The Waterfront Trail Guidebook: Explore Yesterday & Tomorrow Along the Shores of Lake Ontario
marlaine-cibc-koehler
The book is plagued by a great deal of very fine print. It has an editor and lists CIBC as the publisher, since they put up the money.
And it begins with some high flown words from David Crombie on behalf of his Royal Commission determined it not collect dust like so many others. Given the present-day kerfuffle over Ontario Place the words seem prescient though written almost 30 years ago.
One anachronism is the mention of payphones, good luck finding one in this age of cellphones.
In its attempt to be all things to all people the Trans Canada Trail has introduced incompatible uses to many trail systems that found themselves in the embarrassing position of being forced to compromise their ideals. The Bruce Trail is no longer restricted to hiking only.
The population of Burlington has grown by 60,000 since this book was published. The wildlife cited can be a mixed blessing as when the deer noshed on the Tulips in the RBG Rock Garden. If a coyote is playing with your pet know they are sizing up dinner.
I am struck by how little of the trail is actually on the shore of the lake. Many owners of lakeside property once had riparian rights to prevent anyone hunting off their shores. Most have no desire to endure the loss of privacy and litter that would attend having people traipse along the lakefront.
It's the same sentiment people who live adjacent former railway tracks feel about rails to trails conversions. Trains don't stage late night parties or toss litter.
The book supplies phone numbers for businesses and institutions not the websites which would be available 24/7. It was published after Canada went metric and supplies distances in Km and Miles.
I am a life member of the Royal Botanical Gardens. Another book reviewed here documents Conservative Government's lack of support for cultural programs. Lack of governmental support for the gardens and rising labour costs have forced the RBG to nickel and dime visitors for what was once free to support the garden's ongoing maintenance. As a long-term member I suffer nostalgia for the many sections of the gardens that have disappeared over the years. It's still a great place but it was formerly even greater.
Driving East from the RBG one passes by the graves of soldiers of successive world wars. North Shore Blvd is millionaires row where they've cornered the market on 3-way stop signs in hopes of discouraging through traffic. The one window on the lake has a lovely view of Dafasco and Stelco. In spring one swamp affords a delightful view of Marsh Marigolds. I would not want to be biking where the road meets the QE Niagara Bound. Just in case Josie Brant Hospital is just past if you make it that far.
Since the nearby Centre for Inland Water Studies got their seismograph we now hear about local earthquakes.
About the time I'm writing this in recent years the algal bloom tends to peak and being anywhere near the lake in our area, Burlington/Oakville is an assault on the nose.
Shell Park in Oakville is closed for 4 months while work goes on in an attempt to stop shoreline erosion.
What was Lakeshore Road in the 1800's is a mile out in Lake Ontario Today. During my half century in Oakville the site of the original bandshell in Coronation Park is under water. Shoreline erosion is inevitable and global warming is driving storms that speed it.
The $30 entry fee for Bronte Creek Provincial Park seems exorbitant. That the owners of East Oakville's mansions don't want people traipsing by their front yards is apparent in the fact that the trail follows the highway some distance from the lake front. One former estate took a highschool jock an entire week to mow it on a riding mower. The Estate at Nine Line/Maplegrove has green houses and a polo pitch.
The property just across Winston Churchill was bought to be a nuclear power station and the research facility on the north side makes the entire property out of bounds. The lack of human interference makes it a naturalist's dream, I have toured it.
Bronte Outer Harbour was still a construction project when this book was written. Getting to events and concerts taking place there is plagued by lack of parking and the long bus ride which would be the alternative.
The nouveau-riche young ladies of the present age are entitled and not as civic-minded as their predecessors. The loss of this cadre of volunteers has led to the demise of many organizations run by unpaid workers. The Waterfront Festival in Oakville is one victim of this trend. Service Organizations in general are feeling a drop off in membership.
Recognizing this trend students are now required to perform 40 volunteer hours before they can graduate high school. This is not court imposed servitude.
Coronation Park is being eaten by Lake Ontario. The Arts Society Building is gone. Lack of parking and noise complaints from residents to the North have led to events being moved to Bronte Waterfront.
