Historical Plaques of
Haldimand-Norfolk

By the late 19th century, lumbering in Ontario had retreated from easily accessible waterways and the movement of logs became difficult and expensive. An imaginative solution to this problem, the amphibious steam warping (or winching) tug, was developed in 1888-9 by an inventive local entrepreneur John Ceburn West. His remarkable vessel, commonly called the "Alligator" was driven by paddle wheels and housed a powerful winch that enabled the scow to tow large log booms cheaply and efficiently to pull itself over land from lake to lake. West's iron foundry, West and Peachey of Simcoe quickly became the major producer of "Alligators", supplying the North American lumbering industry with some 200 tugs by 1932. Although considerably modified, the "Alligator" is still in use today.

By 1794 Peter Walker, the first settler in this area, had located at the mouth of Patterson's Creek, but a community did not begin to develop here until Dover, situated further upstream, was razed by invading American troops in 1814. Some of the subsequent reconstruction took place nearer to the creek's mouth where a harbour had been in use since the early 1800's and in 1835 Israel Wood Powell, a merchant, registered a village plan for Port Dover. Improvement to the harbour during the next fifteen years made Port Dover a principal Lake Erie port and shipyards, tanneries, and Andrew Thompson's woollen-mill contributed substantially to local economic growth. In 1879 Port Dover, with a population of 1,100 became an incorporated village.

On May 14, 1814, about 800 American regulars and militia under Lieutenant-Colonel John Campbell disembarked nearby at the mouth of the Lynn River. The following day, meeting no opposition, they burnt the settlements of Dover and Ryerse's Mills and ravaged the surrounding countryside. Private dwellings were destroyed and livestock slaughtered. Campbell claimed that he acted in retaliation for similar raids against Buffalo and other points on the Niagara frontier by troops under British command. A Court of Inquiry instituted by the United States army subsequently condemned his destruction of private homes.

In 1815 the Royal Navy began building a depot on the present site of Port Maitland. Though intended in the event of war to accommodate three frigates and 1,000 men, the base actually supported only the four schooners which then made up the British naval force on Lake Erie. The Rush-Bagot Agreement (1817) between Britain and the United States severely limited naval armament on the Great Lakes, and the depot was thereafter staffed by small detachments of soldiers. The wharf and four buildings were washed away in a storm in 1827, and the remaining buildings had largely fallen into ruin by 1834, when the establishment was abandoned.

In 1800 the London District was formed and justices of the peace possessing administrative and judicial powers were appointed for this area. In 1815 the courts, then held at Charlotteville (Turkey Point) were moved to the new judicial centre at Tisdale's Mills (Vittoria). Here a committee consisting of John Backhouse, Thomas Talbot and Robert Nichol was named to supervise the construction of a court-house and jail. This building was used both by the courts and for occasional religious services until destroyed by fire in 1825. In the following year the district capital was moved to the new settlement at London.

This outstanding educationist, journalist and clergyman, the son of an Anglican Loyalist, was born near Vittoria. He entered the Methodist ministry in 1825 serving as a circuit rider and missionary to the Indians. He was appointed first editor of the Methodist "Christian Guardian" in 1829, and became an advocate of the Reform objective of separating Church and State though he later expressed conservative views in politics. As head of the Department of Public Instruction (1846-76), he established this province's present system of public education in the hope of seeing "every child of my native land in the school going way". A vigorous, prolific controversialist, he wrote on agriculture, politics, religion, the Loyalists and Canadian Methodism.

With the outbreak of hostilities in 1939, one of Canada's major responsibilities was to provide air training facilities far removed from the theatre of war and so on December 17, 1939, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was inaugurated. The first of 107 air training schools was opened the following year among them No. 6 S.F.T.S. on this 400 acres site at Dunnville. From then until the school officially closed November 25, 1944, this was home for many thousands of airmen and airwomen and 2436 pilots from Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the WSA received their coveted "wings". During that period 47 Canadian, Commonwealth and American airmen paid the supreme sacrifice at No. 6 S.F.T.S. while serving King and Country.

Following the American Revolution Sir Frederick Haldimand, Governor-in-Chief of Canada granted to the Six Nations of the Iroquois a tract of land extending for six miles on both sides of the Grand River from its source to Lake Erie. This grant was made in recognition of their services as allies of the British Crown during the war and to recompense them for the loss of their former lands in northern New York State. In later years large areas of this tract, including portion of the present counties of Haldimand, Brant, Waterloo and Wellington were sold to white settlers.

