Saturday, August 16, 2014

Welcome to the Toronto Carrying Place!

part of the Pine Valley Drive trail, north of Langstaff Road
Thank you for joining me today on the trail. 

One of my deepest interests -- and a prime reason for me writing a book -- is exploring how the past seeps into the present. The Carrying Place never had an imposing physical presence. It was, after all, a simple footpath through the woods; easily overgrown by bush or erased by anyone clearing forest. But it was an important part of life for people in Ontario for thousands of years, and it created ripples in Ontario's history that we can still see today. In this blog I hope to discuss some of those consequences and look at how the Carrying Place still flashes into our awareness from time to time.

Other issues that may well come up:
  • Southern Ontario's missing Native heritage
  • (the horror of) development in the Greater Toronto Area
  • les 400 ans de présence francophone en Ontario
  • Étienne Brûlé -- Carrying Place commuter or not?
  • the complicated business of archaeology in Ontario
And I'm hoping that readers will be able to help clear up some of the stickier technical details that stumped me during my trip and during the writing of the book. Was Emery Creek really "Drunken Creek"? How many horses did Lt-Gov Simcoe take with him up the Carrying Place in 1793? I'm sure that we'll be able to figure it out together.

Let me know about your interest in the Toronto Carrying Place. I'm looking forward to talking with you over the next few months.

With best regards,
Glenn

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