The following Ontario Heritage Foundation plaques are placed
around the Georgian Bay region and represent the many stories
obout those individuals or locations that have moved the Georgian
Bay history forward to the 21st century. To see the featured
plaque of the week with additonal depth and history please
refer back to the Georgian
Bay Eco Museum Home page. |
The Associated Country
Women of the Wold - Collingwood || The
Northern Railway Company of Canada - Collingwood
The Founding of Midland - Midland
|| Penetanguishene Road - Midland
|| Henry Wosey Bayfield - Penetanguishene
James Keating - Penetanguishene
|| Penetanguishene - Penetanguishene
|| St. James-On-The-Line - Penetanguishene
Gateway to Huronia - Township of
Tay || Franz Johnston - Township
of Tiny || Schooner
Town - Wasaga Beach
Beautiful Joe- Meaford || Founding
of Meaford - Meaford || Frederick
Stanley Haines - Meaford || John
Muir - Meaford
Right Honourable Sir Lyman Poore Duff -
Meaford || Tom Thomson - Meaford
|| David Vivian Currie - Owen Sound
The Founding of Owen Sound - Owen
Sound || The Newash Indian
Village - Owen Sound
Thomas William Holmes, V.C., - Owen Sound
|| Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway - Owen
Sound
William Avery Bishop VC - Owen Sound
|| Parry Sound District Court House - Parry
Sound || The Sinking of the
Waubuno - Parry Sound
Charles Rankin - Blue Mountains
|| The Craigleith Shale Oil Works - Blue
Mountains || Major Charles
Stuart - Blue Mountains
The Old Mail Road - Blue Mountains
|| The Sinking of the "Mary Ward"
- Blue Mountains |
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The
Associated Country Women of the World
Location: On the SE corner of St. Paul Street
and Huron Street (Highway 26), Collingwood Ontario
Text from the Plaque
A non-political international women's organization, the Associated
Country Women of the World was formed largely through the
efforts of Margaret Watt, a Collingwood native. Mrs. Watt
was a member of the Women's Institute, a Canadian association
dedicated to the concerns of rural women, and she introduced
that organization to Great Britain during World War 1 to help
and work to counteract food shortages. With the expansion
of the Women's Institute movement to Commonwealth and European
countries after the war, Mrs. Watt began to advocate the establishment
of an international alliance. Finally in 1933, in Stockholm,
Sweden, rural women's organizations including the Women's
Institute, united to form the Associated Country Women of
the World. Mrs. Watt, by then a Member of the British Empire,
was elected the body's first president.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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The
Northern Railway Company of Canada
Location: On the SE corner of St. Paul Street
and Huron Street (Highway 26) Collingwood, Ontario
Summary from the Ontario Heritage Foundation's website
Early in 1855, this pioneer railway company had completed
a portage line from Toronto to Collingwood linking ports on
the Atlantic and Lake Ontario with the upper Great Lakes.
Later in the century, the Northern was absorbed by the Grand
Trunk Railway Company.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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The
Founding of Midland
Location: In front of the library, on the
west side of King Street just north of Elizabeth Street Midland,
Ontairo
Text from the Plaque:
In 1871 a group of the principal shareholders of the Midland
Railway, headed by Adolph Hugel, selected this location as
the northern terminus of their line which then ran from Port
Hope to Beaverton. Known at the time as Mundy's Bay, the region
was sparsely inhabited, but the interest aroused by their
action resulted in the survey of a town site in 1872-73. Most
of the lots were owned by the Midland Land Company which was
controlled by the railway. The line, which soon attracted
settlers to the area, was completed in 1879. The new community,
named Midland, achieved its early growth through shipping
and the lumber and grain trade.
Photographer: Stephanie Spencer Web
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Penetanguishene
Road 1814
Location: On the north side of Highway 12
just east of Highway 93 Midland, Ontario
Text from the Plaque:
The course of this road from Kempenfeldt Bay to the site of
Penetanguishene was first surveyed by Samuel Wilmot in 1811.
