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18 Community Street
O'Leary,
Prince Edward Island
C0B 1V0
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Prince Edward Island Tourism Region : North Cape Coastal Drive
Description From Owner:
- Village incorporated 1951 in Lot 6. Named for Michael O'Leary who lived on the west end of the road about 9 mi from the village in the early 1800s. He went to Ireland 1858 and then returned to North America, drowning accidentally at Halifax.
- P.O. O'Leary Station 1877-1967; PO O'Leary from 1967.
Address of this page:
http://pei.ruralroutes.com/OLeary
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The humble potato (solanum tuberosum) is often referred to as a spud and a common misconception is that spud is an acronym for the Society for the Prevention of Unwholesome Diet.
The mythical society was said to have been formed because potatoes can be poisonous because they are a member of the same botanical family as the Deadly Nightshade. Potatoes, like the Nightshade, do contain the poison solanine but the concentration of it in potatoes is so minuscule you'd have to eat far more than you could hold to cause any harm.
Columbia, now the source of 90% of North America's cocaine, is believed to have been the original source of the potato, which arrived in Europe with the name patata.
The world's most popular vegetable got off to a shaky start in the UK. Protestants would not eat or grow them because they weren't mentioned in the Bible. Roman Catholics would grow them, but the seed tubers had to be first sprinkled with holy water and then planted on Good Friday.
With permission from 'Prince Edward Island Place Names' David E. Scott 2011
The PEI Potato Museum at O'Leary
Perhaps more than you may have ever wanted to know about the potato is available at the Prince Edward Island Potato Museum at O'Leary which claims to offer the largest exhibit of potato artifacts in the world.
You can not only see and hear, you can also taste. In season their restaurant offers such imaginative menu items as potato bread, potato dogs and potato fudge.
The original museum opened in 1967 and was expanded in 1999 to accommodate the Potato Hall of Fame. The artifacts of both are now housed in a 7,000-square-foot building easily identified by the enormous potato replica at its entrance.
Inside is a collection of farm machinery and implements related to the growing and harvesting of potatoes. There are displays of 19th-century household furniture and artifacts, medicine, carpentry, photography and fox farming equipment.
Historic buildings from nearby communities surround the museum: the 1879 Heritage Chapel, now in its third location after serving congregations of Bible Christians, Methodists and Roman Catholics in Knutsford and another location in O'Leary;
the Little Red Schoolhouse, a one room frame building from 1900 that served grades 1-10 in the nearby community of Alaska;
a log barn filled with agricultural machinery and early forms of transportation and the 1928 O'Leary Telephone Office. Admission is charged. Open daily including holidays from May 15 to Oct. 15.
With permission from 'Prince Edward Island Place Names' David E. Scott 2011
Named for Gov-Gen. Georges Vanier but commonly referred to, and shown on the official map as, Bloomfield Provincial Park.
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