Author

Uxbridge, Ontario – Book 1

Uxbridge is a township in the Regional Municipality of Durham in south-central Ontario and is located about forty kilometers northeast of Metropolitan Toronto. The main center in the township is the community of Uxbridge. Other communities within the township include Coppins Corners, Goodwood, Leaskdale, Sandford, Siloam, Victoria’s Corner, and Zephyr.

It was named for Uxbridge, England, a name which was derived from “Wixan’s Bridge”.

The first settlers in the area were Quakers who started arriving in 1806 from Pennsylvania. The community’s oldest building, the Uxbridge Friends Meeting House, was built in 1820 and overlooks the town from Quaker Hill, a kilometer to the west.

The first passenger-carrying narrow-gauge railway in North America, the Toronto and Nipissing Railway arrived in Uxbridge in June 1871, and for over a decade Uxbridge was the headquarters of the railway. In 1872, the Village of Uxbridge was separated from the Township and incorporated as a separate entity.

With the creation of the Regional Municipality of Durham in 1974, Uxbridge Township was amalgamated with the Town of Uxbridge and Scott Township to create an expanded Township of Uxbridge.

Today, Uxbridge is as a mostly suburban community in northern Durham Region. Major manufacturing employers include Pine Valley Packaging (packaging, containers and portable shelters), Koch-Glitsch Canada (mass transfer systems) and Hela Canada (spice and ingredient manufacture). Many residents commute to other centers in Durham and York Regions and beyond.

Oshawa, Ontario – Book 3

Oshawa is a city in Southern Ontario on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It is about sixty kilometers east of Downtown Toronto. The name Oshawa comes from the Ojibwa word meaning “the crossing place” or “where we must leave our canoes”. More than 5,000 people work and more than 2,400 university students study in the downtown core.

Oshawa’s roots are tied to the automobile industry with the Canadian division of General Motors located here. It was founded in 1876 as the McLaughlin Carriage Company. The lavish home of the carriage company’s founder, Parkwood Estate, is a National Historic Site of Canada.

In 1822, a “colonization road” (a north-south road to facilitate settlement) known as Simcoe Street was constructed. It ran from the harbor to the area of Lake Scugog. It intersected the “Kingston Road: at what became Oshawa’s “Four Corners.”

In 1846 there were about 1,000 people in a community surrounded by farms. There were three churches, a post office, various types of tradesmen, a foundry, a grist mill and a fulling mill, a brewery, two distilleries, a machine shop and four cabinet makers.

In 1876, Robert Samuel McLaughlin, Sr. moved his carriage works to Oshawa from Enniskillen to take advantage of its harbor and of the availability of a rail link not too far away. He constructed a two-storey building, which was soon added to. This building was heavily remodeled in 1929, receiving a new facade and being extended to the north. Around 1890, the carriage works relocated from its Simcoe Street address to an unused furniture factory a couple of blocks to the northeast, and this remained its site until the building burnt in 1899. Offered assistance by the town, McLaughlin chose to stay in Oshawa, building a new factory across Mary Street from the old site. Rail service had been provided in 1890 by the Oshawa Railway; this was originally set up as a streetcar line, but by about 1910 a second freight line was built slightly to the east of Simcoe Street which provided streetcar and freight service, connected central Oshawa with the Grand Trunk (now Canadian National) Railway, and with the Canadian Northern (which ran through the very north of Oshawa) and the Canadian Pacific, built in 1912-13.

Oshawa, Ontario – Book 2

Oshawa is a city in Southern Ontario on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It is about sixty kilometers east of Downtown Toronto. The name Oshawa comes from the Ojibwa word meaning “the crossing place” or “where we must leave our canoes”. More than 5,000 people work and more than 2,400 university students study in the downtown core.

Oshawa’s roots are tied to the automobile industry with the Canadian division of General Motors located here. It was founded in 1876 as the McLaughlin Carriage Company. The lavish home of the carriage company’s founder, Parkwood Estate, is a National Historic Site of Canada.

