The Back 50 Project comes to Orwell Corner Historic Village July 3

UPEI’s Back 50 Project is hitting the road! The project will visit Orwell Corner Historic Village Community Hall on July 3, at 1 pm, when Dr. Josh MacFadyen, UPEI’s Canada Research Chair in Geospatial Humanities, will give a presentation entitled “The Great Transformation: PEI Rural Land Use in the Past, Present, and Future.”

Whatever happened to those small fields and hedgerows that used to criss-cross the Island’s soil like a lattice crust on a cherry pie? Prince Edward Island’s rural landscapes may appear like a traditional patchwork quilt, but like other places experiencing the “Great Transformation” from agrarian to more urban, industrialized societies, the Island has experienced several significant waves of change over the last century. In this interactive presentation, Dr. MacFadyen will use historical maps, images, and aerial photographs to show how and where rural land use changed most dramatically since the 1930s and how the future of rural land use could continue based on these trends. He will also demonstrate the Back 50 Project, which is an online map survey that allows all Islanders to view historical maps of the Island and comment on the changes they see on lands they know and care about.

Seating is limited for COVID-19 protocols.