The Forest That Brought Down Napoleon
Plus the supernatural history of Toronto, a ton of free events, and more.
It stands at the very edge of our city, marking the leafy border between Scarborough and Pickering: Rouge Park. It’s a magical place, where a winding river valley is blanketed by a towering forest. The woods are filled with beauty and wildlife, an oasis where you can escape the hustle and bustle of the big city.
It’s also a place filled with history. In fact, one of my favourite trails through Rouge Park is connected to some of the most dramatic events in the history of the world. Two centuries ago, the forests of the Rouge helped bring down Napoleon.
We tell that story is our latest episode of Canadiana, which is totally free to watch right here and about 10 minutes long:
Oh boy, are things ever busy right now! I’m excited to the point of being nearly overwhelmed by the number of events I’ve got coming up. So I thought that this week, I’d share allllll the things I’ll be up to over the next little while — including a spooky new course and two back-to-back weekends absolutely packed with free tours, readings, and talks.
I hope some of you can make it out to an event or two! And if you do, make sure to say hello! I’d love to see you! And I promise not to think you’re weird if I see you pop up more than once!
A SUPERNATURAL HISTORY OF TORONTO
The spookiest time of year is just around the corner, and as it approaches I’m creating a whole new online course to explore some of Toronto’s spookiest tales.
You can learn a lot about a city through the stories of the strange things said to lurk in its shadows. In four online lectures, we'll explore Toronto's past through tales of phantoms, monsters and mythical beasts. Whether it's the terrifying creature spotted in the tunnels beneath Cabbagetown, the sea serpent rumoured to live in the depths of Lake Ontario, or the unicorns hidden all over town, the supernatural stories told about our city illuminate the history of the place we call home.
Registration is already open!
THIS SUNDAY! AND NEXT SUNDAY!
LOVE & DEATH AT THE TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF AUTHORS
This Sunday afternoon, I’ll be kicking off my two weekends packed full of free events by making an appearance at the Toronto International Festival of Authors. It’s happening down at Harbourfront, which is where I’ll be sharing stories from The Toronto Book of the Dead this Sunday — and then stories from The Toronto Book of Love the Sunday after that. So, come hang out with me in a big tent and dive into grisly and romantic tales from our city’s past. Each event will last about an hour. And best of all, it’s totally free!
Free! — September 25 & October 2 — 1pm
THIS SUNDAY!
LOVE, DEATH & THE BRICK WORKS
As soon as I’m done at Harbourfront, I’ll be racing off to The Don Valley Brick Works for my next event. It’s one my favourite places in the world, a spectacular space tucked away in the valley, filled with heritage buildings, lush greenery and all sorts of wildlife. The Word On The Street literary festival is hosting their first ever Community Pop-Up event there this Sunday. And as part of it, I’ll be leading a free tour that I’m calling “Love, Death & The Brick Works.”
The history of the site and its surroundings is tied to stories both romantic and grisly. Hidden among the industrial relics and the bulrushes are tales of lust and disaster, of love poems and séances, of scandalous affairs and bone-chilling murder. We'll explore some of those hidden tales of the Brick Works on the tour, uncovering stories of love and death that have shaped the site and the city that surrounds it.
Free with registration! — 3pm — September 25
NEXT SATURDAY & SUNDAY!
LOVE STORIES OF THE HUMBER
And we’re still not done! The weekend after that, you’ll not only find me at Harbourfront, but at Humber Bay too. I’ve teamed up with Myseum to develop another free walking tour: a romantic stroll around the mouth of the Humber River, uncovering stories of passion and heartbreak that have shaped the landscape over the last few hundred years. “Take in the beautiful city lights at dusk with accompanying music as you listen to stories from tour host Adam Bunch, who will tell tales of heartbreaking farewells, torrid affairs, and long-lasting romance. Hear about the legacy of two artists who challenged the city’s attitudes toward same-sex relationships, the war-time romance behind Toronto’s most notorious highway, a French-Canadian fur trader’s four weddings, and many more.”