Dr. William (Tiger) Dunlop supervised its construction in
the fall of 1814 and, although frequently impassible for heavy
loads, it served for many years as a supply route to the garrison
at Penetanguishene. Under a system of free grants, most of
the land immediately adjacent to the road was settled 1819-1830.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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Henry
Wolsey Bayfield
Location: In the paid admission area of
Discovery Harbour, on the left side of the pathway at Bayfield's
Point of View exhibit. Penetanguishene, Ontario
Summary from the Ontario Heritage Foundation's website
A naval officer and self-taught nautical surveyor, Bayfield
was stationed in Upper Canada in 1816. By the time he retired
40 years later, he had completed surveys of Lakes Erie, Huron,
and Superior. Using Penetanguishene as his headquarters, he
also charted the coasts of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia,
and the shore of the lower St. Lawrence.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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James
Keating
Location: In the paid admission area of
Discovery Harbour, on the left side at the far end of the
pathway behind a split rail fence. Penetanguishene, Ontario
Summary from the Ontario Heritage Foundation's website
A native of Ireland, Keating (c.1786-1849) joined the Royal
Artillery at a young age and came to Canada in 1812. He saw
action at many points and as the first adjutant of the military
establishment at Penetanguishene figured prominently in that
community's early years.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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Penetanguishene
Location:On the west side of Main Street,
across from Beck Blvd Penetanguishene, Ontario
Text from the Plaque:
The Attignawantan ("Bear Nation") of the Huron confederacy
occupied the Penetanguishene peninsula prior to their dispersal
in 1649 by the Iroquois. In 1793 Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe
chose Penetanguishene as the terminus of a military route
from Toronto. Construction of a naval base began in 1814.
British troops were transferred here in 1828 when Drummond
Island was returned to the United States. With them came families
of French Canadian voyageurs and Metis. George Gordon, Dedin
Revol and Dr. David Mitchell were among the first settlers
to build homes at Penetanguishene. The military and naval
establishments stimulated the community's early economic growth;
later, fishing and lumbering became important industries.
In 1882 Penetanguishene was incorporated as a town.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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St.
James-On-The-Line
Location:In front of the church on the NE
corner of Church Street and Cambridge Street . Penetanguishene,
Ontario
Summary from the Ontario Heritage Foundation's website
Built largely through the efforts of Captain John Moberly,
the church was originally intended to serve the naval and
military personnel in residence at the Penetanguishene establishments.
Until the 1870s, it was the only Protestant church in the
vicinity and was attended by the civilian population as well.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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Gateway
To Huronia
Location:Beside a wooden lookout at the
top of a hill at the Martyrs' Shrine on the north side of
Highway 12 just east of the Wye River bridge Township of Tay
Summary from the Ontario Heritage Foundation's website
During the 17th century, the shore of Matchedash Bay marked
the terminus of the historic canoe route connecting New France
with Huronia. Missionaries, soldiers, explorers, and fur traders
ascended the Ottawa and Mattawa Rivers, crossed Lake Nipissing,
descended the French River, and entered Huronia via Matchedash
Bay.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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Franz
Johnston
Location:In Wyebridge, on the east side
of Highway 93 between the bridge and Mill Street
Township of Tiny
Summary from the Ontario Heritage Foundation's website
After working as a commercial artist for some years, Johnston
served as an official war artist with the Royal Flying Corps
during the First World War. In 1920, he participated in the
first exhibition of paintings by the Group of Seven.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
Site Click Here |
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Schooner
Town
Location:In the park at the SW corner of
River Road West and Oxbow Park Drive Wasaga Beach, Ontario
Text from the Schooner Town Plaque
The Nottawasaga River formed part of a transportation link
between Lake Ontario and the Upper Great Lakes which became
a vitally important supply route to British Western posts
during the war of 1812. The base of operations for the Royal
Navy's vessels on Lake Huron was located here at the foot
of navigation on the River from 1815 to 1817. Buildings to
house the base were erected in October 1815 by the ship's
company of H.M. Schooner "Confiance". Within two
years orders were issued transferring the naval establishment
to Penetanguishene, where superior anchorage was available
and in late 1817 the naval base at "Schooner Town"
was abandoned. In 1976 management of the site became the responsibility
of Wasaga Beach Provincial Park.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
Site Click Here |
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Beautiful
Joe
Location:To the left of the parking lot
in Beautiful Joe Park off Victoria Crescent. Meaford, Ontario
Text from the Beautiful Joe Plaque
Born in Milton, Nova Scotia, Margaret Marshall Saunders, (1861-1947)
taught school briefly before starting her career as a novelist.
Her second book, 'Beautiful Joe', received international recognition.
Inspired during a visit to Meaford about 1892, it is based
on the story on a dog rescued from a brutal master by a local
miller, William Moore. This novel, first published in 1894,
appeared in several editions and enjoyed phenomenal success.
