Eastern Elgin Heritage Attractions

Eastern Elgin encompasses the Municipality of Bayham, the Township of Malahide and the Town of Aylmer. Many communities in eastern Elgin County including Straffordville and Richmond are located along the original Talbot Road route. Colonel Malon Burwell surveyed this road in the first part of the 19th century and was given land for his services including what was later the fishing village of Port Burwell. Considerable amounts of timber cut from the lush forests of Bayham Township were shipped from here as barrel staves in the mid-19th century. In he 1890s a railway built along the historic Plank Road took vacationers to the lakeside at Port Burwell and brought coal to Tillsonburg to fuel the Canadian Pacific Railway. The nearby village of Vienna was once larger than Port Burwell and was founded by the great grandparents of famed inventor Thomas Alva Edison.
 
The neighbouring Township of Malahide is named for Malahide Castle in Dublin Ireland, the ancestral home of Colonel Thomas Talbot. Malahide’s numerous dairy farms and fertile farmland gave rise to evaporated milk and canning plants in the Aylmer area. Malahide is home to Springfield, a village that sprang up as a result of the Michigan Central Railway, and to Port Bruce a village sustained by the fishing and cottage industries. 
 
In 1817 John Van Patter, an emigrant from New York State, obtained 200 acres of land and became the first to settle at the site of present day Aylmer. At the time the settlement was called Troy but was renamed in 1835 for Lord Aylmer the then Governor-General of British North America. By the mid-1860s Aylmer became the marketing centre for a rich agricultural and timber producing area. Aylmer was incorporated as a village in 1872 and as a town in 1887. Over the next several decades Aylmer became the home of many food production plants. Aylmer Canners was established in 1881 and is still a well-known name in canned fruit and vegetables today. In 1946 the Imperial Tobacco processing plant opened and would stay in the town for over 60 years. 
Aylmer Old Town Hall Theatre

Aylmer Old Town Hall Theatre & Library 
38 John Street

Visit the Old Town Hall completed in 1874 and admire the original Italianate architectural design, arcaded brickwork, boldy-modelled cornice, and the beautiful Florentine windows. Sit in the Opera house where famous poetess Pauline Johnson once graced the stage in the 1880s and where Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald addressed the residents of Aylmer.  
Visits will require prior arrangements by calling 519-773-3164.

Site of the Royal Salute
Wonnacott Park, Port Bruce Harbour

The plaque tells the history of Port Bruce dating back to 1761 with the arrival of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Sir William Johnson, who came to negotiate with the native tribes.

Other notable historical buildings are the Port Bruce Manor built in 1860, and the 1854 Rocabore Inn (both are private residences now).

Aylmer Band Shell

Aylmer Bandshell 
Northeast corner of Centre Street 

& Sydenham in the Town Square

 

 

The Aylmer Bandshell was built in 1940 as a venue for the Aylmer Boy’s Band. The Art Deco Style structure fell into disrepair but was restored in 2010-11 with funds generously donated by the late Dorothy Palmer. Every Wednesday evening visitors can enjoy live music from mid-June to mid-September.

HMCS Ojibwa

Elgin Military Museum of Naval History and submarine HMCS Ojibwa

Starting in 2013, visitors to the Elgin Military Museum of Naval History will be able to experience for themselves what life was like onboard the HMCS Ojibwa, Canada’s first Oberon Class submarine. Scheduled for 2014, the adjacent interpretive centre will take visitors a step further, exposing stories that can only now be told of our exploits in war, espionage and peacetime service.

Amish Community 
Glencolin Line, Aylmer

 

 

The Old Order Amish community is located on Glencolin Line, Aylmer. Life on Amish farms continues the way it has for generations, with horse-drawn farm equipment and buggies, traditional dress and limited use of modern technology.

 

As you drive through the country roads Amish families can often be seen working in their fields and gardens, gathering the fruits of their labours.

*Photo Courtesy of the Town of Aylmer. 

Port Burwell Lighthouse

Port Burwell Historic Lighthouse 

17 Robinson Street, Port Burwell

 

 

The Port Burwell lighthouse was constructed in 1840. It was part of a national network of light stations equipped with beacon lights to warn or guide ships at sea. The Port Burwell light was used to aid navigation and commercial shipping of local timber on Lake Erie.

 

The tower is 13.7 metres high with its fixed, white light visible for 19 kilometres. It is the oldest wooden lighthouse on the Canadian shore of Lake Erie and one of the oldest surviving lights in Canada. Provincial Plaque on site.

Ontario Police College
10716 Hacienda Road, Aylmer

In the early 1950s, it was proposed by the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police the idea of a central provincial police academy. In 1962 the Attorney General announced the formal establishment of the college, and in 1963, the first classes were held on the present site using  buildings from a former RCAF base near Aylmer, Ontario. 

The present facility, operational since 1976, provides training to police officers to safely and effectively perform their duties upon graduation. The college also employs over 165 full and part-time staff providing the most up-to-date police training courses available.

Luton School House

Luton School House
County Rd #45 and Hacienda Rd. 

The first schoolhouse was built in the area in 1840 on this lot. Sometime around 1877 a new brick schoolhouse was built and was in use until 1968. Barn Quilt site.

Aylmer Town Hall

Aylmer Town Hall (Former Post Office
46 Talbot Street West

Aylmer’s present Town Hall occupies the former post office and customs house and was bought by the Town after the new post office was built in 1974. This building was constructed in 1913-14 by the Borden Government at the instigation of David Marshall, MP for East Elgin and a loyal supporter of Mr. Borden’s Conservative Party.

Pinecroft

Pinecroft 
8122 Rogers Road South, Aylmer

 

 

Arthur Caverly had the vision in the 1920s to plant 85,000 pine seedlings and dredge a 2 ½ acre lake with a team of horses. This early conservation project has grown into the beautiful tranquility of Pinecroft Pottery also known as

“A Little Muskoka Serenity.” Pinecroft Pottery was started by Arthur Caverly’s daughter Selma and her husband Jimmie Clennell in 1948, and is known as the oldest continually family operated pottery studio in Canada. Today Pinecroft is owned and operated by Arthur’s granddaughter Brenda(Caverly) Smith and her family.