The Great Canadian Towns and Villages Thread

[ScreamingViking]

Historically, Dundas was the biggest town in the area, its industry powered by mills on a number of creeks, the canal that linked it to Lake Ontario meant boats could travel inland to the town's wharves to handle cargo like agricultural goods, and Dundas was important as a connecting point for the roads that existed back then. But then ships got larger, industry got bigger, and Hamilton grew on account of the deep harbour with better access to the lake and plentiful land (with more created as fill in the harbour), and that was reinforced by the rail network, electricity, eventually the highway system, etc. Dundas sort of plateaued, but maintained a more separate character than the other suburbs of Hamilton, probably mostly because of its geography separating it from the bigger city, but also a staunch belief residents have always seemed to have regarding its "independence"

Ancaster and Waterdown were smallish mill towns. Lots of history there, but they weren't as important so they lack the built environment Dundas still has. And their growth has largely been the result of suburbanization. Dundas went through that too (e.g., all the 1970s-80s subdivisions west along Governors Road) but its old downtown was preserved for the most part.

Originally Posted by megadude

I'd probably prefer Ancaster if I had to live in one or the other because of that wealth, even though those people can be snooty and arrogant. Dundas I've heard has a little bit more sketch factor. Afterall, there is a dude known for flying a confederate flag on a pole from his yard. For years. My cousin got married at Ancaster Mill and there's some nice geography there, but Dundas is right up against the Escarpment so I think it actually has more interesting geography. However, I feel like Ancaster is a little bit more sophisticated having passed through there a few times and based on the credit applications I used to process back in one of my old jobs. It's the Oakville of Hamilton I guess.

However, Ancaster's Main Street is underwhelming. Every time I pass through I ask why there isn't more to this. There's nothing bad about it, and there's a handful of attractive buildings but I feel like there should be more.

When you think of the explosion of Waterdown's subdivision development, you think there's a lot of people there and so they should have a decent Main Street, but all that population is way too new so again, there's not as much going on downtown there either. A few nice elements for sure, but Dundas definitely beats both of them out.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

I drove back from Montreal today, part of the trip down the 2-lane roads close to the river and the Thousand Islands Parkway.

I believe someone mentioned Brockville here -- it was pouring rain so I didn't stop, but it looked like it would be great for exploring.

Gananoque too, though it seemed to have rougher edges.

Been to MTL countless times but have always taken the 401. One of these days I have to take the slow and scenic route to check out all those places too.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Historically, Dundas was the biggest town in the area, its industry powered by mills on a number of creeks, the canal that linked it to Lake Ontario meant boats could travel inland to the town's wharves to handle cargo like agricultural goods, and Dundas was important as a connecting point for the roads that existed back then. But then ships got larger, industry got bigger, and Hamilton grew on account of the deep harbour with better access to the lake and plentiful land (with more created as fill in the harbour), and that was reinforced by the rail network, electricity, eventually the highway system, etc. Dundas sort of plateaued, but maintained a more separate character than the other suburbs of Hamilton, probably mostly because of its geography separating it from the bigger city, but also a staunch belief residents have always seemed to have regarding its "independence"

Ancaster and Waterdown were smallish mill towns. Lots of history there, but they weren't as important so they lack the built environment Dundas still has. And their growth has largely been the result of suburbanization. Dundas went through that too (e.g., all the 1970s-80s subdivisions west along Governors Road) but its old downtown was preserved for the most part.

Good history lesson. I do find Dundas pretty interesting. Moreso the geography of it, but the housing stock is also a nice mix. Love driving up Sydenham Rd.

I fished that canal for carp a long time ago. And have fished Cootes Paradise a couple times by boat. If I had a 'yak I would want to paddle from the beginning, through the marshy area all the way across Cootes to the fishway. I've seen videos of the fishway in operation where it sucks up the all the fish trying to enter from the harbour and then employees sort them out and send all the good fish into Cootes and send the carp back into the harbour. Have never been able to watch in person though.

• Video Link

[jamincan]

Originally Posted by megadude

I'm seriously thinking about doing a Brantford, Paris, Galt, Hespeler, KW, Guelph, Elora, Fergus and Erin trip soon. Hespeler, DTK, Fergus and Erin I've never explored.

