Apr 12, 2013

Port Darlington (Waterfront Trail)

Port Darlington is the part of the waterfront trail that will be of special interest to those who like boats and boating.  

These pictures were taken a few weeks back and we've gone through up until Port Hope at the Ganaraska lately.  If you want to check out the slip house here, you'll see plenty of different kinds of boats, and the variety of spars and masts reflecting off the water provide a photographer's paradise! 

If you're interested in fishing or simply in cruising the lake you can hire a boat at the Port Darlington Marina.  The restaurant nearby has a screened balcony, an ideal setting for a meal.  

Historically, this was once known as Port Darlington, and once among Lake Ontario's busiest ports, shipping millions of tonnes of grain, lumber, and other products annually.  While one wharf houses a grain elevator and was used for industrial shipping, the other welcomed the passenger steam ships that called dailyThe port was so busy that the wagons that carried the produce had to wait their turn at the docks!  Remnants of the once stately Victorian summer cottagers are here, as it was once a very popular vacation spot.  

The Master's House located on Port Darlington was bought by the Municipality of Clarington and the community hopes to turn this into a Museum to show all the artifacts and display the community's early history.  So, if you are still reading this, I would guess like me you might be interested in history as well.  Here's another great trip to take:  Venture eastward onto East Beach Road and it will become easy to understand why this was a good area in the 1880s and 90s for people thinking of buying a cottage as the view is breathtaking.
 
We will be back, and I suggest waiting for another few weeks at least to come here as the ideal way to travel along East Beach Road is on bike or foot, so you can stop frequently to enjoy the view. 

I'll try to map out a better description with more colorful pics as the weather becomes more pleasant, or you can discover your own journey here.  


Cedarvale Park

Glen Cedar Bridge
So here we are at the end of the exact location of where the Kay Gardener Trail begins (or ends). Looking at the map at the corner of Allen Road and Eglinton Ave West, we decided to head southbound towards Eglinton to see where it would take us. 

I had this idea of going to Casa Loma, but it was so late in the afternoon, so we probably wouldn't get much time to spend in there, so we found ourselves on a street called Everden with some very architecturally unique homes on it.  Up ahead was some familiar Toronto Parks signage 'Cedarvale Park'.  I've never been before so with enough light left in the day, we headed on through and decided to continue south instead of backtracking.  

interesting architecture
This was a surprisingly large and beautiful find in Toronto.  It was bordered by steep hills with an almost valley like appearance with a deep ravine with steep sides.  There were a few people taking advantage of the low winds to fly kites.  Because of its proximity between the Beltline Trail in the north (where we had just come from) and the Nordheimer Ravine to the South, the Cedervale Park with his heavily used footpaths make a very large trail system through central Toronto.



Historically speaking (well you knew I would eventually come to it..), Ernest Hemingway often walked through here during his stay in Canada.  There was once an idea to building mansions here, but the Great Depression put a hold on that one.  The Glen Cedar bridge (seen below) was built during the Depression and was restored about 20 years ago from demolition.  There were plans to build an expressway through this park, but successful lobbyist prevented the construction project from moving forward.

I can just imagine Hemingway sitting under this tree..
With the awareness through the 2000s of the ecological impacts on the environment, the City of Toronto and other major cities and its people have changed their priorities to undertake re-naturalization projects instead. 
where's your boots cowboy?