Alberta Register of Historic Places

George Pegg Homestead and Botanic Garden

Glenevis, Near

Other Names:

George Pegg Botanic Garden
George Pegg Garden
George Pegg Homestead and Garden
George Pegg House
Pegg Garden

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place
The George Pegg Homestead and Botanic Garden is located on 5.13 hectares of land roughly 1.5 kilometres north of the Hamlet of Glenevis. The site includes 3 components: a garden, several farmstead buildings, and a prime boreal mixed-wood forest.

Heritage Value
The heritage value of the George Pegg Homestead and Botanic Garden lies in its association with Mr. Pegg's prodigious contributions to the horticultural and botanical understanding of our province, particularly through his cultivation of a large garden of indigenous and exotic plants.

Shortly after his birth in 1910, George Pegg was brought by his parents from Ontario to western Canada. The family initially settled in the Red Deer area before relocating to the Glenevis area in 1913. Throughout his life, Pegg was a passionate observer of the natural world and developed an uncanny knowledge of the topography, flora, and fauna of his environment. As a young man, Pegg was an avid ornithologist; later in life, he developed a passionate interest in botany. He expressed his interest in flora through his remarkable garden, his herbarium of carefully pressed and dried specimens, and his work identifying Alberta's plant species. Pegg's garden contains a unique, eclectic assortment of indigenous and exotic plants, including the bristle cone pine and rare species of hawthorn, poplar, cedar, and juniper. In addition to the many living plants in his garden, Pegg also kept a substantial herbarium of preserved specimens that became a significant research resource for botanical scholars in Alberta. Entirely self-taught, he had an outstanding ability to remember and identify plant species he encountered. He was responsible for some of the first provincial identifications of several plants, including the great-spurred violet, the white angelica, mountain bladder ferns, and several bog plant species. Perhaps his most notable discovery was his identification of the bur-reed (sparganium glomeratum), a plant that had previously been found in only four other locations in North America. Through his efforts and expertise in identifying plants, observing their habitat and noting their distribution, Pegg enriched Dr. Ezra H. Moss' publication, The Flora of Alberta, by more than 100 species.

The George Pegg Homestead and Botanic Garden features several key elements. The garden offers a unique and beautiful selection of herb, shrub, and tree species. It represents one of the finest small-scale collections of domestic and non-native plants in the province. There are also a variety of farmstead buildings and structures, including a log home constructed in the late 1920s, a machine shed built circa 1950, an outhouse, a small building used as additional bedroom space, granaries, a sheep shed, a corral, a garage, a pumphouse, a windmill, and a weather station. The site also includes a prime boreal mixed-wood forest.

Source: Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch (File: Des. 1669)

Character-Defining Elements
The character-defining elements of the George Pegg Homestead and Botanic Garden include such features as:

Garden:
- size and layout;
- continuous row of spruces on west side;
- fencing and gate;
- varieties of indigenous and exotic plants;
- garden stakes;
- George Pegg grave marker.

Farmstead:
- materials, mass, form and style of all structures and buildings, including squared timber log house and white louvred weather station on stilts;
- practical, operational arrangement of buildings, corrals, and fields;
- original furnishings, fixtures, and artefacts on site, including coal stoves, garden records, and tools.

Boreal Mixed-Wood Forest:
- arrangement and species of trees.

Location

Street Address:
Community:	Glenevis, Near
Boundaries:	Lot 1, Plan 9021634
Contributing Resources:	Buildings: 7 Landscape(s) or Landscape Feature(s): 2 Structures: 4

ATS Legal Description:

Mer	Rge	Twp	Sec	LSD
5	4	56	3	5 (ptn.)

PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):

Plan	Block	Lot	Parcel
9021634		1

Latitude/Longitude:

Latitude	Longitude	CDT	Datum Type
53.808688	-114.520896	Secondary Source	NAD83

UTM Reference:

Northing	Easting	Zone	CDT	Datum Type

Recognition

Recognition Authority:	Province of Alberta
Designation Status:	Provincial Historic Resource
Date of Designation:	1992/08/08

Historical Information

Built:	N/A
Period of Significance:	N/A
Theme(s):	Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life : Science Peopling the Land : People and the Environment
Historic Function(s):	Environment : Nature Element Food Supply : Farm or Ranch
Current Function(s):	Leisure : Historic or Interpretive Site
Architect:
Builder:
Context:	HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE George Pegg was born in 1910 in Ontario, the second of eight children. His father was a newly settled immigrant from London England, his mother, a Torontonian. In the year George was born, they decided to sell up and head out west with a group of settlers who planned to invest in a large Alberta ranch. However, after a disastrous crop failure in their first year, members of the group found themselves with no financial reserve and so the families went their separate ways. George's parents started a homestead in the district that is now Glenevis in 1913. Opportunities for schooling were minimal and George and his brother Fred found entertainment in the unbroken woodlands that stretched for miles around the homestead. At the age of twelve George was impressed by a flyer distributed by a Toronto lumber company, illustrating birdhouse construction and sketches of common songbirds. This led to his interest and dedicated study of birds in the region. He and Fred purchased the 380-page "Birds of Western Canada" for 75 cents. Between farm chores, George would also try to identify the wild plants of the countryside and purchased "Wild Flowers of Western Canada" by Alberta photographer and botanist, William Copeland McCalla, c1920, and thus gained an exceptional appreciation of the surrounding wildlife. He left home in 1934 and for the next six years, worked his way across Canada and the United States, all the while observing flora and fauna and identifying birds and plants. In 1945 George decided that there should be some meteorological record established in his area and purchased equipment that allowed him to take official precipitation and temperature records for Glenevis. He did this for almost 40 years. By the 1950's George had settled into the life of a confirmed bachelor, farming his land and interesting himself in his garden collection of native and introduced plants. George continued his self-education and accumulated an impressive library to help with his botanical avocation. He also joined a number of botanical and natural history societies. It was also in the mid 1950's that George set about systematically collecting the weeds of the local county of Lac Ste. Anne, identifying most and pressing the plants as herbarium specimens to serve as a record of his observations. He developed close ties with Dr. Ezra Moss, Head of the Botany Department at the University of Alberta and collaborated with him on ensuing papers and publications. George Pegg died February 3, 1988 at the age of 77 years. The site is an example of Alberta's rich heritage of those who held a life-long interest in plants. The impact of this sustained interest has led to increased scientific knowledge. Mr. Pegg's notable achievement was in the area of plant taxonomy. He identified and collected indigenous trees, shrubs, and herbaceous species not only in the Glenevis, Lac Ste Anne and Whitecourt areas but also wherever he travelled. Directly through his efforts of identifying plants, observing their habitat and noting their distribution, the Flora of Alberta was expanded by more than one hundred species. The garden presents an unusual collection of both indigenous and exotic plant species in a pastoral and sheltered setting.

Additional Information

Object Number:	4665-0811
Designation File:	DES 1669
Related Listing(s):
Heritage Survey File:	HS 81404
Website Link:
Data Source:	Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch, Old St. Stephen's College, 8820 - 112 Street, Edmonton, AB T6G 2P8 (File: Des. 1669)