Welcome to Route 1812 ~ Pathways to Peace ~ Western Corridor War of 1812-1814

Ontario Visited is pleased to welcome Pathways to Peace ~ Western Corridor 1812-1814 to our Article Section of Ontario Visited ~ War of 1812 Website. We thought we would start by introducing the Western Corridor 1812-1814 Projects. We welcome you to visit their website at www.westerncorridor1812.com for all details and current information.

Long Point Trail
Includes the communities of Mount Pleasant, Waterford, Simcoe, Vittoria and Turkey Point

This trail travels through Norfolk County as it goes south from Brantford to Port Dover, then over to Vittoria and Turkey Point.  It passes through farms originally owned by Nichol, Ryerse, Culver, McQueen, Rapelje, Drake, Meade, Williams, Bostwick, Finch, Montross and Harrington.

On August 7^th, 1812, Major-General Sir Isaac Brock stopped at Culver's Tavern, and gave a stirring speech to enlist the aid of Norfolk residents; 179 agreed to join the militia and accompany him to Amherstburg for the Battle of Detroit.  He spent the night with Robert Nichol, Quarter-Master General in Dover Mills (Port Dover).  The next day Brock, with his Regulars, York, Lincoln and Norfolk Militias and Six Nations Warriors, departed from Dover and sailed to Amherstburg in an odd assortment of fishermen's boats.

In May 1814, an American force under Colonel John B. Campbell sailed across Lake Erie with orders to only burn mills.  They burned all the flour and fulling (cloth) mills, except the Backhouse and Tisdale's mills.  However, Campbell did not stop there; and had his men also burn all the distilleries and homes, except for one in Dover Mills.  They then proceeded to butcher the animals, taking the choice cuts to their ships and leaving the carcasses to rot.  The Backhouse mill is now an interpetive site as part of the Bacus Heritage Conservation Area.

In November 1814, during his raid into the Grand River area, Brigadier-General Duncan McArthur learned that militia were gathering at Malcolm’s Mills (Oakland).  Thwarted in his attempt to reach Burlington Heights by crossing the Grand River at Brant’s Ford, McArthur turned south to engage the British.  Passing the settlement of Mount Pleasant on the way, McArthur looted valuables and food supplies and burned Perrin’s Mill, the store and homes of several militiamen.  At Malcolm’s Mills, the militia were greatly outnumbered and Lt-Col Henry Bostwick could not prevent the burning of the mill.   McArthur continued south to Waterford to burn mills owned by Avery and Sovereign. There is so much to see and do, plan to visit again. Join us with Ontario Visited’s next Blog issue as Route 1812 Journey continues…

Welcome to Route 1812 ~ Pathways to Peace ~ Western Corridor War of 1812-1814

Ontario Visited is pleased to welcome Pathways to Peace ~ Western Corridor 1812-1814 to our Article Section of Ontario Visited ~ War of 1812 Website. We thought we would start by introducing the Western Corridor 1812-1814 Projects. We welcome you to visit their website at www.westerncorridor1812.com for all details and current information.

The Talbot Trail
Includes the communities of St. Thomas, Port Stanley, Sparta, and Richmond

The Talbot Trial portion of Route 1812 consists of a stretch of the Talbot Road, the first part of which was opened in 1811 to facilitate settlement.  Unfortunately it also provided a highway for the Americans and disaffected locals who periodically raided the region’s settlers, looting everything from clothes to horses and destroying their crops. Surprisingly most settlers stuck it out during the war and remained on the farms they had spent months or years clearing.  The losses recorded in the last and most serious raid; that of General McArthur in November 1814; shows that the farms were still producing crops and livestock late in the war.

The relative calm in the region brought members of the Quaker settlement in Niagara to the area to find a refuge from the fighting in their part of the province. Initial land purchases took place in 1813, around what is now the village of Sparta, which takes that year as its founding date and celebrates its 200^th anniversary in 2013.

Most of the settlers that were resident in the London District served in the militia, commanded by Col. Thomas Talbot, the principal land agent. They were present at Lundy’s Lane and some assisted with the invasion of Detroit under Sir Isaac Brock who was forced to put in for shelter at three points along this part of the Lake Erie shoreline during his passage to Detroit. 