I think the interesting thing to look for on this trip is how the built-form diverges from the vernacular SW. Ontario architecture. Being river settlements, they were established earlier, and due to the escarpment, quarried stone was heavily used as a building material. This isn't true for KW, but it has its own peculiarities, particularly in it's street network which abandons the orderly British grid you find in the other Scottish-settled towns/cities for what is apparently a more continental street pattern.

In a way, following the Grand/Speed Rivers like this may give more of a sense of uniformity, as KW is the only real outlier amongst these settlements, but all of them are major outliers as they relate to the rest of SW Ontario. Traveling from Stratford to Guelph through Kitchener reveals much more differences where Stratford is probably the apotheosis of SW. Ontario vernacular architecture.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

I believe someone mentioned Brockville here -- it was pouring rain so I didn't stop, but it looked like it would be great for exploring.

There isn't much, IMO.

Originally Posted by megadude

I'm seriously thinking about doing a Brantford, Paris, Galt, Hespeler, KW, Guelph, Elora, Fergus and Erin trip soon.

Galt/Hespeler/Cambridge are pretty interesting. Elora is really neat, too. Great small town just slightly off the beaten path without being too far out.

[urbandreamer]

Brockville has some nice old churches and residential streets. Decent downtown strip. Next time I'm in the area I'll continue on Hwy 2 between Brockville and Cornwall and hopefully back along the NY shoreline.

[ScreamingViking]

The centre of Fergus is pretty nice too, along a few streets perpendicular to Hwy 6 on the north side of the Grand River. Some great little shops and stone buildings, and while the river is in a gorge there are some bridges over it that provide views including a pedestrian one, a number of patios overlook it, and I recall a stairway leading down to the water but we didn't go that far.

It's a good day-trip combo with Elora, or if Elora is too busy (as it can be in the summer) it's an alternative.

[urbandreamer]

I prefer Elora and Fergus on weekdays when it's raining. Fergus is more of a real town while Elora's downtown strip is very touristy. Back in my coffee drinking days, I liked going to the Vault in Fergus - and now I read it's closed. https://www.guelphtoday.com/local-ne...-doors-4336705

[megadude]

I've never been to Brockville, but these pics below, like the Rimouski one before, give off a decent sized city vibe instead of the smaller place that it is (22k).


https://globalnews.ca/news/6822141/c...s-faciliities/


https://www.rabideaulaw.ca/brockvillerealestatelawyer/


https://world-schools.com/brockville...canadian-city/

[urbandreamer]

^Yeah Brockville gave me flashbacks to hanging out in Old Montreal, with that first photo you posted reminding me of Place Jacques Cartier.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by jamincan

I think the interesting thing to look for on this trip is how the built-form diverges from the vernacular SW. Ontario architecture. Being river settlements, they were established earlier, and due to the escarpment, quarried stone was heavily used as a building material. This isn't true for KW, but it has its own peculiarities, particularly in it's street network which abandons the orderly British grid you find in the other Scottish-settled towns/cities for what is apparently a more continental street pattern.

In a way, following the Grand/Speed Rivers like this may give more of a sense of uniformity, as KW is the only real outlier amongst these settlements, but all of them are major outliers as they relate to the rest of SW Ontario. Traveling from Stratford to Guelph through Kitchener reveals much more differences where Stratford is probably the apotheosis of SW. Ontario vernacular architecture.

I'm more mindful of these things now. I will have to look out for that. I'll probably have to split these into two trips. That's a lot of walking around.

Might have to add a little Grand River fishing to this. Though the last time I fished the Grand I did it from Brant Conservation Area by boat with electric motor and got blanked. Before I left I said I should go try the pond with some corn on a hook for carp. Sure enough, ten minutes later caught my biggest carp. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother putting the time, effort and money into fishing. After this, I went to Paris to grab some grub only to find out that pretty much every kitchen on the main street shut down by 6 on Sundays. I didn't inquire about the fancier restaurants. Had to get some McD's or some garbage on the way home. Little bit of a shock for a city person. Took these things for granted. Like when I was in Waterford fishing those ponds there and a local pizza shop had a sign that said closed for two weeks for family vacation. First time I've ever seen that. Kinda cool though that you can afford to shut down and do something like that. Don't know how that would go over in the city.

