SEEK........AND WHO KNOWS WHAT YOU'LL FIND?
/For 24 year old Havelock resident, Eric Foster, “the dig ” has been a passion since he was five. He is a bottle digger/collector, digging and diving all over Ontario, in search of relics, treasures of our history.
Recently Eric contacted us, excited to have found a piece of stoneware from Marmora, which he is now restoring. On close inspection we find it reads as follows:
BLEECKER BROS GENERAL MERCHANTS MARMORA ONT
In 1875, George Bleecker was planning a future for his older boys in the retail business. Sons, Charles A. Bleecker, George B. Bleecker and William F. Bleecker would carry on the family business at the newly built general store and tailoring business at 13 Forsyth Street, known as the Spencer Block after the builder. It was a two storey brick building with a verandah, which over the years housed a variety of enterprises, including McTaggart’s Hardware and Ember’s Restaurant, eventually torn down in 2016 to make way for senior housing.
Digging in a small dumping ground in the Marmora area, about two feet deep. Eric found everything at the location to be 1910-1920 . He adds, “I also came across some nice Peterborough Knox Bros. sodas, but they are not overly hard to find, along with some medicines which were not embossed, unfortunately. “ Both he dated circa 1906.”