Wilson MacDonald, born here at Cheapside, established his reputation as a poet with the publication in 1926, of "Out of the Wilderness", a collection of poems which received wide acclaim. This success followed many years of struggling for recognition and been preceded by two anthologies, "The Song of the Prairie Land" (1916) and "The Miracle Songs of Jesus" (1920";. Among his many later works are "A Flagon of Beauty" and "Caw Caw Ballads". Although he wrote both satirical and religious poetry, he was primarily a lyric poet whose concern for unspoiled nature led to a strong condemnation of industrialization, urbanization and other aspects of modern life. He was buried in St. Luke's Cemetery, Vienna, Ontario.

Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe's visit to this locality in 1795 led to a grant to Aaron Culver, one of the districts earliest settlers, on condition of building mills. By 1812 a hamlet had formed near these mills, but they were burnt and adjacent houses looted by U.S. troops in 1814. In 1819-23 Culver laid out a village which he named "Simcoe" and a post office with this name was opened in 1829. Streets were surveyed in 1835-36, a court-house and gaol built, and Simcoe was made the seat of the new Talbot District in 1837. Incorporated in 1849, Simcoe, with a population of about 1600, became the County town of Norfolk County in 1850.

The original court-house was built on this site by 1842, and the gaol designed by the prominent Toronto architect William Thomas, was constructed in 1848. Following a fire in 1863 which destroyed the court-house, the present structure was designed by John Turner of Brantford and completed the following year. The gaol and new court-house were both constructed by Jackson Bros., local builders. The court-house with tall round-headed windows, corner tower and accentuated masonry is typical of the Italianate style in the province at that time. In 1861 a county office had been erected on the square's south corner and in 1893 a new structure replaced an earlier north corner office. Architecturally the court-house, gaol, and registry offices constitute an almost unrivalled grouping of public buildings in Ontario.

Settlement of Townsend Township began in 1794 and within six years Paul Averill was operating saw and grist-mills on Nanticoke Creek where it met an established trail. Here grew a community, known successively as Sayles' Mills, Sovereign's Mills, Lodersville, and finally as Waterford when a post-office was opened around 1826. Located in a rich agricultural and lumbering region, Waterford developed as Norfolk County's northern market centre and by 1851 contained the township hall and numerous industries. One major industry was the agricultural implement factory built by James Green, a local merchant. The opening of a Canada Southern Railway station at Waterford in 1871 facilitated its growth and village was incorporated in 1878 with a population of approximately 1,100.

John Backhouse emigrated from Yorkshire to the United States in 1791 but shortly thereafter, moved to Upper Canada. He served as a Major of the 1st Norfolk Militia in the War of 1812 and became a chairman of the Quarter Session, then the chief instrument of local government. He is believed to have erected this mill 1798. It remained in the possession of his descendants until its purchase 1955 by the Big Creek Region Conservation authority having been in continuous operation for a longer period than any mill in this province.

William Pope grew up in the lush countryside of southern England and studied painting at the Academy of Art, London. Reports of abundant wildlife drew the keen sportsman and naturalist to Upper Canada in 1834. After three extended visits he settled permanently with his family near Port Ryerse in 1859. Financially independent, Pope spent his days hunting, sketching and painting the local flora and fauna. His watercolours of birds are compared to those of John James Audubon. Along with his paintings, Pope's diaries and journals provide a detailed record of the wildlife once plentiful in this region. Most of his works are now held by the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library.

A United Empire Loyalist Ryerse was commissioned in the 4th New Jersey Volunteers during the American Revolution, following which he took refuge in New Brunswick. In 1794 he came to Upper Canada, and the following year received 3000 acres of land in Woodhouse and Charlotteville townships. Settling at the mouth of Young's Creek, he erected a grist-mill around which grew the community of Port Ryerse. As Lieutenant of the County of Norfolk and chairman of the Court of Quarter Sessions, he took an important part in the early military and civil administration of this area.

This memorial commemorates the bicentennial of Port Ryerse and its residents, past and present, The local shipping industry was the foundation for the village and prospered most during the mid-1800s, exporting lumber and grain. The forged anchor was recovered from the harbour near the original pier by divers in 1977, the millstones were discovered near the site of the gristmills on Young's Creek in Port Ryerse. Samuel Ryerse built the first mill circa 1797. It was burned in 1814 by invading Americans during the War of 1812. Two other gristmills were built on this site, both burned, one in 1860, the other in 1890. The date stone is from the Brick School House built in 1871.
Millstones donated by: Levi Brian Atkins, Bill and Betty Calder, Michael J. Sparks
Date stone donated by the Cookson family.

