Jan 14 2021
January 2021 The City of Barrie, 50 miles north of Toronto, has many historic buildings, but one of the more stunning is known as Lount’s Castle. Built in 1877 as a summer home for William Lount, Jr., a Toronto lawyer, judge and politician, and the son of United Empire Loyalist William Lount, Sr., who served …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/barries-historic-lount-castle-lives-on-as-a-luxury-apartment-building/
Dec 31 2020
December 2020 The small, white clapboard Canadian National Railway station in Hamlet of Washago, Ontario, is just one of the remnants of the long-defunct Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR), a historic railway dating back to the end of the 19th Century. The station building was built in 1906, along Centennial Park Drive, but was moved from …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/many-reminders-of-washagos-railway-history-remain/
Dec 27 2020
December 2020 The footprints we leave behind For almost 40 years, Hamilton was a popular skiing destination for those in the Hamilton area. The Chedoke Winter Sports Park, once called “Hamilton’s own Sun Valley,” was a popular choice for skiers, especially those wishing to stick close to their Hamilton-area home. Officially opened on 7 January …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/the-remains-of-hamiltons-once-thriving-chedoke-ski-hill/
Dec 26 2020
December 2020 The name of the Steam Ship (S.S.) Great Eastern may not mean a lot to those with no interest in maritime history, but when it was launched on 31 January 1858, it was the largest ship ever built at the time. It was also the first ship to be powered by both sail …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/canadian-connection-to-the-largest-ship-in-the-world/
Dec 23 2020
November 2020 Today, many institutional buildings today are little more than boxes with smooth surfaces, usually with exterior cladding of metal sheets or panels, and interiors of drywall and cinder blocks. There are rarely any ornate carvings and designs on the exterior walls, or hand-carved woodworking on the interior, as seen in many of the …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/when-armouries-were-like-castles/
Dec 21 2020
December 2020 All across the county, in small towns and the corners of bigger ones, many former mills still stand, and many of them have been restored and re-purposed into new commercial and residential buildings. The early settlers of North America built mills in their towns, usually beside rivers that would provide power by use …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/paisleys-stark-mill-faces-an-uncertain-future/
Dec 18 2020
December 2020 In 1983, horror author Stephen King published a book called Pet Sematary, which was turned into a movie six years later. While the cemetery in this story has supernatural powers that results in a horrific outcome, there actually are some pet cemeteries out there. Of the few that do exist, the first one …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/abandoned-pet-cemetery-was-canadas-first-such-resting-place-for-animal-companions/
Dec 15 2020
December 2020 Muskoka has traditionally been the summer vacation destination for Ontarians looking to escape the city for decades. Some headed to luxury resorts, while many more of lesser means headed to more “affordable” destinations. This was a time period when summer vacations were a luxury that many who worked 10 or more hours a …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/the-peninsular-park-hotel-innisfils-long-vanished-luxury-resort/
Dec 14 2020
December 2020 When the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) opened their brand-new District 7 Headquarters on Rose Street, beside the newly-built Highway 400 in Barrie, Ontario, in 1958, it replaced the office in the basement of the Barrie Municipal building on Collier Street that OPP officers used during the decade they policed the town. Starting on …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/so-whats-with-the-big-square-houses/
Nov 30 2020
November 2020 The St. Catharines community of Port Dalhousie is a historic waterfront community, on the shore of Lake Ontario, near the American border. It’s the home of the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, and it’s Lakeside Park, which features one of only nine antique hand carved carousels still operating in Canada, was the inspiration behind …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/aabandoned-welland-canal-locks-can-be-found-in-port-dalhousie/