The other time I fished the Grand was in Dunnville and once again, caught nada. It's well known for walleye under the dam at night and monster mudcats aka channel catfish. Since we drove all that way we said we're not leaving empty handed so we went to Byng Conservation area to that pond and caught a whole bunch of those bottom feeders, up to 2lbs, which is a good fighting size. Not the monsters obviously, but fun. The real, real big 'uns though are up by the Red River in MB.

The Grand is a fascinating river for me. Many streches of it are pristine, clear water. Particular the northern section. Many photogenic places like Galt, Paris and Elora of course and add in Rockwood Conservation Area. And there's a tonne of fish species in there.

If memory serves me, it starts to get brown in Caledonia and is not very nice down in Dunnville and Port Maitland where it empties out. Some nice looking tribs too like the Speed and Nith Rivers. All these rivers to fish but not enoug time.

And of course, I had to take a pic with Muddy the Mudcat. For my pic, I stuck hook in the mouth and bent my rod and pretended I was fighting it.


https://www.tripadvisor.com/Location...d_Ontario.html


https://www.canadian-sportfishing.co...annel-catfish/


Rockwood CA

https://geonmagazine.com/trails-and-...acial-potholes


https://suburbantourist.ca/adventure...ils-and-caves/

[megadude]

Which one is which? Paris vs. Elora.







Galt got the river wall thing going on too:

[IMG][/IMG]
Magda Wojtyra

[IMG][/IMG]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A...ntown_Galt.jpg

[jonny24]

Top one is Elora, bottom one is Paris. Never been to Elora but I drive through Paris often enough.

[urbandreamer]

Elora is better than Paris. I prefer Ayr to Paris - tourist traps aren't very interesting: if I want to see GTA people I hang out in Toronto, Port Credit or Hamilton. That's why ultimately I like real small towns like Exeter, Hanover, Walkerton, Napanee, Blenheim etc. I want to get away from traffic, pedestrians, crowds when I'm in a small town.

Vesuvio's in the Junction (now closed for good) used to close for a few weeks vacation every summer. They also closed Sundays.

[megadude]

Did Fergus, Elora and Guelph yesterday. Like jamincan said, it's quite obvious that quarried stone was (and still is?) nearby. Gotta love the heavy use of it in all the original structures and appreciate that in many newer structures, they at least mimic it, particularly in Fergus.

Cool having all the Scottish references in Fergus in imagery, street names and culture. There was even a youth rugby tournament going on as we passed by. Though the only store I actually went into was a Dutch themed store. Bought a few things and felt like buying more things I was curious about, but had to stop myself. Already been plenty of British stores at home, but never Dutch. Got some real flaky almond, aprictot, raspberry tarts that are phenomenal. Made in Burford, somewhere I've never heard of, but it's tiny so that's not unusual.

It's funny how Elora gets all the love, but Fergus is only eight minutes down the road. Anyone I ever talk to that says they went to Elora this weekend never says I went to Elora and Fergus.

Took this snap of this car while there:




jimfeng


jimfeng


DoraDalton


Stephen Bridgett

[IMG][/IMG]
https://www.contractors-insurance.ca...ors-insurance/



As for Elora, the only time I had been was 2010. This time I actually did it properly. Yeah, way, way more visitors than Fergus. Don't even want to see what it's like in the summer.

I must say, I didn't realize how phenomenal the housing stock is there, at least within the first three streets surrounding downtown in any direction. Right up there in terms of any combination of unique, well-kempt and charming homes. I don't think I saw any two homes that were alike. This belongs in the group of neighbourhoods (for regular sized homes that are so unique from one another) with Niagara on the Lake, Unionville and Old Markham and Old Oakville. I'm assuming Stratford is in that group too, but I really did not pay attention or even explore the residential areas when there a few years ago. Dundas is like that too. I'm sure there are other places around the province or country like this too, where at least the first few streets surrounding main street is an ecclectic mix of styles with gorgeous landscaping and everything so well mainainted.

