The Hub of Mono Township

In this Pilgrimage process that I doing of the Summer of Glorious Freedom for John Muir, I am trying to put myself into the head of a young man of 26 who is out making his way in the world. In this exercise of imagination I have to draw on a myriad of skills. I was influenced as a young student by reading a book called "Reading the Landscape of America" by May Theilgaard Watts where she encourages you to actually look at the many layers of history that can be interpreted in really "seeing" a landscape and not just "looking" at it. As I hike along I look on Muir's Route with an eye to the geology, the glacial landforms, the soils, the path of the native trails, the imposed grid of concessions and side-roads and the resulting development of farms, villages and towns. 

 Reading regional histories, checking old maps in the archives, and reading tombstones are all used to get a sense of the texture of the time and place. I am using Muir's botanical specimens as the signposts to the route and they too get added into the matrix.
The quick history of early Mono Centre

As mentioned in the previous post, I needed to return to wander some more in Mono Township starting with a good look at the village of Mono Centre. This truly was the hub of the township. Although it was on a major settlement road that climbed up and over the Niagara Escarpment the village had the benefit of several springs feeding into a small creek that had been dammed for water power. Of course this led to a community with a general store, a tavern and a blacksmith shop. The Bruce Trail passes through the village and a circular side trail has been blazed that circles the village. On that short 2 km walk I was able to find old foundations, the mill pond, some of the original houses and of course the church and cemetery. This is a very easy and short hike if you ever visit Mono Center. The best part is that there is an excellent restaurant on the main street with a pub in the basement in what is called the Mono Cliffs Inn.
Original Mono home
One of the early foundations that can be found.
The Bruce Trail as it ascends the escarpment in Mono Centre

The cemetery demands some time and the side-trail passes right along the edge. At first glance all you see are new headstones but as you walk in to the space you see that the ancient tombstones are all lying down and slowly being encroached upon by grass. In reading the stones you realize that some of the new looking stones are actually commemorating the original pioneers. The interesting thing to note is that the country of origin is listed for most of them. In this location most of them were Northern Irish. They all lived good long lives but there were also many tragic inscriptions of the deaths of children and mothers dying in child birth. One particular baby by the name of Hugh Turnbull died in 1867 along with his mother. The two year old sister died a month later. A tragic year for the Turnbull clan.
Born in Northern Ireland
A long way from home


















A curious thing is that my historical researches that I work on somehow seem to overlap. I am also working on an artifact of the Riel Rebellion of 1870 in Western Canada that ended up in our local museum. Interesting conjunction that I discovered was that Thomas Scott - a very nasty Orangeman from Northern Ireland who was executed in Manitoba by Riel was actually from this area. In this Mono Centre cemetery I found numerous headstones of the Scott clan. Could John Muir have run into Thomas Scott in this village in the summer of 1864? Since this was just before Canadian Confederation I am sure that politics were a big issue on everyone's minds. What would a Scottish/American traveller being saying to a Northern Irish immigrant deep in the Canadian wilderness?

 Although it was cool day as I hike around this village the flowers were magnificent and the trees were coming into full leaf. I can see the reforestation of the whole area happening in an organic way. Although the area was clear cut in the original settler's days it is now returning mostly to forest and rolling fields spotted with horses. With the imposing gates on the farm lanes and multiple No Trepassing signs it is easy to see that this area has become one giant gated community. Thankfully the Provincial Government was able to secure the Mono Cliffs Park for the public's use.
The structure of a Goatsbeard is to be marvelled at.


© Robert Burcher 2017

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