A Quick Tour of Lundy's Lane Battlefield

Today I am in Niagara Falls, staying overnight as tomorrow I have an early fencing tournament. I arrived at 4pm in Niagara Falls and headed down to the Lundy's Lane Hotel Museum. I arrived around 4:30pm but being off-season, it had closed early. It looks nice. I'll have to come back at a better time.

Still I had the battlefield to tour. With the 200th Commemoration of the war, a gateway with carvings was built at the top of the hill where some of the bloodiest action of the night took place.

 

 

 

A memorial to the midnight battle of Lundy's Lane.

This is the grave site of Laura Secord, who walked 30 km/19 miles to warn the British of an impending surprise American attack on their position. As a result, 50 British soldiers and a group of aboriginal warriors caught and captured 542 American troops.

The battlefield memorial.

This memorial is to General Drummond, who commanded the British troops in victory that night and stood watch over the battlefield the next night awaiting another American attack that never came.

Graves of unknown American soldiers who died in battle that night. As Remembrance Day just passed, American flags are place by their tombstones and somebody had placed an American penny on one of the plaques.

 

Another view of the memorial.

Here is the museum viewed from the battlefield. I wish I had more time but the sun set fast. I'd like to come back another time to tour the battlefield and graveyard, and tour the museum. Hopefully next year.

A Visit to the Archives of Ontario

This afternoon I headed up to the Archives of Ontario, which is located at York University.

I have a project which I am working on and the purpose of this trip was more to research how to research than to actually research, although I did find something I could use.

If planning to go, here is a word of warning. You cannot just drop in and start going through the records. First you need to register on-line.

Those customers who wish to conduct research or consult any records in the Archives of Ontario’s (AO) collection must first obtain an Archives of Ontario Researcher (AOR) card. Unless revoked by the AO, this card is valid for a lifetime or as long as you are using the AOs services.

After registering, it takes up to 48 hours to be accepted, although I received my approval by the next day. To register, click here

Some other things to know when you go there. Once you get your card and sign in, you are given a key to a locker for there are things that are not allowed in the reading room. You are not allowed to bring in coats, hats, bags, food, drinks, water, or pens.

What is allowed are notebooks, laptops (there are places to plug in) cameras (providing you get permission) and pencils. If you forget your pencil, there are plenty around, although they are the small golf pencils.

If I am making it sound very strict and unwelcoming, then I am sending the wrong message. The people there from reception to the staff in the reading room are all too eager to help! When I first went in, I had no idea where to start but a woman at one of the reference desks asked me what I needed. When I stumbled through an answer, she gave me some printed information and then showed me where to go and how to find what I needed.

Once I found what I thought would be useful (turned out it wasn't but was sure interesting to look at), a fellow at another research desk showed me how to hook up and use the microfilm machine. He would have shown me how to download copies onto a USB stick but I forgot mine. Damn.

The amount of information stored under that one roof was incredible. I brought home some information for Teena for genealogical research.

One note ... I was told that the microfilms can be ordered in advance and sent to any Toronto library. It does take a few days, though. I would rather go up and look around as one thing can always lead you to another.

The most difficult thing is that everything I was looking at was handwritten and some people's penmanship is much better than others. Also some of the pages over the years did not hold up well before being put on microfilm.

I would like to thank all the staff how assisted and taught me today. They were all patient and terrific. I also appreciated how they came over later on to make sure I was finding things OK. In one afternoon, I feel confident I could go back for more research and know my way around.

Next time I will bring along my USB!

Visiting the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse on Toronto Island

This evening Teena and I went for a tour of the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse on Toronto Island.

I have been looking forward to this for awhile as we always see it during harbour tours and know that the lighthouse is kept locked. Richard Fiennes-Clinton from Muddy York Walking Tours arranged for the doors to be unlocked for two small groups. We were part of the second group.

Now many of you might think this is boring or dorky but Teena and I both have a keen interest in Toronto and this is Toronto's oldest standing building and besides ... how many times does a person get a chance to visit the top of a lighthouse!?

The lighthouse light was lit for the first time in 1809 and stood 16 meters high (52 feet). In 1832, the tower was added to raising it to a total height of 25 meters (82 feet). You can see the difference in the style of the brickwork from where the tower was raised. I find it interesting that 9 meters (30 feet) could make that much of a difference.