Most views of the lake in East Oakville are had from small parkettes after you walk past the mansions that line the roadways. Since I've delivered their mail I've seen more than most though I didn't get to sit and watch the lake.
Bel Aire Dr. is relatively recent having been built on the Samuels Estate one of the last great heaps a property so large a high school jock spent an entire week mowing it on a ride-on lawn mower in summer when he wasn't pumping iron. Owner of Samson Farms which occupied over half of the Back Stretch at Woodbine.
Here's the dirt on red bricks. National Sewer Pipe was wholly owned by Kelly New of Oakville. When his employees went on strike he fired the lot, a measure emulated by Reagan, and levelled the plant brick by brick.
People buying homes from developers North of Lakeshore in MIssissauga were assured that refinery is closing. That was 50 years ago. Originally British Patrolium and latterly Gulf, At Gulf we Hurry--HOME.
The plant in West Oakville whose flare lit up the sky and occasioned a semi-permanent pollution sniffing station was acquired by Petro Canada from Shell. Decommissioned in 1983 the place became a shipment and storage centre increasing heavy truck traffic exponentially .
Herridges was a third generation Fruit and Vegetable Stand on Southdown Road that formerly grew their corn on site. It closed permanently December 24, 2022.
The Fruit Market beside Coronation Park at 1510 LSW is also gone. Cudmores West of the Bronte Creek formerly operated a fruit stand and grew much of the produce they sold and maintained cottages for their itinerant workers. They've been reduced to a gardening centre.
Petrocan Refinery
The East End of the property held housing for refinery employees when there wasn't enough in Toronto Township. It is maintained in semi-natural state as a buffer with the elite estates East of the plant. Nothing but concrete doorsteps remain of the former dense community. I requested and got a tour of the property that is planted with species that specialize in absorbing noxious chemicals and odours, alas, most of the wetlands and uplands are planted with non-native species.
Rattray Marsh
The importance of leaving behind an ironclad will comes to the forefront here. The Rattray Estate was seen by developers as prime lakefront property worth millions and they surrounded the remnant Marsh that was preserved with estate housing. Ever the developer's friend Attila the Hen fought naturalists ever step of the way in their attempt to prevent the entire marsh from being drained and built over. She then had the effrontery to brag about preserving the crown jewel in Mississauga's green space. Parks and Wreckcreation have since covered it in boardwalks and bike trails.
Land within cities is too valuable to be wasted on wood ducks, geese and vegetable gardens, just ask Doug Ford.
Jack Darling Park.
Last time I drove down to walk West into Rattray Marsh there was an obstacle course of 5, count 'em, jaw jolting, bone crushing speed bumps to be navigated on the way. The Eastern Towhee I saw along the way was a delight.
Adamson Estate
Much is made of a folly but it is never explained that it is a gatehouse nor is there a photo.
Lakeview Coal Fired Hydro Plant is history, the four sisters were toppled.
In the section on birding calling a Long-Tailed Duck an Old Squaw is now considered politically incorrect.
As a letter carrier one knew areas peopled by people of Jewish and Portuguese origin because of the compelling need they have to define what is theirs by fencing it in meaning the mailman had no choice but to walk in and out every walkway and brave the pets inside those fences.
At the Mimico Creek one enters Toronto, when this book was written amalgamation had yet to occur.
Sir Casimir Gzowski was an ancestor of Peter Gzowski of Toronto Radio Fame.
High Park
Denizens of the park's zoo have been known to go on the lam for extended periods. Most recently hot debate over further bans on traffic in the park and loss of parking.
Ontario Place was Bill Davis' baby and it went down hill after his successors failed to continue his investment.
Of a summer afternoon one caught the GO Train to Exhibition Place and walked down to the Entrance. Climbed to the roof of the "Pods" to admire the view and then joined the line-up for the latest movie showing at the I-Max Cinesphere. A walk on the sunken lake freighter promenade would be followed by a beer and schnitzel at Zum Rhein to ompahpah music or Chinese. A browse of one of the exhibits or Ontario North and then settle in with a good book at the Forum to watch the Toronto Symphony perform on the revolving stage. With the aid of the guns on the Haida or Fort York Sir Andrew Davis shot the Geese out of the park. I was there to see $5 million in fireworks shot off to music though being herded like cattle by the OPP among 10,000 other attendees was less than romantic. I sat in the centre of the Cinesphere one winter to see Top Gun.