Historians believe that Oshawa began as a transfer point for the fur trade. Beaver and other animals trapped for their pelts by local natives were traded with the Coureurs des bois (voyagers). Furs were loaded onto canoes by the Mississauga Indians at the Oshawa harbor and transported to the trading posts located to the west at the mouth of the Credit River. Around 1760, the French constructed a trading post near the harbor location; this was abandoned after a few years, but its ruins provided shelter for the first residents of what later became Oshawa.

In 1822, a “colonization road” (a north-south road to facilitate settlement) known as Simcoe Street was constructed. It ran from the harbor to the area of Lake Scugog. It intersected the “Kingston Road: at what became Oshawa’s “Four Corners.”

The newly established village became an industrial center, and implement works, tanneries, asheries and wagon factories opened. In 1876, Robert Samuel McLaughlin, Sr. moved his carriage works to Oshawa from Enniskillen to take advantage of its harbor and of the availability of a rail link not too far away. He constructed a two-story building, which was soon added to. This building was heavily remodeled in 1929, receiving a new facade and being extended to the north. Around 1890, the carriage works relocated from its Simcoe Street address to an unused furniture factory a couple of blocks to the northeast, and this remained its site until the building burnt in 1899. Offered assistance by the town, McLaughlin chose to stay in Oshawa, building a new factory across Mary Street from the old site. Rail service had been provided in 1890 by the Oshawa Railway; this was originally set up as a streetcar line, but by about 1910 a second freight line was built slightly to the east of Simcoe Street which provided streetcar and freight service, connected central Oshawa with the Grand Trunk (now Canadian National) Railway, and with the Canadian Northern (which ran through the very north of Oshawa) and the Canadian Pacific, built in 1912-13.

Oshawa, Ontario – Book 1

Oshawa is a city in Southern Ontario on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It is about sixty kilometers east of Downtown Toronto. The name Oshawa comes from the Ojibwa word meaning “the crossing place” or “where we must leave our canoes”. More than 5,000 people work and more than 2,400 university students study in the downtown core.

Oshawa’s roots are tied to the automobile industry with the Canadian division of General Motors located here. It was founded in 1876 as the McLaughlin Carriage Company. The lavish home of the carriage company’s founder, Parkwood Estate, is a National Historic Site of Canada.

Historians believe that Oshawa began as a transfer point for the fur trade. Beaver and other animals trapped for their pelts by local natives were traded with the Coureurs des bois (voyagers). Furs were loaded onto canoes by the Mississauga Indians at the Oshawa harbor and transported to the trading posts located to the west at the mouth of the Credit River. Around 1760, the French constructed a trading post near the harbor location; this was abandoned after a few years, but its ruins provided shelter for the first residents of what later became Oshawa.

In the late eighteenth century, a local resident, Roger Conant, started an export business shipping salmon to the United States. His success attracted further migration into the region. A large number of the founding immigrants were United Empire Loyalists, who left the United States to live under British rule. Later Irish and then French-Canadian immigration increased as did industrialization. Oshawa and the surrounding Ontario County were the settling grounds of a large number of nineteenth century Cornish immigrants. The surveys ordered by Governor John Graves Simcoe, and subsequent land grants, helped populate the area. When Col. Asa Danforth laid out his York-to-Kingston road, it passed through the Oshawa area.

In 1822, a “colonization road” (a north-south road to facilitate settlement) known as Simcoe Street was constructed. It ran from the harbor to the area of Lake Scugog. It intersected the “Kingston Road: at what became Oshawa’s “Four Corners.”

In 1846 there were about 1,000 people in a community surrounded by farms. There were three churches, a post office, and tradesmen of various types, a foundry, a grist mill and a fulling mill, a brewery, two distilleries, a machine shop and four cabinet makers. The newly established village became an industrial center, and implement works, tanneries, asheries and wagon factories opened. In 1876, Robert Samuel McLaughlin, Sr. moved his carriage works to Oshawa from Enniskillen to take advantage of its harbor and of the availability of a rail link not too far away. He constructed a two-storey building, which was soon added to. This building was heavily remodeled in 1929, receiving a new facade and being extended to the north. Around 1890, the carriage works relocated from its Simcoe Street address to an unused furniture factory a couple of blocks to the northeast, and this remained its site until the building burnt in 1899. Offered assistance by the town, McLaughlin chose to stay in Oshawa, building a new factory across Mary Street from the old site. Rail service had been provided in 1890 by the Oshawa Railway; this was originally set up as a streetcar line, but by about 1910 a second freight line was built slightly to the east of Simcoe Street which provided streetcar and freight service, connected central Oshawa with the Grand Trunk (now Canadian National) Railway, and with the Canadian Northern (which ran through the very north of Oshawa) and the Canadian Pacific, built in 1912-13.

