Bill and Marnie Bickle; Two Blue Shirts; Ruth Redelmeier

Nominated for the Stephen A. Otto Award for Research and Documentation for the documentary ‘The Bluestone,’ showcasing the history and restoration of Port Hope’s only provincially-designated home

.

A documentary of Port Hope’s only provincially-designated home, ‘The Bluestone’ came about from the 2022 Port Hope House Tour. After the Covid pandemic halted 55 consecutive annual tours, committee chairs Bill and Marnie Bickle conceptualized and developed two innovative virtual tours and five guided walking tours. This new virtual format became possible locally at a bearable cost through Aiden Kennedy and Aaron Peacock’s Two Blue Shirts, a small video production firm. The 2022 Tour focused on King St., due to the 200th anniversary of St. Mark’s Anglican Church, and included the Bluestone and Little Bluestone homes. Both rubble-stone buildings were built in the 1831-34 period for John David Smith and his eldest son. Hundreds purchased Tour access to view that video, just as over 1,000 annually had joined the traditional day tour.

The Bluestone had been a family home until 1950, then divided into apartments until a gradual restoration process was begun by Don and Joan Rumgay who purchased it in 1975. Don sold the home to Ruth Redelmeier ten years ago. Then aged 90, she launched her capstone project – a thorough restoration. Ruth’s unveiling of its beauty is also a historic moment, one that needed preservation itself. The raw result: 8 hours of film conversation with Ruth and others selected by Bill Bickle. Planning, including a publication for further distribution of this educational creation is ongoing.

.

Ruth Redelmeier with Lee Caswell (discussant) and Two Blue Shirts team in parlor

.

Bluestone’s den with Jane Watanabe, Jim Sculthorpe, Ruth Redelmeier

.

The Bluestone as imagined by photographer Nigel Dickson (with tractor’s position on the property transposed)