Humber Arboretum Trail

A must-see through the Humber Valley is the Humber Arboretum. It's a really beautiful trek in Toronto’s west end. It covers over 250 acres of botanical gardens and natural, wilder areas that surround the West Humber River.

The Arboretum is located just behind the Humber College North Campus at the intersection of Humberline Drive and Humber College Blvd., so there's lots of parking available.  If you'd rather take a bus or go on foot, it might be of interest to note that there is an express bus from Kipling station to the college.  Terrific way to get there and save on gas.

Once you arrive, you can choose either to take in the beautiful surroundings of the manicured lawns and flourishing flora at the Botanical Gardens in the Arboretum first, or take a walk through many of the marked nature trails through the Arboretum.  I liked the "Meadow Walk" which had 3 separate gates.  Others include the "Survival Path", "Boardwalk", "Beech Vista", "Woodland", "Pondview" and "Garden Circle".  All these nature trails are encompass the Arboretum and excellent tools for educational purposes as well.

The areas surrounding these paths are filled with meadow flowers and forested areas of over 1700 different species of plants and old and new native trees.   The trail paths following out of the Arboretum will take you northwest from this point towards Humberwoods Park in the direction of the Indian Line Campground where you will come across the Claireville Dam & Reservoir, constructed in the aftermath of Hurricane Hazel.

Further northwest still is the Claireville Conservation Area, which is an 848-acre natural and forested area located on the border of Toronto and Brampton. It is one of the largest tracts of land owned by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA). Not all trails in here are accessible on bike, which is why it is sometimes a good idea to leave your bike at home.

Claireville is an unsupervised conservation area and supposedly has coyotes and deer (I've only seen a few bird species, though). Although Claireville is a passive conservation area, so it's popular with ‘birders’.  So, if your photographic interest is birds, then this is a good find.   I will be returning soon before summer's end to take a look at Claireville Conservation Area.  Unfortunately I have little patience unless I am alone to take any wildlife photos.  If I happen to see something, I will do my best to capture it.  Maybe you will have better luck!

For now, I am just content to take pictures of scenic landscapes. If you enjoy looking at the scenes, the photos will take care of themselves.

Happy Trails!

The Erland Lee Home (Museum)

The doors of the Erland Lee Museum on the Niagara Escarpment in Stoney Creek were closed, but I thought I would mention still this historical home.   From the outside it appeared lovely and quaint, but on the inside of these doors, history happened.

Back in 1897, a meeting at Squires Hall had taken place with about 100 women from the Saltfleet Township district headed by Mrs. Adelaide Hoodless (Mr. Lee's wife). An organization was formed to improve women's skills in the "arts of homemaking and child care". This meeting would begin as the world's first organized Women's Institute.

In follow up to that meeting, it was here in the home of Mr. Erland Lee (founder of the Farmers Institute) along with his wife, Adelaide a draft would be written to become the constitution of the new society.

Soon meetings halls across the country brought women together to learn "diverse skills and to promote civic reform after World war 1". This would help women to "break the grinding isolation of rural life".

Today, the Women's Institute has become a world-wide organization.  

If you are ever in the area, you might want to stop by and take a look around inside.

More historical info on Erland Lee Museum click here

King Edward Hotel

I have always loved the subject of history, which well includes architectural history.  It was an honor to be a part of a celebration at the King Edward Hotel.  The "King Eddy" as it has been known to local Torontonians for decades resides at 37 King Street East, on the south side, west of Church Street and occupies the entire second block east of Yonge Street.

It has lived here since the structure opened in 1903 and housed 400 rooms and several ballrooms as well as the grand lobby.  The King Edward Hotel was designed by two famous architects.  Chicago's Henry Ives Cobb and Toronto's E.J. Lennox and was granted his namesake by King Edward VII.  

Since then, there have been several revisions made to the original hotel which included 530 additional rooms and an 18 storey tower added to the original eight-storey structure to the east of the hotel.  In the late 50's the two top floors occupied the Crystal Ballroom, which since has been permanently closed due to stricter fire codes and was not included in the restoration project in the early 80's.  

Throughout the years, the hotel has seen a number of hands pass ownership, one of which in 2009 was retained by ' Le Meridien to manage it.  They closed the hotel to perform a major restoration which included 140 condominiums from the third to the fifth floors.  These floors have been unused for a number of years, and there have been rumours of 'hauntings'.  Historically, there are always rumours that emerge that involve the closure or ruins of historical places.  It alludes mystery.

Last year, in 2012 saw the most recent ownership from "Skyline Hotels" .  We were all happy to enjoy wonderful food, good music and dance to celebrate a successful year.  I hope that 2013 will finish off better than it has started.  This was a good way to begin.

The King Edward welcomes visitors to view and take pictures of many paintings and the historical architecture and furnishings that adorn the building.   You may even get a chance to visit the 4th floor...

Scarborough Historical Museum & Memorial Park

To discover more about the Scarborough Historical Museum you have to start back in 1796, when a Scotsman named David Thomson settled in Upper Canada and became the first permanent resident in Scarborough.  He was granted 400 acres and along with his brother, Andrew had built a log cabin on his property.   

