Brier Rose House


The Brier Rose House sign.
Edna Jaques was born in Collingwood, Ontario on Jan 17, 1891 and moved with her family to homestead near Briercrest in 1902. Her mother ran the first post office from their farm and, drawing inspiration from a hill crest covered with Brier roses, named the post office Briercrest.

Edna married and had a daughter and, after briefly leaving the area to homestead in the Tisdale area, she returned south. Edna had her first poem published when she was 14 years old and during the 1930s she became very well known across Canada for her work. Her best known poem, “In Flanders Now”, was placed in the chapel at Arlington Cemetery near Washington, DC.

General Store
The entrance to the Brier Rose House.
Edna was also a popular speaker and authored numerous newspaper and magazine articles. She passed away September 13, 1978. Edna‘s life story is described in her autobiography “Uphill all the Way”.    We have autographed copies of Edna’s books available for sale.

To honour Edna’s achievements and contributions – and in recognition of her ties to the community – a site, the “Brier Rose House”, has been developed in Briercrest.

Designated as a heritage property by the village in 2008, the centre is open to visitors. Recently, the Brier Rose House has been donated to the Museum and it was moved to the Museum site in the spring of 2015.

To Top