Ajax and Pickering, Ontario

Ajax is a town in Durham Region in Southern Ontario, Canada, located in the eastern part of the Greater Toronto Area. The town is named for HMS Ajax, a Royal Navy cruiser that served in World War II. It is about twenty-five kilometers (16 miles) east of Toronto on the shores of Lake Ontario and is bordered by the City of Pickering to the west and north, and the Town of Whitby to the east.

Before the Second World War, Ajax was a rural part of the township of Pickering. The town was established in 1941 when a Defense Industries Limited (D.I.L.) shell plant was constructed and a town site grew around the plant. By 1945 the plant employed over 9,000 people at peak production. It had its own water and sewage treatment plants and fifty kilometers (31 miles) of railroad and 50 kilometers (31 miles) of roads. The entire D.I.L. plant site was about twelve square kilometers (5 square miles).

Pickering is a city located in Southern Ontario, east of Toronto in Durham Region. It was settled by British colonists starting in the 1770s. Many of the smaller rural communities have been preserved and function as provincially significant historic sites and museums.

Whitevale, formerly Majorville, is a community located within the City of Pickering. The community was first settled in the 1820s when John Major built a sawmill; there were many Majors living in the area. Around 1855 Truman P. White bought the saw mill, built a gristmill and a cooperage, and in 1866 built a planing factory. In 1867 he built a large four storey brick woolen mill. The community owed so much of its development and business prosperity to T.P. White that in acknowledgement, it adopted Whitevale as its permanent name. In 1855, Donald McPhee opened the first store.

In 1890 Whitevale contained a stave and heading factory and a barrel factory both owned and operated by the Spink brothers; three general stores, one owned by James Taylor and Donald McPhee; a wagon and carriage factory, operated by the Pollard brothers; a cheese factory, owned and operated by P.R. Hoover and Company; the merchant and tailoring firm of J. Rose and Son; the shoemaker shops of John Allen and D. Moodey; the butcher shop of Israel Burton and the tinsmith shop of S.B. Wigmore. In addition, Whitevale contained two blacksmiths, two wagon shops, a school house, undertakers, harness shop, grist mill, brush factory, grindstone factory, barber shop, three dressmakers, three gardeners, money order and post offices, hotel, brass band, two churches and four lodges.

The Whitevale Heritage Conservation District was established to ensure the preservation and enhancement of the special character of Whitevale. It is dominated by its rural setting and modest vernacular buildings; the hamlet has not changed significantly in character since the late 19th century. The building style in Whitevale is a mixture of typical rural Ontario vernacular architecture combined with Victorian influences and materials in common usage at the time of construction. The overall nineteenth century village character has been retained.

Whitby, Ontario – Book 2

First Nations people were the original inhabitants of the area that would become Brooklin. In the 1820s European pioneers established a small settlement in the area. The settlement expanded in the 1840s when brothers John and Robert Campbell established a flour mill on Lynde Creek. Most of the buildings in the area of the walking tour are single-detached houses. It is a diverse collection of traditional architectural styles from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. These diverse styles complement the landscape as the spaces between buildings offer glimpses of the creek, small parks, and treed open spaces.

In 1819, John Scadding, clerk for Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe, was awarded a large tract of land now known as Port Whitby. Originally known as Port Windsor, the area encompassed the natural harbor in the south up to Victoria Street in the north. Soon after settlement, the harbor was used to ship local grain, lumber, and farm produce across Canada and the United States. Farmers transported their produce to Port Windsor using a plank toll road, now Brock Street, and the Port Whitby, Port Perry, and Lindsay Railway. From the 1840s to the 1870s, Windsor Harbour prospered, leading to a number of developments that modernized the harbor’s infrastructure and surrounding industry. It was also during this time, in 1847, that Windsor Harbour was officially renamed Whitby Harbour. The bustling community of Port Whitby sprung up around the harbor with a number of houses, hotels, shops, and breweries supporting further development. Port Whitby, including the harbor, was one of three communities that formed the original Town of Whitby in 1855 along with Hamer’s Corners and Perry’s Corners.

