Arnold Kelly Family Farm
Kelly Family Farm
River Rd.
South of Manotick Ontario.
The family farm of Arnold and Reta Kelly is situated on the River Rd., South of Manotick Ontario. ....this small barn was built in 1910. The beams were the playground for Arnold and Reta's twelve children: games of tag, hide and seek, beam walking and rope swinging. The small creek in the foreground was a rink for the children in the winter.
Its location is directly across the road from the little one-room schoolhouse (S.S.S. #1, Osgoode) that I attended growing up. The school has since become the home of one of the Kelly children.
I have many fond memories of those special times when we got to spend lunch hour skating on that little creek, and of playing baseball in their field that ran alongside the school. Reta was much loved for the chocolate cake that she would treat us to on special days, and Arnold would take off his farm hat to tinkle the keys of the school piano for us as we prepared for our Christmas concert each year.