It was printed in at least ten languages, and seven million
copies had been sold by 1939. Miss Saunders, who settled in
Toronto in 1914, was awarded the C.B.E. in 1934, in recognition
of her contribution toward securing humane treatment for animals.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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Founding
of Meaford
Location: On the SE corner of Sykes Street
and Collingwood Street Meaford, Ontario
Text from the Founding of Meaford Plaque
In 1837 inhabitants of St. Vincent Township petitioned the
government requesting that land at the mouth of the Bighead
River be reserved as a landing place. The land was set aside,
a town plot of "Meaford" laid out in 1845, and lots
subsequently offered for sale. As early as 1841 a sawmill
and a grist-mill had been built on adjoining land, several
roads constructed to the landing and a post office called
"St. Vincent" established. In 1865 this post office
was re-named "Meaford", which by that time had become
a flourishing community, connected by steamer and road with
the railhead at Collingwood. Meaford was incorporated as a
town in 1874.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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Frederick
Stanley Haines
Location: On the grounds of a school at
the SE corner of St. Vincent Street and Eliza Street Meaford,
Ontario
Text from the Frederick Stanley Haines Plaque
One of Ontario's outstanding artists and teachers, Haines
was born in Meaford and educated at this school. In 1896 he
moved to Toronto where he attended the Central Ontario School
of Art. He later studied at the Académic Royale des
Beaux Arts in Antwerp, Belgium. Working in the realistic style
as painter, etcher and printmaker, he tended to specialize
in idealized Ontario pastoral landscapes. In 1928 he was appointed
a curator at the Art Gallery of Toronto (Art Gallery of Ontario).
As principal of the Ontario College of Art 1933-53, he introduced
a separate workshop for advanced students and an open studio
where students could watch Haines resolve his own problems
in painting. Among his best-known works are "Last Gleam"
and "Pasture".
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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John
Muir
Location: At Epping Lookout on County Road
7, south of County Road 40 Meaford, Ontario
Summary from the Ontario Heritage Foundation's website
On one of his many walking trips John Muir travelled much
of the present-day Bruce Trail and for a few years lived in
the Meaford area. The dedicated American naturalist played
a significant role in the development of the United States
National Parks Service.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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Right
Honourable Sir Lyman Poore Duff
Location: On the SW corner of Bayfield Street
and Parker Street
Meaford, Ontario
Text from the Right Honourable Sir Lyman Poore Duff
Plaque
One of the Commonwealth's most eminent jurists, L.P. Duff
ws born in Meaford and educated at the University of Toronto
and Osgoode Hall. Called to the bar of Ontario in 1893, he
practiced law in that province and in Victoria, B.C., until
he became a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia
in 1904. Appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1906,
he was an expert in the field of constitutional law, particularly
as applied to provincial and federal rights. In 1931 he headed
a royal commission investigating the country's railways. Appointed
to the Imperial Privy Council in 1918, he served as Canada's
Chief Justice, 1933-44, and was knighted in 1934.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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Tom
Thomson
Location: In Leith, at Leith Church on the
north side of Tom Thomson Lane (Street Number 41914) west
of County Road 15 Meaford, Ontario
Text from the Tom Thomson Plaque
One of Canada's most distinquished painters. Thomson was born
at Claremont, Ontario County, but two months later moved with
his parents to Leith where he lived until the age of twenty-one.
After working in Toronto as a commercial artist until 1913,
he supplemented his limited income from painting, and fulfilled
his love for the Canadian wilderness by serving as a guide
and fire ranger in Algonguin Park. An exponent of a distinctive
style of Canadian landscape painting, Thomson influenced the
work of the "Group of Seven". Among his better known
paintings are "West Wind", "Jack Pine",
"Spring Ice" and "Northern River". His
brief career ended tragically in July 1917 when he was drowned
in Canoe Lake, Algonguin Park.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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David
Vivian Currie
Location: In a park on the NE corner of
1st Avenue West and 8th Street East Owen Sound, Ontario
Text from Plaque
A much-honoured World War II army officer, Currie, who is
buried in Owen Sound, was born and raised in Saskatchewan.
He enlisted in 1940 and was sent overseas with the 29th Canadian
Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment (the South Alberta Regiment)
three years later. On August 18, 1944, Currie, leading a small
force in Normandy, was ordered to help seal the Chambois-Trun
escape route to the German forces cut off in the Falaise pocket.
He met fierce resistance in the village of St. Lambert-sur-Dives.
There, by skilful command and heroic example, Currie sustained
his men for three days as they repeatedly thwarted breakout
attempts by masses of Germans. For his actions, he was awarded
the Victoria Cross, the British Commonwealth's highest decoration
for valour.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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The
Founding of Owen Sound
Location: On the north side of 8th Street
East just west of 2nd Avenue East beside the farmers' market.