Whitby, Ontario – Book 1

Whitby is located in Durham Region in Southern Ontario, east of Ajax and west of Oshawa, on the north shore of Lake Ontario. It is about twenty kilometers (twelve miles) east of the Toronto borough of Scarborough. The southern part of Whitby is predominantly urban and an economic hub; the northern part is more rural and includes the communities of Ashburn, Brooklin, Myrtle, and Myrtle Station.

Whitby was named after the seaport town of Whitby, Yorkshire, England. Settlement dates back to 1800, however, it was not until 1836 that a downtown business center was established by Whitby’s founder Peter Perry. Whitby’s chief asset was its natural harbor on Lake Ontario, from which grain from the farmland to the north was first shipped in 1833. In the 1840s, a road was built from Whitby Harbor to Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay, to bring trade and settlement through the harbor to and from the rich land to the north.

Many residents commute to work in other Greater Toronto Area communities, and General Motors Canada in Oshawa is a major employer for all of Durham Region. Whitby has a steel mill, a retail support center operated by Sobeys, and a major Liquor Control Board of Ontario warehouse.

Four railways pass through Whitby. The Toronto-Montreal corridor main lines of the Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway both pass east–west through the south end of town. A second CP line running from Toronto to Havelock passes through the northern part of Whitby. Via Rail trains travel through Whitby, but the nearest station is in Oshawa. GO Transit provides frequent service via its Lakeshore East line.

In December 2016, I had my first introduction to planning a novel. Jennifer Blanchard reviewed Story Engineering by Larry Brooks over the course of four weeks. Then I read Story Fix by the same author, and Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham.

When I wrote my first book, Coins of Gold, I felt driven to write a story about my Mom and the life she lived. It was a celebration of her life, a woman who knew how to enjoy the simple things of life. I knew nothing about how a story should be structured or that there was even such a thing as story structure.

“Show don’t tell” were just words with no meaning. Character arc I may have heard of, but I certainly did not know how to apply it in my writing. I always admired Daniel Boone when I was growing up. I loved to watch the stories of his adventures as seen on television. For my second book, I decided to write a fictional story about Daniel Boone and I called it Arrows, Indians and Love. Each day I waited for inspiration, did research of course, and slowly the story came about.

One of my fans suggested I write about a Canadian hero. I chose Laura Secord as my next character and built a story around my family in central Ontario intertwined with the Secord family and the service Laura did for Canada during the War of 1812. I compiled a Cromwell family history tracing my ancestors back to the 1100s and wrote some books of interest to me (Olympics, Wonders of the World, Wars, Inventions, etc.).

My next inspiration was a novel about Joe and Kate starting with a dream of going to Montana. It became a series that I wrote as inspiration arrived. I didn’t understand about stakes in a story and why they are needed. I didn’t understand about inner demons and antagonists. I didn’t understand the need for a resolution to a problem. I just tried to have a good ending to the life story.

I realized I needed better covers so I approached Andrew Rudd www.detailfordesign.com and he produced five lovely covers for my Montana Series.

What was the plot of my books? Was my main character wanting something and going on a journey to achieve it? I didn’t have a clue about this aspect of a story either. What opposition was there in my stories? There were some inner struggles, but exterior struggles were really absent. The idea that people wanted to be transported into the lives of the characters was a nice thought, but I didn’t know about the need to overcome opposition, defeat it and be the victor. These ideas were completely foreign to me.

Then I had the opportunity to join a group of authors with Jennifer Blanchard jennifer@jenniferblanchard.net to take the Write Your Damn Novel (WYDN) course. Jennifer walked us through the stages of planning our stories from the premise and concept, through the journey that needs to occur to make a story work. I learned about a hook – a medallion is my hook for my next novel. I learned about First and Second Plot Points, First and Second Pinch Points and a Midpoint. They were all new terms for me to get my head around.

