Category: MAJOR URBAN

One important objective with the creation of Poet’s Hill is to make contributions to the literary life of the capital. A number of events have already been held and others are planned. This programming goes under the catchy title “Dead Poets Live!” Here is what’s taken place so far, often in the beautiful Reception Room in the Beechwood Cemetery office building. June 24, 2007 – While not formally part of

One key reason why the particular site of Poet’s Hill at Beechwood Cemetery was chosen, is that it offers an excellent view of Parliament Hill. The central axis of the site’s design points to the Peace Tower. However, this view is not protected in Ottawa’s Official Plan! Nor is the even more spectacular view of Parliament Hill from the memorial to Tommy Douglas, which is nearby Poet’s Hill. As it

On September 10, 2006, the Ottawa Citizen published a major article on the Poets’ Pathway. written by Janice Kennedy. Here is a photographic image of the article. It is noteworthy not only for its content but also for the excellent graphics. Read the text of the article here. A year earlier, Kate Heartfield, a member of the Citizen’s editorial board, had devoted a glowing column to the Poet’s Hill project.

The Poets’ Pathway is referenced in section 2.2.1.2 of the 2003 Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan: “Work with the NCC … to ensure that on NCC lands and along recreational pathways commemoration of local individuals, places, events and structures are developed, maintained and improved, and additional themes introduced, e.g., Poets’ Pathway.” And section 4.6.5 of Ottawa’s 2003 Official Plan states: “The pathways are part of the Greenspace Network and

Ever since the Poets’ Pathway project was conceived, the meadow to the west of McCarthy Woods was envisaged as the central anchor of the Pathway. It is indeed here that Bill Royds, the originator of the concept, was snowshoeing one wintry day in February 1995 when the last lines of Archibald Lampman’s final poem, “Winter Uplands,” came to mind: The crunching snowshoes and the stinging air, And silence, frost and

In September 2002, the Poets’ Pathway Committee participated in the Ottawa International Writers Festival by putting on a performance at Arts Court, “The Poets’ Pathway: A Walk Through Ottawa’s Literary History.”  Six actors, Pádraig Finlay, Peter Politis, Chris Roberts, Katryn Baker, Allan Meltzer and Mark Leahy,  dressed up in period costume and recited poems of the Confederation and Mouvement littéraire poets and their contemporaries, in between telling a bit of

The eastern anchor of the Poets’ Pathway is at Beechwood Cemetery, where many of Canada’s literary luminaries are buried. At the invitation and with the generous support of Beechwood Cemetery management, a Poet’s Hill Committee was formed in the spring of 2005. Here is the original project description. Landscape architect and Poets’ Pathway volunteer Ryan James designed the site (436 KB pdf). The inauguration of the site took place on

Since 2002, the NCC Board of Directors has been inviting “local interest groups” to make presentations to it to inform the Commission’s strategic planning. The Greenspace Alliance was the first group to respond to the call with a presentation on the proposed Poets’ Pathway. Read the submission here. Meetings with NCC staff followed. There was no offer of support.  Instead, we were referred to the Commission’s Commemoration Policy, with a request

Poets’ Pathway: The Proposal When Ottawa became the capital of Canada in 1867, the Fathers of Confederation wanted to make it a capital worthy of comparison to any capital city in the world. They understood that a true capital is more than bricks and mortar. They wanted a city to lead Canada in arts and sciences, culture and intellect. To that end, they encouraged worthy poets, writers, scientists and artists

A walking path around Ottawa commemorating the Confederation Poets and the Mouvement littéraire  Into the stilly woods I go, Where the shades are deep and the wind-flowers blow, And the hours are dreamy and lone and long, And the power of silence is greater than song. W.W. Campbell View a map of the Poets’ Pathway on the Committee’s own web site. The Poets’ Pathway Committee began as a project of the Greenspace Alliance