April 1988
Grand River Branch
Conservation Foundation Receives Donation for ‘Loyalist Lane’:
The Grand Valley Conservation Foundation was recently pleased to accept a donation of $1200, from the Grand River Branch of the United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada.
The money will be used to create a ‘Loyalist Lane’ at the Taquanyah Nature Centre, located in the lower Grand River valley, just west of Cayuga. The site was chosen because the lower Grand River region contains much of our valley’s early Loyalist history.
The ‘Loyalist Lane’ will feature a 200-meter trail. Lining the trail will be examples of cedar rail, stump and brush fences; types that were common in early settlement days, and which will be used as teaching tools for students visiting the area.
Various species of Carolinian Forest trees will be planted just beyond the fences, and in time, the trail will become a shady pathway back to historic times.
Projects of the Grand River Branch are directed toward the preservation of Loyalist history in the Grand River valley.
The Grand Valley Conservation Foundation is a charitable organization, whose purpose is to undertake conservation-related projects that would not otherwise be accomplished, for the benefit of valley residents.
Rick Dowson of the Grand River Conservation Authority, and George Stormont of the Grand Valley Conservation Foundation, accept a cheque for $1200 from Doris Lemon of the United Empire Loyalists’ Association. The donation will be used for construction of a ‘Loyalist Lane’ at the Taquanyah Nature Centre, near Cayuga, Ontario.
Fall 1988
‘Loyalist Lane’ Taquanyah Nature Interpretation Centre Update:
The assistance of the grant from the Ministry of Citizenship and Culture has made possible the creation of a ‘Loyalist Lane’ in the Grand River Watershed. Through a Loyalist Lane Fund, established with the Grand Valley Conservation Foundation, into which personal and memorial donations may be made, and income tax receipts received, a shady path back into Ontario’s past will be created as a teaching tool for school tours, and others, and create a visible Loyalist presence in the heart of Loyalist Grand River Settlement.
The $1200.00 donated by Grand River Branch will plant approximately 45 metres of a 200-metre Lane. Costs work out to approximately $27.00 per metre. To date three personal donations have received totalling $103.00, or four metres.
Rail and stump vintage fences will be constructed to give a back lane effect and a landscape representative of Loyalist settlement days will be developed using Carolinian flora. The lane will have stonedust surface suitable for wheelchairs.
The trees lining the fence consist of oak, hickory, black walnut and sugar maple. Shrubs and vines and the following will be planted inside the fences for colour and period authenticity: dogwood, currant, osage orange, bittersweet, elderberry, wild grape, lilac, quince, Virginian Creeper, wild crab, choke cherry, juneberry, gooseberry, and wild plum. Other trees for mixed planting would be various oak and hickory species, white pine, sassafras, horse chestnut, black locust, cottonwood, sycamore and hard maple. Vintage varieties of orchard plantings could also be included as additional funds become available.
Grand River Branch expresses appreciation to the Ministry of Citizenship and Culture for its Grant Program to Heritage Organizations which covers 75% of outreach programs for Heritage Preservation up to $3,000.00 per annum.
Grand River Branch donated 2 books on the Loyalists: The United Empire Loyalists and the American Revolution and The Life of the Loyalists to fifteen small branch libraries in the southern end of the Grand River Watershed, i.e., Burford, Oakland, Six Nations, South Dumfries, Glen Morris, St. George, Dunnville, Caledonia, Hagersville, Cayuga, Port Dover, Selkirk, Jarvis, Waterford, Delhi, etc., at $15.00 per set. The executive is presently selecting small libraries in the northern section of the Watershed for similar gifts this year. Again, appreciation is expressed to the Ministry of Citizenship and Culture for its grant to assist in this outreach education program.
Bill Yeager, curator of the Eva Brook Donly Museum in Simcoe, gets into the spirit of the day. Yeager, dressed in an 1800 Loyalist costume, officially opened the Loyalist Library at the Donly Museum with members of the Grand River Branch of the United Empire Loyalists on Sunday. Yeager received a $500 cheque from Kathleen Pasnyk, the treasurer of the Grand River Branch, as Doris Lemon of the United Empire Loyalists and Gary Cooper of Cambridge, the president of the Grand River Branch look on.