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543 Berford St, |
Ontario Tourism Region : Bruce Peninsula, Southern Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe
Description From Owner:
- Pop. 2,214. In Amabel T., Bruce C., on Colpoy's Bay off Georgian Bay and Hwy 6 and C. Rd. 13, 33 km NW of Owen Sound.
- The first settler was James Lennox, who arrived in 1866.
- Three years later when lots were offered for sale, B. B. Miller, a Scot who had been teaching school in Arran and Elderslie, and who had stores in Paisley and Oxenden, arrived.
- Miller may not have been the first settler, but he rapidly became involved in the community's affairs. He opened a hotel, took charge of the post office, and held the office of clerk of the First Division Court.
- He was also the first Indian lands agent, the first police magistrate and the town's first reeve and mayor.
- When the post office was established in 1868, the community was called Wiarton after the birthplace in Kent, England, of Sir Edmund Walker Head, governor of the province of Canada at the time the Bruce Peninsula was surveyed.
- Wiarton's nickname is 'Gateway to the Bruce Peninsula.' It is also home to Wiarton Willie. a much-publicized albino groundhog that annually predicts the arrival time of spring weather in Ontario.
- Postcards above used with permission from A Great Lakes Treasury of Old Postcards 2007 Lorenzo Marcolin, MD 176 pp. For Copies call the Huronia Museum 705 526 2844 or email lmarcolin@aol.com
Address of this page: http://www.ruralroutes.com/wiarton