I started with a couple of thoughts for a novel. I didn’t have much of a premise or concept, but I pushed ahead to stay on track with the course, learning to apply some of the things as I went along. I managed to plan about three quarters of the book, knowing how it would turn out, before I started writing.

There are those who think that planning a novel takes away the creativity. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just because I had the title for the scenes and knew sort of how the story was going to progress, inspiration had its part along the way and many twists and turns came in as the words mounted up. There were daily blog posts, videos, and additional courses and books along the way to help me get my novel finished.

Once I had the novel finished as much as I could do, then there was the scary part of actually sending my manuscript to a content editor. Jennifer Blanchard agreed to perform this service for me. A little over a month later, I had several pages of written notes, and an hour long conversation on where the novel was not working and lots of suggestions of how to fix it.

I had a well-developed main character, I had a journey he was on, and I had some interesting scenes. I managed to break many of the biggest story mistakes writers make but this was all a learning process. I had random things in the story which did not connect to the main story. Jennifer was very encouraging on what was working and gave me lots of suggestions of how to make it work better.

I went back to the drawing board, so to speak. I was determined to make changes and create an even better story for my readers to enjoy. I worked on it daily over the next couple of months until I was satisfied that I had done everything I could to improve the story structure. It went back to my content editor and by year’s end I had more ideas of what to fix.

I did what I could and then put the book aside to work on book 2 of the series. Once I had it as complete as I could get it at that time, I set it aside and once more switched back to Rite of Passage. I worked through the “course” on Description and Setting by Robert Rozelle and have learned a lot about adding description and setting, geography and time, and using the senses in my writing. I am now on my final read through of the novel. Then I have two months set aside to work on Rite of Marriage. My goal is to publish both books by June 30, 2019.

Being a multi-passionate person, my photography hobby expanded into another whole line of work. I love the old architecture in towns and started taking pictures. The first town I photographed was London, Ontario. When I look back at the first book I created, I chuckle to myself. I had the basic concepts, but I have grown into the project as the years have gone by. I do research ahead of time so that I have a better idea of where to start a project. Most towns I can complete in a day, but usually that will be a long day. I never seem to have enough time to finish as I would like to. There are always more pictures I could take. I took several photography courses to help me in setting up pictures for the best effect.

Then comes the time I get to play around with the pictures and put them into books. I say “play” because it doesn’t seem like work. I love to compile the histories in photos, Saving Our History One Photo at a Time.

When we traveled to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 2016 to visit my brother James and his wife Mary Ann, I thought it would be “nice” to photograph some of the buildings in the city. James knows the city very well, and he took us on our first photograph session. Wow! What a city to photograph! Day after day, James took us to another area with lovely architecture. We came home in the late afternoon every day with three or four hundred pictures on the camera.

After returning home, I had a huge project to put together. There were many articles on the architecture of Winnipeg available for me to add to the knowledge included in my pictorial history of the city where I was born. It took nine books to include all of the choice pictures I had taken. There are always pictures which get discarded. That’s the plus of digital photography – I can take as many pictures as I like, from as many angles as I like, and then choose the best ones.

I have my next photo projects planned and research done of the cities and towns. We get to see a whole different picture of the places we visit. We often don’t get into the museums and places of interest, although sometimes we do. Depending on the town, I may get a lot of walking in; in other towns, buildings are more scattered and Harry drives me from place to place. What I love to do is to be left on my own for an hour or two and explore and see what I find. I never limit myself to what I am told are the heritage buildings – I want to record more than those. Some architecture is unique, some is rather plain. I have learned about different architectural styles as I have progressed through the years. I have also learned terms that are used.

I have been connected to the 100 Day Challenge since 2007 and I am encouraged to plan. I have accomplished much more in the last ten years that I would have if I had not planned what I was going to do and given myself deadlines for accomplishing the goals I set. Sometimes it takes me longer than I originally planned to complete items, but then I give myself a new time frame to work towards.

And my journey carries on. To see some of the things I have accomplished, check out my website at http://barbararaue.ca.