Owen Sound, Ontario
Text from Plaque
In November, 1840, a townplot in Sydenham Township was surveyed
as the terminus of the Garafraxa-Owen's Sound Road. John Telfer,
government agent, completed his house by November 21 and a
shelter for settlers by the following spring. Four private
buildings were finished by July 1842. "Sydenham"
by 1846 contained a sawmill and grist-mill and about 150 people.
A post office opened in 1847 was named "Owen's Sound"
after the settlement along the Garafraxa Road from Arthur
north. "Sydenham" grew as land and water communication
improved and in 1852 became the seat of Grey County. The community
of "Sydenham" was incorporated as the Town of Owen
Sound in 1857 with a population of almost 2000.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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The
Newash Indian Village
Location: On the SW corner of 4th Avenue
West and 21st Street West. Owen Sound, Ontario
Text from Plaque
Following the Indian treaty of 1836, a Reserve along the western
shore of Owen Sound was set aside for the Band headed by Chief
Newash. In 1842, the Indian village of Newash, established
here previous to the founding of the adjacent community of
Sydenham (now Owen Sound), was rebuilt by the government.
It contained fourteen log houses, a school and a barn. Wesleyan
Methodist missionaries ministered to the Indians, and in 1845
a frame chapel, the predecssor of the present church, was
completed. In 1857 the Reserve, containing some 11,000 acres,
was ceded to the government and most of the Indians moved
to Cape Croker.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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Thomas
William Holmes, V.C.
Location:In a park on the NE corner of 1st
Avenue West and 8th Street East. Owen Sound, Ontario
Text from Plaque
Born in Montreal, Holmes moved with his family to Owen Sound
in 1903. He enlisted in the 147th Infantry Battalion C.E.F.
in 1915, but later transferred to the 4th Canadian Mounted
Rifles. In October 1917, his unit took part in the violent
opening assault on the German position at Passchendaele. During
this action Private Holmes, under heavy enemy fire, captured
single-handed an important "pill-box" strongpoint
which had been holding up the right flank of the Canadian
advance. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his valour
in this battle.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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Toronto,
Grey and Bruce Railway
Location: Visible ahead at the west end
of 12th Street East Owen Sound, Ontario
Text from Plaque
This pioneer railway was chartered in 1868 and the first sod
was turned at Weston on October 5, 1869, by Prince Arthur,
third son of Queen Victoria. Constructed under direction of
chief engineer Edmund Wragge, the main line from Toronto to
Owen Sound was completed in 1873 and a branch line from a
point near Orangeville to Teeswater was finished about a year
later. Freight and passenger service was begun on the section
from Toronto to Orangeville in September 1871, and from Orangeville
to Owen Sound in August, 1873. The original choice of narrow-gauge
track proved ill-advised and standard gauge track was laid,
1881-83. The line was leased to the Ontario and Quebec Railway
in 1883 and absorbed by the C.P.R. the following year.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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William
Avery Bishop VC
Location: In a park on the NE corner of
1st Avenue West and 8th Street East Owen Sound, Ontario
Text from Plaque
Born in Owen Sound, "Billy" Bishop was attending
the Royal Military College when war was declared in 1914.
He first joined a cavalry unit, but in 1915 transferred to
the Royal Flying Corps. Courage and marksmanship made him
one of the war's greatest fighting pilots, credited officially
with the destruction of 72 enemy aircraft. When hostilities
ended he was the youngest lieutenant-colonel of the air force
and had won the Victoria Cross, the Distinguished Service
Order and the Military Cross. During World War II he became
a director of recruiting for the R.C.A.F. with the rank of
air marshall.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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Parry
Sound District Court House
Location: In front of the courthouse on
the east side of James Street across from McMurray Street
Parry Sound, Ontario
Text from Plaque
The court house for the Territorial District of Parry Sound,
established in 1870, was the first of a series of early northern
court houses built under the direction of Ontario's Department
of Public Works and its chief architect, Kivas Tully. Erected
in 1871, the modest frame building contained a second-floor
courtroom and main-floor jail and registry office. Increased
settlement soon imposed greater demands on the court house
and in 1889 an addition housing a larger court room was built.
This addition and the rear wing built in 1921-22 were constructed
of brick and designed more elaborately than the original structure
and reflected the provincial government's recognition of the
north's growing importance. Subsequently altered, the building
continues to serve as the District's judicial centre.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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The
Sinking of the Waubuno
Location: Beside the parking lot in Waubuno
Park at the foot of Prospect Street Parry Sound, Ontario
Text from Plaque
This anchor, recovered in 1959, belonged to the steamer "Waubuno",
a wooden sidewheeler of some 200 tons which was built at Port
Robinson in 1865. She carried freight and passengers in the
shipping trade which flourished on Lake Huron during the nineteenth
century. Commanded by Captain J. Burkett, she sailed from
Collingwood on November 22, 1879, bound for Parry Sound. The
"Waubuno" encountered a violent gale later that
day and sank in Georgian Bay some 20 miles south of here.
