Waterdown - A Bit of History
With the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, England was awash with thousands of now unemployed soldiers. In North America the threat of invasion from the revolutionary Republic to the south (United States) urged the British to settle Upper Canada (Ontario). Those disbanded soldiers became the heart of a large scale immigration. There were three conditions for a 200 acre land grant in the Township of East Flamborough (Waterdown).

* Build a 30’ x 30’ dwelling

* Clear 10 acres of land for farming

* Open your property to the surveyed road.

Virgin forests of hardwoods (oak and maple) and towering pines covered the land. The village that was to become Waterdown is situated just to the north and along the edge of the beautiful Niagara Escarpment and by 1843 this area had been settled. Grindstone Creek, the lifeblood of Waterdown, provided precious power to the numerous mills which fueled its prosperity. The many beautiful stone structures, built by the famed, immigrant Scottish stonemasons attest to the financial successes of the village.
The First Nations people hunted and fished on the shores of Lake Geneva (Burlington Bay) but migrated north to their winter encampments by way of a well-used trail. That meandering tree-lined trail is now called Snake Road, and when you travel between our two farm locations you are driving along the oldest First Nations trail in Upper Canada