When the Forum was replaced by a venue that required a mosh pit I lost interest. What Fat Ford would do to the place is shameful. Some have the Midas touch, Ford the ghetto touch.
The Haida was moved to Hamilton Harbour.
I remember when kids used to do chores and save all summer to blow it at the EX. For those old enough to ride it the ultimate thrill was the Flyer. The Grandstand home of sports and shows closed the year this book was published. Before the Skydome it was THE Place. The Coliseum or horse palace is home to the Royal Winter Fair, the Sportsmans Show and Metro Toronto Police Mounted Unit. The Labour Day Parade used to end at the Grandstand. On the Waterfront is the Boat Show and the Air Show otherwise known as the air traffic controller's headache. It was as this book was being written a British Nimrod took a fatal dive into Lake Ontario.
In describing Toronto's Entertainment District Sky Dome gets mention though the name changes over time. No mention is made of Roy Thomson Hall home of the Toronto Symphony nor of the CBC Broadcasting Centre. The CN Tower's status regarding its height is now under dispute.
Toronto Islands
With all the lakefront Condos and Apartment Building the Island Airport is a point of contention and residents resist the idea of big jets landing there.
Actions have consequences and the building of the Leslie St Spit denied the islands the supply of eroded sand from Scarborough Bluffs that built and sustained them and measures had to be taken to ensure their survival.
The community that exists on public land on the islands is a kettle of fish this guide avoided.
Leslie St Spit is proof that nature will find a way. It is home to rare and endangered species whose seeds bird droppings have spread there. The 150,000 nesting pairs of gulls were quite another matter.
Again, the Beaches is an area unknown to me as is most of Scarberia. Buffers Park is in the news every time someone falls off the cliffs or needs rescuing. There was a kerfuffle over people living in houseboats on the marina. The taxman wants his due.
Metro Zoo is built on Rouge River lands. I led a tour of areas of the park near Two Rivers before the Urban Park was proclaimed. I would fear the place is loved and littered to death. Fat Ford would cover the farmland in the area with housing.
Areas of the trail East of Toronto are best known to me from traffic reports involving the roads that lead from the 401 to the Waterfront. Until I took the virtual tour last night I'd never heard of Pickering Museum Village. I did have the opportunity to take a naturalist led tour of Thickson Woods and supported the fight to save Whitby's Second Marsh unseen.
Alas Cullen Gardens closed ten years after this book was published. Guess I won't get to tour it.
Oshawa is synonymous with General Motors and Ed Broadbent who died just this past January. It doesn't immediately raise thoughts of the natural environment.
At time of writing there was very little access to the Lakefront East of Oshawa/Whitby so other features occupy the pages.
The need for an updated version of this Guide is highlighted. The project seems to have lost way to others and the lack of volunteers and sponsors is evident.
This doggerel is included:
Let the old world, where rank's yet vital,
Part those who have and have not tittle.
Toronto has no social classes --
Only the Masseys and the masses.
Massey Ferguson failed because poor design meant that farmers had to endure significant down time to perform simple maintenance and repairs. Prairie farmers went south of the border to buy their equipment.
I associate Port Hope with
Float your Fanny
Down the Ganny
An event that allows water pistols.
The 401 is as close as I've ever been.
Alas the Trail here as described is a tour of stately homes, not the lakefront. And as the tour goes on it reminds me of Ashenburg's Going to Town.
Good luck finding a Westport Biway anywhere along with Bargoon Harolds for that matter. The current bargain store chain is Dollarama. Or look for Goodwill and Sally Ann Thrift Stores for used goods.
I've driven by the Big Apple on the 401 numerous times without realizing it marks the centre of an apple growing farm area. The MacIntosh Apple has a history not unlike the Gravenstein in my native Nova Scotia.
I've camped at Presqu'ile. The history that marks the sinking of the Speedy saved a park.
I've spent time touring Prince Edward County but otherwise the rest of the trip to Trenton marks exits from the 401.
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