Memorial erected 1994 by the Port Ryerse Historical and Environmental Association with the assistance of the Ryerse/Ryerson Family and the Ontario Heritage Foundation

Here on 100 acres of wind-eroded sandy land, the Ontario government established Canada's first provincial forestry station. That father of reforestation in Ontario Edmund John Zavitz was born July 9, 1875, graduated from McMaster, Yale and the University of Michigan and taught forestry at the Ontario Agricultural College. He entered this province's public service in 1905, was Deputy Minister of the Department of Lands and Forests 1925-34 and served thereafter as Chief Forester until his retirement 1953. Through his leadership, large areas of waste land have been restored to productivity.

As early as 1798 Lieutenant Governor Simcoe planned to fortify this point. By 1813 nothing had yet been done, and following Procter's retreat from Amherstberg the British decided to construct a navy yard and covering fort here. Difficulties in supplying the post, together with the unsuitability of the location led to abandonment of the project after only a blockhouse and part of a palisade had been built.

This iron foundry was set up by John Mason in 1818. It was enlarged in 1822 and operated by Joseph Van Norman, Hiram Capron, and George Tillson who were joined by Elijah Leonard in 1829. It employed up to 200 men in the manufacturing of agricultural implements , utensils and stoves, until about 1850 when the local supply of bog ore was exhausted. The foundry was an important factor in the early economic and industrial development of this country.

This portage, which crossed the isthmus joining Long Point to the mainland, was used by travelers in small craft following the north shore of Lake Erie in order to avoid the open waters and the length of the journey around the Point. Although used earlier by the Indians, the portage was first recorded in 1670 by two Sulpician missionaries, Dollier de Casson and Rene de Brehant de Galinee. For about 150 years traffic increased over the carrying place, first as a result of the French expansion to the south-west, including the founding of Detroit in 1701, and, after 1783, because of the movement of settlers into this region. The portage was abandoned in 1833 when a storm broke a navigable channel through the isthmus.

Long Point was known to traders and travellers before the area was purchased from the Mississauga Indians in 1784. In this unsurveyed area twenty to thirty "squatters" had settled by 1791, some of whom were allowed to remain following surveys and Governor Simcoe's visit in 1795. Further land grants were made to approved applicants, including many Loyalists. During the War of 1812 General Brock raised militia volunteers here for the attack on Detroit. The settlement's farms and mills, until ravaged in 1814 by U.S. troops helped supply the armed forces. By 1825 the "Long point Settlement" was prospering again and in 1837 the seven townships became part of the new Talbot District.

In November 1854 the schooner "Conductor" was wrecked off this shore during one of Lake Erie's many violent storms. Jeremiah Becker, who resided nearby, was away on the mainland but his courageous wife, Abigail, risked her life by repeatedly entering the water while assisting the exhausted seamen to reach land. The eight sailors were housed and fed in her cabin until they recovered from their ordeal. In recognition of her heroism she received a letter of commendation from Queen Victoria, several financial awards, and a gold medal from the Life Saving Benevolent Association of New York.

Here, 1669-1670, wintered Dollier and Galinee with seven other Frenchmen, the first Europeans known to have ascended the Great Lakes to Sault Ste. Marie. The earthen mounds are the remains of their hut, which was at once, residence, chapel, and fort.

Near this spot, March 23rd, 1670, was erected a cross with arms of France and inscription claiming sovereignty in the name of King Louis XIV over the Lake Erie region, as shown in Proces-Verbal Reproduced on this memorial placed here in 1922. Canada was ceded by France to great Britain in 1763.

We, the undersigned, certify that we have seen on the lands of the lake called Erie, the arms of the King of France affixed to the foot of a cross with this inscription: "The year of salvation 1669, Clement 9, being seated in the chair of St. Peter, Louis 14 reigning in France, Mr. De Courcelles being governor of New France and Mr. Talon being intendant there for the King, there arrived in this place two missionaries of the seminary of Montreal, accompanied by 7 other Frenchmen, who the first of all European peoples have wintered on this lake, of which they have taken possession in the name of their king, as an unoccupied land, by the affixing of his arms, which they have attached to the foot of this cross.
In faith of which we have signed the present certificate."
Francois Dollier, priest of the Diocese of Nantes, in Brittany,
De Galinee, deacon of the Diocese of Rennes, in Brittany.

The construction of a dam and canal designed to feed water from the Grand River to the new Welland Canal fostered the development of a settlement here during the late 1820s. A town plot, named Dunnville after John Henry Dunn, Receiver General of Upper Canada, was laid out and, following the opening of the Feeder Canal to navigation in 1829 the community thrived as a transshipment point and industrial centre. By 1832 it contained three store houses, a grist, fulling and carding mill and three saw mills. After the completion of the Second Welland Canal in 1845, Dunnville gradually lost its position as an active Lake Erie terminus for that waterway, but it continued to prosper and in 1860 assumed the status of a village.