All on board perished, and although some wreckage was later
discovered, the bodies of the 24 victims were never found.
The specific cause of this disaster has never been determined.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
Site Click Here |
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Charles Rankin
Location: In Thornbury, on the north side
of Bay Street East between McCauley Street North and Elgin
Street North Blue Mountains, Ontario
Text from Plaque
This pioneer surveyor was the pathfinder who opened much of
this region to settlement. Born in Enniskillen, Ireland, Rankin
came to Upper Canada with his family at an early age. He was
appointed a deputy provincial surveyor in 1820 and at first
worked in the southwestern section of the province. In 1833
he began surveying the Nottawasaga Bay area and settled on
some 200 acres of land west of the present town of Thornbury.
His more important surveys included; several townships in
the present county of Grey; the Garafraxa Colonization Road;
the town plot of Sydenham (Owen Sound); the Toronto-Owen Sound
Road; the Muskoka Road; and the town plot of Southampton.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
Site Click Here |
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The
Craigleith Shale Oil Works
Location: At the east end of Craigleith
Provincial Park on the north side of Highway 26 east of Thornbury
Blue Mountains, Ontario
Text from Plaque
A growing demand for artificial light led to the establishment,
in 1859, of a firm headed by William Darley Pollard of Collingwood.
He erected a plant here to obtain oil through the treatment
of local bituminous shales. The process, patented by Pollard,
involved the destructive distillation of fragmented shale
in cast-iron retorts heated by means of wood. The 30 to 35
tons of shale distilled daily yielded 250 gallons of crude
oil, which was refined into illuminating and heavy lubricating
oils. The enterprize, the only one of its kind in the province's
history, failed by 1863. The inefficency of its process made
its products uncompetitive after the discoveries of "free"
oil at Petrolia and Oil Springs, near Sarnia.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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Major
Charles Stuart
Location: In Thornbury, on the north side
of Bay Street East between McCauley Street North and Elgin
Street North Blue Mountains, Ontario
Text from Plaque
Son of a British army officer, Stuart was born in Jamaica.
After fourteen years service as a commissioned officer in
the service of the East India Company, he came to Upper Canada
in 1817. Devoutly religious, Stuart found an outlet for his
humanitarian zeal in vigorous anti-slavery activity. Although
most of his written works are polemical tracts denouncing
slavery, his "The Emmigrants Guide to Upper Canada"
is a useful summary of the progress of areas most suited to
settlement. In 1851 he moved to this area where he encouraged
the establishment of a small settlement at Lora Bay. On his
death in 1865 he was buried at Lora Bay but was later removed
to the nearby Thornbury-Clarksburg cemetery.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
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The
Old Mail Road
Location: On the south side of Old Mail
Road, 1 km west of the village of Heathcote on County Road
13 Blue Mountains, Ontario
Text from Plaque
For some years prior to the by-law which established it as
a public road in 1846, this route had been travelled by settlers
destined for the newly-opened townships of Osprey, Collingwood,
Euphrasia and St. Vincent. From its junction near Duntroon
with an extension of the Sunnidale Road, it ran some 21 miles
northwesterly to Griersville. Though it was entitled to maintenance
by statute labour, the road was chronically in poor repair.
Nevertheless, it remained an official road until its usefulness
ended when the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway reached Collingwood
in 1855. Save for this five-mile section still in use between
Griersville and Heathcote, little evidence remains of the
pioneer road.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
Site Click Here |
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The
Sinking of the "Mary Ward"
Location: At the north end of the entrance
to Craigleith Provincial Park on the north side of Highway
26 east of Thornbury, Blue Mountains, Ontario
Text from Plaque
On the night of November 24, 1872, the steamer "Mary
Ward" ran aground on Milligan's Reef, two kilometers
offshore. Recently purchased by five Owen Sound men, the vessel
was making the trip from Sarnia to her new home port of Collingwood
with twenty-seven aboard, including a Canadian Pacific Railway
survey party when the accident occured. The first lifeboat
safely reached shore, then a fierce gale sprang up, delaying
rescue operations. After a perilous journey the second lifeboat
succeeded in landing but the third capsized and all eight
aboard drowned. A group of local fishermen, led by Frank Moberly
and Captain George Collins, later rescued those remaining
on the wreck, and they were subsequently recognized by the
Canadian government for their heroic actions.
Photographer: Alan L Brown Web
Site Click Here |
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