Welcome to Wallbridge House Publishing
Wallbridge House is operated by Orland French, journalist, publisher and author.
Letters to Vimy
By ORLAND FRENCH
This is a highly unusual correspondence between myself, author Orland French, and my uncle Pte. Oscar French who died in the Canadian attack on Vimy Ridge more than a hundred years ago. The book presents a medley of real letters written by my uncle to his mother, my grandmother, to which I have responded with letters of historical fiction written to him a century later.
In his late teens, Uncle Oscar was torn with a difficult decision. He was attending high school in Midland, Ontario but his buddies were going off to fight the Kaiser in Europe. The war won his attention. In the spring of 1915, he enlisted for service in the Canadian Army. Two years later he died at Vimy Ridge. This is my response to his letters, a century later. For more information: Click HERE
The Commodores Orchestra – Dance of the Decades
By ANDY SPARLING
The Commodores Orchestra has been pumping out swing music since its founding in 1928. It may well be the longest running swing band in North America. Now band leader Andy Sparling has written a comprehensive history of Quinte's most popular dance band. It's still going, and in Canada's 150th birthday the 19-member band has played several gigs in the Belleville area. Memories abound in stories and photos in this soft-cover book, produced by Wallbridge House Publishing for the Hastings County Historical Society and The Commodores Orchestra.
from the Hastings County Historical Society
This book is available at: National Air Force Museum, RCAF Road, Trenton; Ashlies Book Store, Bancroft; Belleville and Hastings County Community Archives, Pinnacle Street, Belleville; Books and Company, Picton; Chapters, Quinte Mall, Belleville; Novel Idea, Princess Street, Kingston; Pinnacle Music, Front Street, Belleville; Quinte Arts Council, Bridge Street, Belleville; Riverside Music, Dundas Street, Trenton; Tweed Heritage Museum, Tweed; on-line at Hastings County Historical Society (www.hastingshistory.ca) or at Wallbridge House (this website), www.wallbridgehouse.com
Wind, Water, Barley & Wine
The Nature of Prince Edward County CLICK HERE
Heritage Atlas of Hastings County:
a rockhound's delight
By ORLAND FRENCH
The Heritage Atlas of Hastings County is perfect for exploring Hastings County. It is small enough to fit into the side pocket of your car door and to ride with you as a friendly reference while you explore the secrets and delights of Hastings County in eastern Ontario. Whether you’re looking for old gold mines, railway stations, cheese factories, colourful rocks or your great-granddad’s grave, you’ll find plenty of helpful directions in this atlas’s multitude of colourful maps. For the rockhound, there's lots of mining stuff, including a complete map of mines and mineral exploration sites in northern Hastings, the rock capital of Canada.
So pack your family, your lunch and your atlas in your car and go exploring. It’s a great way to learn about your own backyard. But give yourself time; Hastings County is bigger than 19 countries of the world combined, and is larger than Toronto, Ottawa or Rhode Island. It runs north from Belleville on the Bay of Quinte to Algonquin Park.
Lennox & Addington
By ORLAND FRENCH
From the rich pasturelands of the Napanee Plain to the rocky highlands of the Canadian Shield, Lennox & Addington County presents a varied and challenging landscape. Many maps, charts and colourful photographs take you on a visual tour of the Lennox & Addington and provide an overview of the history of its people and its development. Whether you are interested in genealogy, history, mines, forestry, farms, geology, glaciers, churches or just touring the back roads of a remarkable community, you will find good reasons to turn to the pages of Lennox & Addington. Published on the 140th anniversary of the Napanee Beaver, one of Canada's oldest weekly newspapers.
For further details and ordering information, click HERE
Polar Bears and Other Scares
By RON TRUMAN
Polar Bears and Other Scares is the memoir of Ron Truman, who began freelance writing when bored with his day job. He parlayed his writing ability into a 40-year communications career. Seeking excitement and novelty, he welcomed hazards and avoided humdrum. For The Globe and Mail he wrote about adventure sports, hunting, guns, skiing, women, children, and underwater archaeology. For Landmarks, a geographic magazine, he tagged polar bears, hunted moose, and hand-fed snapping turtles. He guided foreign journalists on Canadian adventures. The memoir contains thrilling anecdotes and humorous tales.
The second part of his story is literally life-and-death journalism. One of the first writers to popularize stroke information, his memoir covers his own devastating heart failure and catastrophic strokes. One stroke almost killed him. A blood clot had to be vacuumed out of his brain to save his life. His experience writing for the Heart and Stroke Foundation brings an edge of compelling credibility to his tale of personal cardiovascular calamities.
Soldier, Settler, Sinner:
The many lives of Captain Charles MacDonald
By JANE SIMPSON
Soldier Settler Sinner reveals the complex life of Captain Charles MacDonald, an officer and gentleman in the Royal Marines during the Napoleonic Wars. Born in 1789, Charles emigrated from Northumberland, the coldest and least populated county in England to settle eventually on the Bay of Quinte in the mid-1830s. He was known among the farmers and fishermen of the Bay as someone who, unlike them, “always had money in his pocket.”
He was active on three continents, turning this tale into a ripping travelogue as he cheated death in island battles in the Caribbean, outbreaks of tropical disease, mutiny, hazardous sea voyages, and a cholera outbreak in Quebec City upon arrival in the New World. Scandal followed Charles as his moral shortcomings were exposed. Women brought him love and wealth but also disgrace and finally peace.
Jane Simpson of Kanata, a retired nurse, is the great-great-great granddaughter of Charles MacDonald.
Point Anne – History of a Cement Factory Village
By VERN WHALEN
The last of the puffy white smoke had billowed from the stacks of the Canada Cement Lafarge plant in Point Anne by November 1973. The termination of the rising smoke signalled the beginning of the end for the village as most knew it. For more than 65 years, bolstered by the abundance of essential limestone, cement had been produced in the tiny hamlet strategically located on the shores of the Bay of Quinte. Author Vern Whalen grew up in Point Anne and has created a definitive history of the village through personal knowledge and many close contacts in the area. This book is a natural sequel to Soldier, Settler, Sinner since this is where Captain Charles MacDonald made his home.
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