HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1994-06-29, Page 51Page 23
--- - Stops Strong cTftc TVay ’94 —
Ghosts all that remain of dream town
All that remains
The pastoral quiet of this pioneer cemetery is all that remains of the once
bustling village of Sunshine.
Continued from page 22
water powered the mills. The early wooden
bridge damaged by ice washed out in 1906
and was replaced first by a steel one and
finally by the concrete bridge, the last
vestige of Bodmin, which had ceased to
exist by the late part of the 19th century.
In 1955 the land was purchased by a
family who organized it into Bodmin Ltd., a
farm organization.
***
Continue west until you reach Hwy 4 in
Belgrave then travel west on County Road
20 several miles through East and West
Wawanosh, where by turning left onto
County Road 1 you will discover
Dungannon.
Unlike the villages you have just passed
through, where little remains but memories,
Dungannon is still a fairly well populated
village, but many of its stores sit empty.
One of the most interesting stories of
Dungannon's past can be found in the West
Wawanosh history book From Bush to
Present Tales. In 1843 William and Jane
Mallough bought property at Lot 12, Cone. 4
in Ashfield Twp. They built a one room log
home on the west side of the Indian trail to
Goderich. Nearby was an Indian summer
camp, the chief of which had been in the war
of 1812 and was a friend of General Brock.
The Malloughs and the Indians became
very close to the point that on at least one
occasion they protected Mrs. Mallough from
intruders when her husband was absent.
Not many years after this, as more people
moved into the townships- of Ashfield and
Wawanosh, the food supply became scarce
and the country too crowded for the Indians.
The first citizens of what later became
Dungannon packed up, said goodbye to their
friends and left.*♦*
Go south through Nile, Carlow and into
Bcnmiller until you reach Hwy 21. Tum left.
Here you are treated for several miles to the
panoramic vista of Lake Huron. Between
Goderich and Grand Bend you will pass
through St. Joseph. In the late part of the
19th century, Narcisse Cantin moved to the
lakeshore to start promoting his ideas of a
seaway and plan the town of St. Joseph
which was to be the hub of his activities.
He planned a port with docks and
warehouses and a summer resort. The focal
point would be the half-mile long Park
Avenue leading from the current site down
to the park. At the lake would be a 12-acre
park extending down to the beach with a
large level area for playing cricket and
baseball.
He erected a a sawmill and a tile and brick
yard was begun. Later came a novelty
factory, an organ factory and winery of sorts.
By 1903 there were 30-40 homes.
The crowning touch was the long three
storey hotel built at the comer of what is
now Highways 84 and 21. Rumoured to
have cost $250,000 by completion in 1907,
it was to be a centrepiece of a resort, which
promoted itself as serving the best domestic
and imported wine and liquor.
The problems, however, came with the
railroad. While Mr. Canlin had believed a
railway would be built near St. Joseph it
never happened. With the closest train
station in Hcnsall, few of the people coming
from cities ever made it to St. Joseph. The
hotel never opened and stood empty for 20
years.
Today looking at the small collection of
houses that is St. Joseph it is hard to imagine
Mr. Canlin's drcam.♦♦♦
Take the road cast to Hcnsall then tum
right onto Hwy 4. Travel for about a mile
and you will find the area where once lay the
village of Rodgervillc. Some vacant houses
arc all that's left of the village, the future of
which was eclipsed by the railroad.
Settled in 1834 by William Elder, the
coming of the general store and post office
in 1852 made this the area's first major
village. Rodgerville, named after the first
postmaster, Matthew Rodger continued to
grow so that by the early part of the next
decade it had three general stores, a tannery,
hotel and three blacksmiths.
The railway was set to arrive after a
survey in the 1870s, but the station was built
instead near the Petty mills north of town.
This was the beginning of Hensall and
eventually the end of Rodgerville.
The church was dismantled in 1910 and
moved.
A tour of Huron's ghost towns doesn't
always hold much visual appeal, but, with a
little research into their pasts and a little
imagination their voices can still be heard.
Museum founder s presence
still alive in new building
Home sweet home
The home of Herbie Neill, the
originator of the Huron County
Museum stands on the front grounds.
The story of the growth of the area, from
the perils of the pioneers to the prosperity of
this century, has an exciting showcase at the
Huron County Museum in Goderich.
Created in crisis, bom in controversy, the
museum gives a theatrical setting to the
20,000-piecc Huron County Museum
collection, sometimes called one of the best
collections of pioneer agricultural artifacts in
the country.
Those who had visited the old Huron
County Pioneer Museum noticed big
changes after the fall of 1989. The new
building, for one thing, is now open year
round. Also, while the original museum
building, a converted 1856 schoolhouse, is
still there, it is surrounded by a glossy new
building that combines the modern and
traditional to create an exciting showplace.
Inside, the clutter of the thousands of
articles collected by museum founder J.H.
Neill, has been replaced by a more
sophisticated setting to display how the
articles fit into the lives of their original
owners, and how the owners fit into the
historical pattern of this part of the country.
It is an opportunity for people to really
experience what life would have been like in
pioneer limes.
Claus Brecdc, the man hired as project
director back in October 1985 on a four-year
contract to bring off the whole rebuilding,
says the designers tried to maintain the sense
of discovery evident in the former structure.
Curves and corners were built into the
design so that people will come around a
corner and encounter something that will
make them say "wow!".
"We hope people come back," he says,
"that they'll realize they can't see it all in one
visit."
Just in case a visitor does think he can see
it all in one visit, Mr. Breede and his
planners have the trip through history
mapped out and even have estimates of how
long they think it will take the average
person to make the journey.
Visitors to the museum follow a path
down the south side of the building, then
enter a soaring, two-storey lobby, one of Mr.
Brccdc's "wow" spaces that he says never
ceases to impress people. The lobby has a
30-foot ceiling and is formed in part by two
of the exterior walls of the old brick school
house. It has size enough to be a display area
of its own and includes a huge marine
engine that soars into the second storey. It
also includes the reception desk and the gift
shop.
First stop in the tour is a visit to the
museum's 54-scat theatre equipped for
slides, movies and lectures. Visitors will sec
Continued on page 24
/
f
I
"GOLFING FUN
FOR EVERYONE"
x
OPEN
7 DAYS
A WEEK
Specializing In:
• HOMEMADE FRIES
• 1/4 LB. CHAR-BROILED HAMBURGERS
•CHICKEN BURGERS
• FISH ON A BUN
• SAUSAGE & SAUERKRAUT ON A BUN
• SALADS SERVED DAILY
• DAILY SPECIALS
• ICE CREAM
• FROZEN YOGURT
• FIREWOOD
• PROPANE
•GROCERIES
• FRESH FRUIT & VEGETABLES
• SOUVENIRS
RELAX AND ENJOY... IN OUR SHADED PICNIC AREA
POINT FARMS
MINI-GOLF
MARKET & TAKEOUT
JOE & MARIA
PAOLA HWY. 21 NORTH OF GODERICH 5 KM.,
524-6362 OPPOSITE POINT FARMS PROVINCIAL PARK