Village Squire, 1977-10, Page 32Immaculate Conception Church in Formosa towers over the surrounding countryside, a good
example of 19th century Catholic church architecture.
30, VILLAGE SQuuKE/OCTOBER 1977.
DA YTRIPPING
To the hill country
for an interesting
drive
With all the rain of the past two months,
country roads are not the best this time of
year so our trip this month will stick mostly
to county and provincial highways.
That kind of road in many places in the
province is about as interesting as
watching reruns of yesterday's news but in
the southern end of Bruce county it can
mean some truly beautiful sightseeing. If
you're lucky and the leaves stay on the
trees long enough, it's also a very colourful
trip.
We begin this month at Wroxeter on
Highway 87. Instead of the road south into
the village we take the road north toward
Belmore. You're still in Huron county here
but the land is much more interesting
topographically than the flatter land in the
central and southern portions of the
county.
The little village of Belmore is one of
those communities where community spirit
is more than a phrase. It's perhaps best
known for the Belmore Maple Syrup
Festival every spring which the local
residents put on to help raise money for
such local endeavors as their own arena.
That old arena was one of the victims of the
provincial government's crackdown on
safety standards and was torn down this
year. In its place the community is putting
up an astounding edifice with not only an
arena but a curling club as well. A
tremendous undertaking for the few
hundred souls who live in the hamlet or in
the surrounding farmland.
We proceed right through the village
and continue northward through the rolling
land toward Formosa. The hills become
higher and the valleys lower as we go yet
the farmland seems prosperous. The area
around Formosa and Walkerton was
settled by German settlers and has a
slightly different flavour. The farms show a
concern for neatness. Villages like
Formosa which we soon enter are
dominated by the local Catholic Church
which in Formosa stands at the north cnd
of the village on the hill. But the first thing
you see on entering the village is the old
brewery that once made the village