Here's an example of some random houses I put together. They are not the best I saw, but I went go google maps and just started placing the little man in random places and taking screen caps.





[IMG][/IMG]
https://justinpluslauren.com/things-...elora-ontario/


https://roadtripontario.ca/things-to...elora-ontario/


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitch...tion-1.4742422


https://www.flickr.com/photos/eloramews/50084877948


https://www.fergusfilming.ca/post/mo...d-elora-fergus

[IMG][/IMG]
Harold Stiver

[IMG][/IMG]
https://elorafergus.ca/gorge/


https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/68738838821/



Speaking about housing stock and British street names, I didn't realize to what extent Guelph had both going on. So, so many streets named after British cities and counties. And I drove around a little bit downhill, behind that beast of a church and that was basically house porn.

On a related note, there are a few streets around the Oakville Soccer Centre named after teams. Though there is a Wembley street in town as well, but it's like five minutes east of the Soccer Centre. Last week I picked up this Manchester ball for five bucks on Newcastle Cres. The other streets are West Ham and Lazio. Not sure if there are more.

[Tone]

Originally Posted by megadude

I've never been to Brockville, but these pics below, like the Rimouski one before, give off a decent sized city vibe instead of the smaller place that it is (22k).

There's also a few projects on the go for a small city - 55k. All proposed ones are scheduled for this spring.

Under construction








Proposed








Recently completed

[megadude]

^ We need more murals everywhere!

[megadude]

Needed a zoo to go to for the kids before most of them close after today. Twin Valley Zoo in Brantford it was. So afterwards, went into town for the first time in ten years. Last time it was at the casino on the way back home from Michigan.

Man, downtown has such good potential, but you know, Brantford is Brantford. Saw a few people from the lower rungs of society hanging around, as you might expect. But I did also check out the rich area along Brant Ave. It's Forest Hill-esque. Probably a better comparison than that, but I try to avoid TO as much as I can, so not too much time spent in the upper crust neighbourhoods of Toronto.

Perhaps they can start building a bunch of condos downtown to attract the young people that are now priced out of SFHs and create some vibrancy, because it was pretty dead. Almost no one walking around despite there being some gorgeous architecture here and there and I didn't really notice too much boarded up.

I feel like a place that is home to Alexander Graham Bell and Wayne Gretzky should be doing better!

And since Paris is just over 10 minutes away, had to stop there. Very peculiar some of those homes backing onto the river or situated up on the hill. Some homes basically had no front or back yard, but they did have basically a little platform overlooking the river. And there were exponentially more people walking around than Brantford. Lots were visitors of course. Though I really don’t know if it’s worth the drive. Paris is cute, but small. Elora is more worthwhile for a day trip.

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by megadude

Perhaps they can start building a bunch of condos downtown to attract the young people that are now priced out of SFHs and create some vibrancy, because it was pretty dead. Almost no one walking around despite there being some gorgeous architecture here and there and I didn't really notice too much boarded up.

They actually are:
https://www.onewellington.ca/

My brother bought a house in Brantford last year, near the VIA station and strip club. Between the pandemic and us being cheap, we haven't really done any exploring yet. Not that we need to, exactly, Brantford was the closest "city" to where we grew up in Norfolk, but that was always for things like the mall and a bigger movie theatre. Not so much restaurants or any cultural offerings. I tend to do that stuff more with my wife, with bro we tend to just drink beer in the yard and maybe work on a reno project.

Maybe I should approach Brantford with fresh eyes

[esquire]

Originally Posted by jonny24

They actually are:
https://www.onewellington.ca/

My brother bought a house in Brantford last year, near the VIA station and strip club. Between the pandemic and us being cheap, we haven't really done any exploring yet. Not that we need to, exactly, Brantford was the closest "city" to where we grew up in Norfolk, but that was always for things like the mall and a bigger movie theatre. Not so much restaurants or any cultural offerings. I tend to do that stuff more with my wife, with bro we tend to just drink beer in the yard and maybe work on a reno project.

Maybe I should approach Brantford with fresh eyes

It's interesting to see the GTA condo boom spilling over into smaller locales.

I noticed that even St. Catharines is getting a 30+ storey condo tower.