What are your plans for this week, month, and the year 2019? If you plan, set yourself deadlines, and put in the work, you will be amazed what you can accomplish.

West Flamborough, Ontario and Area

Flamborough is a former municipality in the city of Hamilton. For most of its existence before amalgamation with Hamilton in 2001, Flamborough comprised the former townships of East Flamborough, West Flamborough, and Beverly, as well as the village of Waterdown. Other Flamborough communities include Carlisle, Christie’s Corners, Clappison’s Corners, Copetown, Freelton, Greensville, Lynden, Kirkwall, Millgrove, Mountsberg, Orkney, Peter’s Corners, Rockton, Troy, Sheffield, Valens, and Westover.

After the American Revolution in 1783 and the creation of Upper Canada, land at the western end of Lake Ontario was surveyed and organized into townships, which included East Flamborough, West Flamborough and Beverly. Governor’s Road (also known as Queen’s Highway 99) was built on the border with neighboring Ancaster Township linking York (later Toronto) and London.

In 2001, the provincial government amalgamated Flamborough with Ancaster, Dundas, Glanbrook, Stoney Creek and Hamilton into the City of Hamilton.

Copetown is a rural neighborhood located east of Brantford. William Cope, a United Empire Loyalist from the state of New York settled here in 1794.

Jerseyville was initially settled by United Empire Loyalists from New Jersey in the late 1770s. The Brantford to Hamilton rail trail passes through Jerseyville in place of the old train tracks. The original Jerseyville train station building can be found at Westfield Heritage Village in Rockton.

There used to be a train station in Lynden that went to Hamilton. Currently Lynden has many farmers, small business entrepreneurs and commuters to Hamilton, Cambridge, Dundas, Brantford and Toronto.

Chatsworth and Grey Bruce Ontario

Chatsworth is a township in south-western Ontario in Grey County located at the headwaters of the Styx, Saugeen, Sauble, Bighead, Spey, and the old Sydenham Rivers. The current township was formed on January 1, 2001 with the amalgamation of Holland Township, Sullivan Township, and the village of Chatsworth. The first white settlers arrived in this area in the early nineteenth century.

Canadian suffragette and activist Nellie McClung was born in the town of Chatsworth. The Sullivan Township area has a large Amish population.

The township includes the town of Chatsworth, Arnott, Berkeley, Desboro, Dornoch, Glascott, Grimston, Harkaway, Hemstock Mill, Holford, Holland Centre, Keady, Keward, Kinghurst, Lily Oak, Lueck Mill, Marmion, Massie, Mooresburg, Mount Pleasant, Peabody, Scone, Strathaven, Walters Falls, Williams Lake, and Williamsford.

Chatsworth is located south of Owen Sound and north of Durham where Highways 6 and 10 merge. The village neighbors Williamsford, Dornoch, and Desboro. The name of the town comes from Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, England near the home town of the postmaster. Chatsworth was founded in 1848 at the northern terminus of the Toronto-Sydenham Colonization Road. Modern Highway 10 follows most of the original road’s route.

The first building in the village of Desboro in 1856 was a log school house. The area was originally called Brown’s Corners. At some point its name was changed to Donnybrook and then to Desborough after a village in central England. The first house and store were built in 1866 by George Smith. The Desboro hotel was built in 1869 and was one of the only rural taverns still operating in the township before it closed in 2011. The town hall was built in 1875 and enlarged to a two-storey building in 1950. Desboro is about 13 kilometers west of Chatsworth and Williamsford.

Keady is a small farming village, located at the intersection of Grey Roads 3 and 16. Keady saw its first settlers in the 1850s. The original general store was built in the late 1860s and operated for almost 100 years before being converted into a residence. It has a Community Centre, licensed mechanic, livestock market, machine shop and a United Church, and is home to about 200 people.

Keady is well known in the area for the weekly summer farmer’s market and numerous functions held at the Keady Community Centre.

The village of Dornoch was settled by Bartholomew Griffin in 1841 when he encountered a crossroads that appealed to him. The area was originally called “Griffin’s Corners” after Griffin started the first general store. In the late 1850s the village was served by a stage coach that was running between Durham and Chatsworth. Around the turn of the century, the name was changed to Dornoch after the village in northern Scotland. The community center was built in 1952 and still serves Dornoch. Dornoch is situated between Williamsford and Durham on Highway 6 and is 33 kilometers south of Owen Sound.

