Bruce Forsyth

October 3, 2024

October 2024 It’s a striking Victorian Gothic manor, the only remnant of the long-closed Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital on Hamilton Mountain. Century Manor was built in 1884, originally as the East House for what was then called the Hamilton Asylum for the Insane, a provincial facility tasked with housing the criminally insane, like murderers, serial killers …

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Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/the-ghosts-of-century-manor-victorian-gothic-manor-in-hamilton-faces-uncertain-future/

Oct 03 2024

As You Like It, or Truth and Reconciliation hypocrisy

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Articles, Editorials, Original Writing

October 3, 2024

October 2024 I debated writing this column as I didn’t know if everyone would get the point I’m making here, but here it goes anyway. Now that the National Day for Insincerity and Hypocrisy, otherwise known as 30 September, is over, can we have an honest conversation about why this day is pretty much a …

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Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/as-you-like-it-or-truth-and-reconciliation-hypocrisy/

Sep 28 2024

Wilson’s Hill Cemetery – The final resting place of some of Simcoe County’s earliest pioneer settlers

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September 28, 2024

September 2024 Cemeteries are like a window to the past and a reflection on the temporary nature of life. From peaceful gardens to majestic sculptures, cemeteries are only the final resting places for the deceased, but also sites of great architectural beauty and cultural significance. Walking through the rows of gravestones, you can see the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/wilsons-hill-cemetery-the-final-resting-place-of-some-of-simcoe-countys-earliest-pioneer-settlers/

Sep 19 2024

From agricultural to industrialism – The demise of Barrie Bell and the Barrie Carriage Company

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September 19, 2024

September 2024 The southern Ontario city of Barrie has never been known as an automobile manufacturing city, unlike Detroit or Oshawa, but it was in Barrie that the short-lived Bell Motor Cars Company located on of their assembly plants. Bell Motor Cars Company was an automobile company, based in York, Pennsylvania, that operated from 1915-1922. Bell …

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Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/from-agricultural-to-industrialism-the-demise-of-barrie-bell-and-the-barrie-carriage-company/

Sep 15 2024

Ghosts of Hurleyville – The remains of the NYO&W Railway in the Catskills

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September 15, 2024

September 2024 Prior to the automobile, and more so before improved roadways, the New York, Ontario and Western Railway (NYO&W) was the principle way to get to the Catskills. The Catskills resort and Bungalow boom, starting in the 1930s was made possible in a great way by the railways. The NYO&W was a regional railroad …

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Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/ghosts-of-hurleyville-the-remains-of-the-nyow-railway-in-the-catskills/

Sep 10 2024

Sullivan County’s historic bridges – The Stone Arch Bridge in Kenoza

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September 10, 2024

September 2024 Arch bridges have been used for several thousands of years, going back to the Roman Empire. While true arches were known by Etruscans and ancient Greeks prior to their use by the Romans, it was the latter who realized their usefulness for bridge construction. Over the centuries, arch bridges have been built out …

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Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/sullivan-countys-historic-bridges-the-stone-arch-bridge-in-kenoza/

Sep 05 2024

A lone grave in Niagara’s countryside – The sad story of Mary Misoner

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September 5, 2024

September 2024 In a rural area of Niagara Falls, Ontario, not far from the roar of water rushing over the iconic natural wonder, is a grave dedicated to a young pioneer woman who died not long after arriving in what was then Upper Canada, over two hundred years ago. Her grave is not hard to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/a-lone-grave-in-niagaras-countryside-the-sad-story-of-mary-misoner/

Sep 04 2024

Stonehenge – The iconic monument on the Salisbury Plain

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September 4, 2024

September 2024 Derek Smalls: “Can I raise a practical question at this point? Are we going to do Stonehenge tomorrow?” David St Hubbins: “No, we’re not gonna fucking do Stonehenge!” Stonehenge may be a song by the great British Heavy Metal band Spinal Tap, but it’s also prehistoric megalithic structure, found on the the Salisbury …

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Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/stonehenge-the-iconic-monument-on-the-salisbury-plain/

Sep 01 2024

Lost villages of Simcoe County – Kempenfelt Village

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September 1, 2024

September 2024 There are many ghost towns and vanished villages across Canada and the world. Some died off when the local industry that sustained them dries up. Some towns are simply absorbed into the growing communities around them. The former Village of Kempenfelt, now a part of the southern Ontario City of Barrie, is just …

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Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/lost-villages-of-simcoe-county-kempenfelt-village/

Aug 30 2024

Country singer Lindsay Ell makes for a great musical summer night in Peterborough

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August 30, 2024

August 2024 The Peterborough Musicfest just finished it’s 37th year as an outdoor summer concert series, held on Wednesday and Saturday nights in Del Crary Park, along the shore of Little Lake. Ell headlined the 10 August show, the third last show of the summer series that included a wide variety of original artists and …

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