesn’t cost a lot of money to upkeep, as a physical museum would.”
The website features sections devoted to genealogy, the history of settlement, the fishery and other categories related to local history.
“The bulk of the collection is photos, newspaper records and genealogy records,” says Green, who has been actively seeking out old photos from the area.
Anyone who has photos from the past, that they would like to have saved and published on the website, should get in touch with Green.
Saving a photo is as simple as having Green drop by with his computer and scanner.
He says he prefers to do it that way because he knows people might be concerned about loaning a photo to someone and, possibly, having it misplaced.
Besides, sitting in the house with the owner of the photo enables Green to learn a little more about the story behind the snapshots, to ensure they are properly identified for the website.
The beauty of the website as well, said Stringer, is that it can be added to as more information is found.
Beyond that, the group has other ideas to preserve the story of the region.
“One of the first areas that we can find written record of people being there is Little Heart’s Ease Beach,” says Stringer. “So we’re thinking of story boards to help tell that story.”
He’s pleased with the progress they’ve made in just one year of existence as a formal group.
“When this idea came to me I didn’t realize how big this was going to be. We have a fantastic group of people.”