Williamsford is a village on the North Saugeen River. It has a general store, post office, a bookstore and restaurant housed in a historic grain mill. A small dam controls the river. It has several churches, and a community cemetery. It is located on Highway 6 between Durham and Owen Sound. The village of Williamsford was first surveyed in 1858 comprising 400 acres in preparation for a railway which was to run from Toronto to Owen Sound. The post office was built in 1847 and the general store was built in the late 1800s. At the south end of the village sit the community centre grounds with a playground, a baseball diamond and a curling rink. The curling rink was completed in 2010 and has a lounge and two rinks.

West Grey is a township in western Ontario in Grey County spanning across the River Styx, the Rocky Saugeen River, the Beatty Saugeen River, and the South Saugeen River. Unlike most rural communities, West Grey maintains its own police force, the West Grey Police Service. The municipality was formed on January 1, 2001, when the former Townships of Bentinck, Glenelg, and Normanby, the Village of Neustadt, and the Town of Durham were amalgamated in a county-wide reorganization. Elmwood is one of the communities in this township.

Elmwood is a village in Grey County on the county line between Bruce and Grey, about six miles (10 kilometers) north of Hanover. It was a location in which Mennonites were to be found from before 1870, when ministers from Waterloo County were sent to Brant Township every eight weeks to conduct services which alternated in the homes of Mennonite families living there. In 1875, when the Mennonite Brethren in Christ (MBC) were organized in Ontario, Elmwood was one of their earliest places of worship. It was the village into which the retired farmers moved when they left the farms in that community.

Duncan is located south of Thornbury.

Euphrasia is a former township in Grey County. Since 2001 it is a part of the municipality of Grey Highlands. Euphrasia is located east of Beaverdale, north of Wodehouse and southwest of Beaver Valley. Euphrasia has an elevation of 433 meters.

Markdale is a community in Grey County. Markdale was first settled in 1846. In 2001, Markdale was amalgamated with the townships of Artemesia, Euphrasia and Osprey to form Grey Highlands. On August 20, 2009, an F2 tornado originating in Durham touched down in Markdale and caused some local damage.

Arkwright was an important community in the early days of Bruce County’s history. First settled in the 1850s, it gained prominence as both a supply centre and busy stopping place along the stage route. At its height Arkwright boasted two hotels, two stores, a wagon shop, two blacksmiths and a physician. A sawmill was located close by. There was also a school and two Methodist churches that later merged. A post office operated from 1857 to 1915 in one of the general stores. Arkwright served as the seat of township government for many years. Lack of a railway prevented Arkwright from attracting any major industries.

Tara is located in the municipality of Arran-Elderslie in Bruce County and is located on the Sauble River. Tara was named after a town in County Meath, Ireland which served as the seat of Irish royalty. Soon after the survey of the township was completed in 1851, John Hamilton and Richard Berford, early settlers in the area, located here along the river. The opening of the Owen Sound Post road stimulated the growth of a small community. Situated in a rich agricultural region with abundant water power, the settlement developed quickly. By 1861 Tara had saw and grist mills, a foundry producing agricultural implements, wagon works and a tannery. Hamilton opened a hotel to serve the incoming settlers of the surrounding townships. A post-office opened in 1862. In 1880, the local newspaper, The Tara Leader was first published. Tara became a thriving commercial and manufacturing center and, in anticipation of the arrival of the Stratford and Huron Railway, it was incorporated as a village on January 1, 1881.

Williscroft was a farming hamlet, located in Bruce County, first settled around 1850. By 1856 it had a post office, followed by a school in 1858. The village quickly grew to include a blacksmith shop, a store, two coopers, a door and sash building business, and saw and grist mills. A Baptist church was added in 1875. Later industries in Williscroft included a cheese factory and woodworking and carriage shops. Farm based organizations, which took hold during the 1880s, led to the construction of a large Grange Hall, also used as a community and social center, and later as an Orange Lodge.