Not long after other settlers joined them including David's brother Archibald.  As they were stone masons, they made their living by working on the first Parliament buildings in York (Toronto).  

A few years later a road had connected their settlement to York and a sawmill was built by each one of the brothers, David, Andrew and Archibald.  A Presbyterian church, built 20 years later became the core of the prospering Thomson Settlement.

The pale looking house (Cornell House) was inhabited for over 80 years by descendents of Wm. Cornell who came here from Rhode Island in 1799.  This home was considered a middle-class home, with spacious upper and lower floors equipped with pot-bellied stove, pantry, cold storage, eating area and living area.  The upper floor was for sleeping, which kept the family closely together, including infants sleeping in the same room as the mother.  This tradition has since changed :)

It was quite cold outside, and very unexpected that the museum was opened on this day, so you can imagine our surprise to peer into the window to see a face appear waving us in.  Upon opening the front doorway, we were greeted and given hot tea and home made oatmeal cookies! There was one other person who was equally happy to join in for some afternoon tea.  The ladies were dressed in the attire of the time, long cotton dress, with aprons and bonnets.

One of the volunteers had offered to show us inside the McCowan Log Cabin, which was locked up.  The McCowan Log cabin was built in 1830 and was occupied by William McCowan from 1848 until his death in 1902. (1820-1902).    William came to Canada in 1833 with his parents and 4 brothers and 4 sisters where they settled near the Scarborough Bluffs near McCowan road.  

A year after emigrating to Canada, in one night, Williams' father and brother had died of cholera, after which William took care of his mother and brothers and sisters and remained a bachelor for the rest of his life.  

His nephew James McCowan took over after William passed on.  This cabin, although appearing quite small on the inside, could apparently house up to 10 people at one time and was considered quite large in its time.  The cabin was restored and carefully moved by the historical society to the Thomson Settlement in 1974.

The entire Thomson Settlement occupies a portion of the 'Thomson Memorial Park' at the corner of Brimley Road and Lawrence in Scarborough.

Battlefield House Museum

The Battlefield Monument is a pretty ominous tower and pretty hard to miss when you're driving along the Centennial Parkway in Hamilton.  Located just east of the parkway off of King Street West, is the site of the Battlefield House Museum and Park.  

The monument was built just after the turn of the century to honour the British crown as well as to honor the soldiers in the Battle of Stoney Creek.  This was also to act as a reminder to all future generations of the impact of another important war.  The War of 1812.  It was a time where communities were active in improving themselves by building awareness through education (libraries) and history (museums).

Right now isn't the best time to go here as they are under restorations to the Gage House, but you are still able to view the grounds anytime to take pictures.  Free for now. 

The city's Tourism and Cultural division has finally finished the restoration of the Gage House (Battlefield Museum) and although many structural reconstructions will continue for another few years, the doors will open once again to the public on Tuesday November 27, 2012.  If not for anything else, I strongly believe in supporting historical places. Without preserving our history, we will have no foundation for a solid future.

Click here to find out more about the Battlefield House and the Battle of Stoney Creek

Hamilton Museum of Steam & Technology

To tell you the truth, I wasn’t all that keen on going into the steam museum. Although I knew it was something great that emerged from the Victorian era (my fave), I was really more enthusiastic about the aesthetic designs and art forms (furniture, clothing, literature, etc.) than that of the more practical kind.

But what a unique experience this was (especially if you have young kids or eager adult minds)! There was a demonstration going on, so just arrived at the right time. There was a family of 4 there with two young children (a boy and a girl, both of which were intelligent and well behaved asking all sort of questions) The guide was personable, and knowledgeable about the mechanics of steam in the technology of its day. 

James McFarlane

This 19th century public work architecture (pump house), looks somewhat like a church from the outside and was designed by Thomas Coltrin Keffer in the mid 1800s. Today it's still in its original form, as it has been perfectly preserved as a historical museum. The two 45 foot high, 70 ton steam engines once pumped the first clean water to the city of Hamilton almost 140 years ago. The engines are oiled every day and there are demonstrations as well daily. 

I have to say that it was really something to see once everything gets going. The sounds of the slow revolutions of the engines and the sights of the huge iron die cast bolts and giant pistons and wheels looming overhead to the very last brick laid which surrounded you. Picture in your mind's eye, how they dragged these huge multi-ton iron and steel parts over the frozen lake in the winter pulled by horses in the freezing cold...everything ...built by hand. We are so fortunate to be born in this time.
You can almost imagine James McFarlane walking up and down the centre hallway upstairs, monitoring every movement, watching every gauge and logging the steam pressure, revolutions and temperatures every hour on the hour for over 51 years. James retired well into his 80's and emigrated to Hamilton from Scotland and became the Chief Engineer of the Public Works department from 1859-1910.

Non Paying Customers

Since the this is the only remaining example of its type in North America, it's worth a visit once in your lifetime..you might see some unexpected visitors onsite too though they neglected to pay their admission :)
Located at 900 Woodward Avenue in Hamilton.