Ancestral Roofs

"In Praise of Older Buildings"

Sunday, March 1, 2015

We're Bonded Now

 "Have you been along Bond Street?" asked the lovely couple who approached our car, as we idled outside the Court House checking our list of neighbourhood heritage homes, consulting our map and planning our next stop. Yes, I enthused. we had, and my heart was full of long shadows of tall trees on deep snowy lawns, and exquisite c.19 and early c.20 homes of every style and form of old-house beauty. We talked a bit about the town's heritage, and I mentioned we were off to Kent Street next, to find a bathroom at their beautifully preserved Carnegie library. "Oh you could use ours, we're just down the block," the woman replied, and our welcome to Lindsay was complete.

Later, as I admired a lovingly cared for home built in "locally made brick in the third quarter of the nineteenth century" a pleasant gentleman popped out of his door. I introduced myself as an "old house nut" and he engaged us in a lively discussion about Lindsay's history and its old house heritage.  A visit to Bond Street was also among his many  recommendations for enjoying this loveliest of Ontario towns.

This fellow's neighbourhood, the Mill Street area, is the oldest part of town. Later we followed his instructions to the mill ruin site - which we will revisit in summer, to enjoy the parkland bordering the Scugog River - and more walks along more old residential streets. Yesterday was bright and beautiful, but appallingly cold.




More posts about Lindsay are sure to follow. Did I mention that it was my new favourite town?

6 comments:

  1. I'm partial to Little Hope st. in Port Hope. Boy did I laugh when I saw that !! As for Lindsay, I'll take your word for it. You seem to have new favourites quite frequently !

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  2. Thanks for visiting often enough to see how fickle my enthusiasms are! I love them all. Little Hope Street is great - would be even better if there were a Greater Hope Street a bit further on. Seems to me Picton once had a Short Mary Street.

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  3. Mark, I realized that I'd gotten the name of that delightful street of heritage houses wrong - It's Bond! Not Hope. Hope is quite different, and much more workmanlike in character. Hence the name change on the post :-)

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  4. Hmm. Interesting that Bond st was comprised of the monied people (and their houses). I wonder if Bond street was named after Francis Bond Head......several towns and streets in Ontario are. FBH was either a member of the Family Compact or was closely aligned w/ them politically, and at one point he tried to smear MacKenzie's name and labeled him a republican. Interesting, too, that MacKenzie's old house in Toronto is at 82 Bond st..

    Did you get that email I sent you about Ezekiel Wiggins etc., and his Belleville connection ?

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  5. I remember my sweet yellow brick Victorian house in Lindsay fondly. I wish it had been kept up better but later residents.

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  6. Which sweet little Victorian was yours? We'er going back for another photo tour when it warms up, we could revisit and tell her she's loved.

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