I always wondered why the lighthouse was built so far inland on the peninsula from the lake but learned that when it was first built, it was at the water's edge.

Sand built up over the years so now the lighthouse rests 170 meters (550 feet) from the nearest shore of Lake Ontario and 380 meters (1200 feet) from the point! Here is a painting from Robert Irvine, a soldier active in Canada painted around 1816 and the same view shot today.

Here is a shot from behind the other direction.

Richard told ius the story of  the murder of the very first lighthouse keeper, J.P. Rademuller. Not only did he keep the light going but was a known brewer. There are many versions of what happened that evening. One said soldiers came over from the fort accusing him of watering the beer, another is a couple of soldiers came for beer and were denied, but in the end the one thing that is known is that Muller disappeared and was never found.

Subsequent lighthouse keepers were said to have seen him wandering around the grounds, heard footsteps in the lighthouse and told of lights mysteriously turning on and off. Teena and I never spotted him tonight.

We went up in groups of six as it is quite small and cramped at the top. Everyone seemed to hesitate so Teena and I were the first ones through the door and up the long, thin, windy staircase.

The final ladder at the top was very cool. Tours of the lighthouse are very very rare.  In fact, it took two years for Richard to arrange this. So when I saw how worn the final ladder was, I knew it was the wear from 124 years of lighthouse keepers climbing this final section, night after night.

 

And then we arrived!

 

Originally the lighthouse burned sperm whale oil and changed over to burning coal oil in 1872. I can't imagine how much either must have smelled. In 1872, the light was refurbished so it rotated once every minute and 48 seconds. In 1916, the first electric light was installed. The lighthouse keeper must have been glad about that! The light system that the lighthouse now has was installed in 1945 and was used 'til 1958 when the lighthouse was closed and transferred to the City's Parks Department.

There were some cool views but too many reflections to take a good shot. This was the only one I got. I love the lighthouse reflection on the trees. The other was taken with Teena's camera ... of us!

It was a short visit to the top as we had many people behind us anxious to come up. We were at the top maybe 10 minutes. It was hot, humid and such a fabulous experience. Thanks, Richard, for making this happen. It was fabulous. We have been on a few of his walks before and they all are great fun.

I swore that when I go to a historical place that I will try a couple of shots in sepia and black and white to try to capture the historical feeling. The sun was going down and the light was getting bad but here are two of my best.

Lightkeepers of the Gibralter Lighthouse

J.P. Radan Muller 1809-1815
William Halloway 1816-1831
James Durnan 1832-1853
George Durnan 1853-1908
Captain P.J. McSherry 1905-1912
B. Matthews 1912-1917
G.F. Eaton 1917-1918
F.C. Allan 1918-1944
Mrs. Ladder 1944-1955
Mrs. Dodds 1955-1958

The Barrie Gaol

Today I came across the Barrie Gaol, an imposing structure sitting atop a hill overlooking the city. Also known as the Simcoe County Court-House and Gaol, the site sits abandoned. I walked around hoping there would be a entrance to go in and look around but the site is completely shut up.

The plaque reads: In 1837 the Simcoe District was established and authority was given for erecting a district court-house and gaol at Barrie. The gaol was begun in 1840, the court-house a year later, and both were completed in 1842. An important county judicial and administrative center, the court-house was enlarged in 1877 and demolished in 1976. The gaol, designed by Thomas Young of Toronto and constructed of Lake Couchiching limestone by Charles Thompson, a builder and steamboat owner, is one of the few in Ontario based on the nineteenth century radial design concept. In 1862 the east wing and outer walls were constructed, and the present roof and lantern replaced a portion of the originally castellated central section. The gaoler's residence was added in 1902.

The gaol is said to be haunted by some of the inmates who died and were buried inside the structure. Lime was then used to destroy the buried bodies. If places can be haunted, this sure would be one of them.

Here are some pictures I took as I walked around. I tried to get artsy with some of them. Click here for an interesting article and some great pictures of the interior.

Tried to incorporate the old and the new here. This is the clock from atop Barrie City Hall poking over top.