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• Long Point Settlement, The
  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...

• William Pope 1811-1902
  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...

• M.W. Bro. William Mercer Wilson, 1813-1875
  William Mercer Wilson was born in Scotland and immigrated to Upper Canada at the age of 19. He moved to Simcoe where he worked as a court clerk, lawyer, Crown attorney and finally judge for Norfolk County. During the Rebellions of 1837-38, he served in the Norfolk Cavalry and attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He introduced the first printing press in the district and for two years published the Norfolk Observer. In 1840, Wilson became...

• Alligator Tug, The
  By the late 19th century, lumbering in Ontario had retreated from easily accessible waterways and movement of logs became difficult and expensive. An imaginative solution to this problem, the amphibious steam warping (or winching) tug was developed in 1888-89 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...

• Campbell's Raid 1814
  On May 14, 1814, about 800 American regulars and militia under Lieutenant-Colonel John Campbell disembarked nearby 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...

• District Capital 1815-1825, The
  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...

• First Forestry Station 1908, The
  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.

• Founding of Port Dover, The
  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 1800s and, in 1835, Israel Wood Powell, a merchant, registered a village plan...

• Founding of Simcoe, The
  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 that he named "Simcoe," and a post office with this name was opened in 1829. Streets were surveyed in 1835-36...

• Founding of Waterford, The
  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...

• Reverend Adolphus Egerton Ryerson 1803-1882, The
  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)...

• Robert Nichol, c. 1774-1824
  Born in Scotland, Robert Nichol moved to Upper Canada in 1792 and settled in Port Dover in 1808, where he established milling, brewing, and distilling businesses. During the War of 1812 Nichol served as quartermaster-general of the Upper Canadian militia, worked closely with Isaac Brock and was frequently engaged in action against American forces. He endured crippling personal losses when enemy troops burned his mills and home near this site in 1814. Nichol held several...

• Heroine of Long Point, The
  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.

• John Backhouse Mill, The
  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 Sessions, 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.

• Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Ryerse 1752-1812
  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.

• Norfolk County Court House and Gaol
  The original courthouse 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 courthouse, the present structure was designed by John Turner of Brantford and completed the following year. The gaol and new courthouse were both constructed by Jackson Bros., local builders. The courthouse with tall round-headed windows, corner tower and accentuated masonry is typical...