The 2025 Built Heritage Fund grant recipients gathered for a celebration photo at the Al Purdy A-frame this week, pleased to be assisted financially with ongoing projects.
The purpose of the grants is to offer interim funding to aid the preservation, protection, or restoration of a heritage structure within Prince Edward County deemed historically or culturally significant to the community.
The fund is supported by proceeds from the annual County Christmas House Tour, and in July, the fund also received a $1,500 donation from the Prince Edward County branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO PEC).
“Four hundred people, from near and far, enjoyed the Prince Edward County Christmas House Tour,” said Peter Jepson, one of the organizers.
The proceeds from ticket sales for the tour went into the Built Heritage Fund (as they do each year) and by means of the BHF grants, a little bit of County history is maintained and preserved. This year recipients were the Al Purdy A-frame in Ameliasburgh, the Baxter Arts Centre in Bloomfield, and the PEC Public Library’s Bloomfield branch. The organizers of the tour thank the ticket-purchasers, the homeowners, the volunteers, the sponsors, and the County Foundation for making it happen.
When poet Al Purdy (1918-2000) was in residence, – most summers from the late 1950s to when he died – the A-frame became a stop for many of Canada’s literary figures. Halfway between Montreal and Toronto, its callers included Margaret Laurence, Michael Ondaatje, Milton Acorn and dozens of others.

The 2025 recipients of the Built Heritage Fund grants pictured above at the Al Purdy A-frame in Ameliasburgh, include Marilyn Lauer and Marilyn Kennedy (Christmas House Tour Committee), Sarah Dearing (Al Purdy A-frame Association), Barbara Sweet and Liz Zylstra (PEC Public Library), Gabriele Cole (Baxter Arts Centre), and Gillian Armstrong (The County Foundation).