Forest History Ontario Delivers Another Successful Field Tour in Grey/Bruce Counties--Hanover Area

On October 14th almost 30 avid forest history buffs met at Sulphur Springs Conservation Area to enjoy hot coffee and delicious donuts to start an excellent day visiting fascinating historical sights around the town of Hanover.

Organized by Board member Terry Schwan (his 4th in a series of field tours) we were all supplied with a very well researched Guide that described, in considerable detail, the history, features and stories for quite a number of sights in the area. The day would not have been possible without the very competent and gracious support of Donna Lacey from the Saugeen Valley CA who not only provided local history of the CA but was the generous benefactor for our morning snack. Our sincere thanks also goes to Jim Eccles whose very informative and well informed backgrounds and history of all the sites, was invaluable. Lee Thurston of Grey County and Jim White of the Bruce/Grey Woodlot Association provided very much appreciated support as well along with very interesting insights on a number of sights visited.

The tour followed, in part, a 1939 Forestry Field Tour and started at the property of a Dr. David Jameson, a remarkable man and visionary of the value of forests, particularly in this are of Grey County that was widely cleared in the hopes of establishing a vibrant agriculture economy. John Bacher published an excellent account of this in the fall issue 2014 of Forestory https://www.ontarioforesthistory.ca/media/forestory/fhso_journ_vol_05_iss_2_fall_2014_v7.pdf.

While details of all the sights visited are provided in the Guide a few that stood out in my mind included:

Camp Oliver ( named after local MLA Farquar Oliver) operated for a number of decades as a ‘reform’ camp that housed 40 inmates and 10 ‘overseers’. A minimum security facility their ‘guests’ were handed axes and saws (overseers had no weapons) and performed valuable forestry work in terms of planting, tending, pruning and improvement harvesting. For much of that time they had an effective monopoly on growing and selling Christmas trees in the province (hard to beat their prices) and they were the sole provider of firewood to all provincial parks. With the prospect of outdoor work, a warm bed every night, three good meals a day and $10.00 a week, it was not considered ‘hard time’. Complaints from private sector Christmas tree growers and firewood producers led to the closure of the camp, in 1972, which changed hand a few times but is now the site of the New Life Camp a Christian retreat. It is not known if any of the former residents visit the new facility for spiritual renewal.

The Dierlamm property currently includes a house section, farm fields and bush lot, but at one time was mostly cleared. The original owner, Justus Dierlamm (1884-1969) who owned the property in the early 20^th century was an electrician by trade and a very creative artist by passion. He could be seen whizzing around the county in his old motorbike with sidecar filled with tools and a 10 ladder strapped on top. For years, Justus collected all manner of interesting rocks, cracked and broken pottery, bits of colourful glass, sea shells from travelling neighbours, etc. When it became know that he collected this material, many residents across the counties dropped piles of it at his house, to the point where he needed to do something with all this stuff…and he did. Framing the driveway to the house is the most impressive and unique set of stone gates, so much so that it is a regular tourist stop. His 75 foot long stone wall at the back of the house is even more impressive. The current owners are in the process of upgrading and updating the house and property, but some of these impressive structure have suffered the effect of years in the elements.

The churchyard of St Francis Xavier RC Church in Carlsruhe boasts an impressive Red Oak that is over 150 years old and has a diameter of some 152 cms. The original pastor from Holland Fr Rassaerts, not only brought with him detailed plans for the magnificent Church build after he arrived in 1864, but on subsequent visits home included 38 beautiful stained glass windows (including 3 rosette windows still in place) but also at least one acorn, which he planted in the churchyard (so the story goes). W e were also treated to a short but fascinating description of the ‘old Schwan homestead’ in Carlsruhe, complete with family brewery which survived prohibition but closed in 1929. This and more history was published in a book authored by Terry in 2013. https://bookshelf.ca/product/view/9780991772117

Terry’s well drafted tour Guide will be published in our journal Forestory which is available for viewing on our website Home (fhso.ca). We are an entirely volunteer organization and rely on members to organize events, like these, and are very grateful for all their work. For those that are already members, thank you for your support and renewal notices will be out in the next few weeks. For those that have not yet joined, I encourage you to give it a serious look. I should point out to you all that we now have a very prominent “DONATE” button on our website that works very efficiently….give it a try.

A 2024 tour is under active consideration so stay tuned to our website where we will post information as it develops.

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