Burlington Heights.
Sometimes we cram a lot of stuff into 75 morning-minutes. President Bryce had scarcely downed a gulp of coffee before he got started; many times breakfast is a hit and miss luxury for the president.
A few causes and events to note: On December 3rd please bring a non-perishable item for the Food Bank. Also we’re asked to redeem and contribute some (or all) of our PC points for a gift card for donation to the Salvation Army; see Bryce or Rod Collard.
We need a few willing souls to walk alongside the Rotary Christmas Float at the Santa Claus Parade on December 5th. See Sheila.
The club’s Christmas Party will be on Friday December 18th at Lawrence’s condo’s party room. (details to follow). There will be no club meeting on December 24th BUT there will be a meeting on December 31st.
With the formalities behind us we heard an appeal from Aldershot resident Joanne Romeo. She’s looking for nominations to the Aldershot Honour Roll. Without in any way intending to diminish the worth of those who have in the past been nominated and award a place on Aldershot’s Community Honour Roll, I find myself thinking of what must surely be Aldershot’s first documented inhabitant: the Atlas of the Mammals of Hamilton notes “Bones (of a Woolly Mammoth ) were .. found in a gravel pit … at the J. Cooke and Son Cement Block Company pit in Aldershot, Halton in 1953 at a depth of 9 metres.”
Rick Howarth took a few minutes to give us an overview of the Memorial Tree Programme. Between 1996 and 2006 we reforested a portion of Central Park and now we’re working on Maple Park. I wasn’t sure whether steering the programme through the labyrinths of City Hall’s defined processes were either soul destroying or character-building; either way it’s working out and this year we’ve sold 30 new trees and netted $4450.
Our guest speaker was Dr. David Galbraith, Head of Science at the RBG. Your scribe has known David for several years and although David earned his PhD as a biologist, he can speak knowledgeably and engagingly about almost anything. To wit, this morning’s presentation on Burlington Heights, that isthmus between Dundurn Castle to RBG’s Rock Garden and having Cootes Paradise to one side and Burlington Bay to the other.
David (without Powerpoint as a prop) led us through the history of Burlington Heights starting with a brief nod to its formation as the shoreline and beach bar to Lake Iroquois, the precursor to Lake Ontario.
Before the eighteenth and nineteenth century appropriation of lands by European settlers, Burlington Heights was used and farmed by Middle Woodland people (1500- 1000 years ago) and more recently Ojibwe people. Traces of their occupation still exist but are largely overshadowed by the changes wrought over the last two-hundred years.
David sketched some highlights of the post-settlement events starting with the Richard Beasley’s arrival and creation of a trading post in 1790, the war of 1812, occupation and subsequent withdrawal by British troops and the sale of Beasley’s land to Allan Napier McNabb who constructed Dundurn Castle. Nineteenth century life, while perhaps sometimes portrayed as simpler times, was no picnic, Hamilton suffered a couple of cholera epidemics and in 1859, a passenger train plunged into the recently constructed Desjardins Canal which had been cut to facilitate access to the Town of Dundas; 90 died. David suggested this failure of new technology was Hamilton’s Titanic Moment.
Of these events some faint shadows remain: Middle Woodland earthworks visible in Hamilton Cemetery, mass grave of cholera victims, and the Desjardins Canal route through Cootes Paradise marked until recently by wood posts.
This bulletin can only serve as a faint shadow of Dr. David’s presentation. Ask me and I will send you the text of his presentation; it’s a good read. It is complete with sources and bibliography; one of which is a link to Michael Fitzpatrick’s MA thesis A Very Pretty Object: The Socially Constructed Landscape of Burlington Heights 1780-1815.
Next week’s speaker is Maureen Barry, CEO of Burlington Public Library on libraries without sensible shoes and silence; Not your Grandmother’s Library. Bring food and grocery certificates.