Travel this part of the historic Talbot Trail and learn all the stories from the families left to defend their homes.  You will also find more Barn Quilts as part of the Southwest Ontario Barn Quilt Trails. There is so much to see and do, plan to visit again. Join us with Ontario Visited’s next Blog issue as Route 1812 Journey continues…

Welcome to Route 1812 ~ Pathways to Peace ~ Western Corridor War of 1812-1814

Ontario Visited is pleased to welcome Pathways to Peace ~ Western Corridor 1812-1814 to our Article Section of Ontario Visited ~ War of 1812 Website. We thought we would start by introducing the Western Corridor 1812-1814 Projects. We welcome you to visit their website at www.westerncorridor1812.com for all details and current information.

The Tecumseh Parkway Trail
Includes the communities of Chatham-Kent, Windsor, Amherstburg and Leamington

In Chatham-Kent and Windsor-Essex, visitors will journey from historic Amherstburg’s Fort Malden, to Olde Sandwich Towne, and through to the Tecumseh Parkway, learning how Lieutenant Colonel Henry Procter retreated from the American invasion up the Longwoods Road, as it follows the Antler River (Thames River). 

Stand on the banks of the River Canard where the first shot was fired in the War of 1812.  Explore the trenches and barracks at Amherstburg’s Fort Malden National Historic Site of Canada.  Stroll the streets of Olde Sandwich Towne; one of the oldest continuously inhabited European settlements west of Montreal and follow General Brock’s path through the area where he mustered First Nation Warriors and Militia to help attack Detroit in August 1812.

Visit the site where prolific Shawnee warrior Tecumseh, who fought to preserve a First Nations confederacy, encountered his last battle while fighting for the rights of his people at the Battle of the Thames in October 1813. Here, a monument recognizes and pays respect to the First Nations people who played an integral role in the War.  These Route 1812 heritage sites of South West Ontario examine a time when a new nation was forged. There is so much to see and do, plan to visit again. Join us with Ontario Visited’s next Blog issue as Route 1812 Journey continues…

Welcome to Route 1812 ~ Pathways to Peace ~ Western Corridor War of 1812-1814

Ontario Visited is pleased to welcome Pathways to Peace ~ Western Corridor 1812-1814 to our Article Section of Ontario Visited ~ War of 1812 Website. We thought we would start by introducing the Western Corridor 1812-1814 Projects. We welcome you to visit their website at www.westerncorridor1812.com for all details and current information.

The Longwoods Road Trail
Includes the communities of Melbourne, Wardsville and Bothwell

London did not exist during the War of 1812 and this part of Upper Canada was sparsely settled.  Imagine a vast towering forest with a tavern in Byron, a few farms along the Thames River at Delaware, a family-run tavern in Wardsville, and the First Nation village of Fairfield with a gentle population of 200 people.

The war brought bad times for these people.  British soldiers, Native warriors and American marauders were hungry, weary and cold; and would steal from the colonists to survive.  In the end, Fairfield would be burned to the ground and its people scattered.  One of North America’s most important First Nations’ leaders, Tecumseh, would be dead.  And the war losses of homes, barns, livestock and mills that were burned and stolen would be great.

As the Commemoration of the War of 1812 approached in 2010, local people wanted to retell the stories about how the war affected the women and families.  Communities along this stretch of the Longwoods Road have painted more than 80 barn quilts that interpret the war.  There is the Wardsville trail, Longwoods trail, and the Native Women’s Trail of Tears.

Two hundred years later we finally have a list of names of all the men who died at the Battle of the Longwoods.  We now recognize that this part of Canada might be part of the United States had it not been for the support of the First Nations Confederacy.

Tecumseh had a dream of uniting all the First Nations from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes, but on October 5^th, 1813, Tecumseh was killed during the battle against General Harrison near Thamesville. The dream of a large Indian Confederacy in the northwest died with him.

Marked here from the Tecumseh Monument to Delaware, The Longwoods Road, old King's Highway #2, is one of Canada's oldest roads. There is so much to see and do, plan to visit again. Join us with Ontario Visited’s next Blog issue as Route 1812 Journey continues…