“Love Stories of the Humber” is part of Myseum’s “Sidewalk Stories” series, which also features some other fascinating-looking tours. (I’ve included them in the event listings below.)
Free with registration! — October 1 & 2 — 3pm & 5:30pm each day (I recommend the 5:30 slot; it will be dusk by the time we end, which should add to the romantic ambience)
QUEEN ELIZABETH & THE ROWDY NEWFOUNDLANDERS
I also did a bit of writing this week…
The very first Canadians that Queen Elizabeth ever met on a trip to Canada as our queen was a rowdy crowd of Newfoundlanders who woke her up in the middle of the night. It was the end of 1953, back when Elizabeth was still a brand new queen. Her coronation had been held just a few months earlier, and now it was time for her first Royal Tour as sovereign. It would be the biggest trip of her life, an epic six-month-long odyssey that would make her the first European monarch ever to travel all the way around the planet. And while Canada wasn't on the official itinerary, it would still play a small and vital role…
It’s my favourite little story about Queen Elizabeth’s many visits to Canada. So I wrote about the rowdy, and probably drunken, Newfoundlanders who gave her a bit of a rude welcome for Canadiana this week.
Before we continue, just a very quick reminder that The Toronto History Weekly will only survive if enough of you are willing to switch to a paid subscription. Only about 5% of readers have made the switch so far, which basically means that by offering a few dollars a month you’ll be giving the gift of Toronto history to 20 other people. You can make the switch by clicking here:
QUICK LINKS
The best of everything else that’s new in Toronto’s past…
BIG OLD TREE NEWS — When I led a tour through the St. James neighbourhood a few weeks ago, there was an old friend missing in the park. One of its great old trees had recently been brought down. The soaring Sugar Maple is thought to have been standing there for nearly a century and a half, since the 1880s or so. Kristine Morris shared its story on the Friends Of St. James Park site. Read more.
WRECKING BALL NEWS — Another week, another modernist gem of an office building under thread. This time, it’s the sleek mid-century tower on University. The Globe’s architecture critic Alex Bozikovic wrote a thread calling the proposal “shocking” and adds that “Toronto’s heritage planning is highly dysfunctional. It’s a small department basically accountable to no one, operating with no overarching strategy, imposing huge costs on new housing while failing to protect things that matter.” The Toronto’s Society of Architects’ Joël Leon (@Joel_LeonD on Twitter) agrees, “This is wrong. At this pace, nothing of our modernist heritage will be left.”
Click to read the full thread.
HATEFUL CONSPIRACY NEWS — “Canada has historically punched above its weight in the production of extreme and fringe thinkers,” Daniel Panneton writes for TVO this week. William Guy Carr was one of the most influential, and most hateful. From the years after the First World War all the way through to the Cold War, he “developed and integrated various strands of conspiratorial thought into a grand narrative that he proselytized widely from his Willowdale home — and that continues to inform conspiratorial thinking around New World Orders and global cabals today.” Read more.
DRUNK STUDENTS & BRUNCHING GRANDMOTHERS NEWS — The lovely old building on Prince Arthur that used to house the Bedford Academy pub is up for sale, being pitched as a redevelopment opportunity with the chance to add “a substantial addition.” Read more.
TORONTO HISTORY EVENTS
SIDEWALK STORIES: ROBBERY, RAILROADS & RUCKUS IN THE JUNCTION
September 24 (3pm) & September 25 (12:30pm & 3pm) — Walking Tour — Myseum & The West Toronto Junction Historical Society
“Get your inquisitive minds ready for this rollicking walk through one of Toronto’s most vibrant neighbourhoods, led by veteran walking tour host Neil Ross. As you explore the history and streets of the Junction, sharpen your knowledge with answers to queries such as: did some of the Junction’s earliest residents come up on the Underground Railroad? Who robbed the Royal Mail outside one of the Junction’s first taverns? And just how wild does a town have to get to shut down its own bars? After getting to know the fascinating stories of the Junction, test your knowledge with a quiz and a complimentary drink at Junction Craft Brewery.”
Free with registration!
THE MOUNT PLEASANT HISTORY TOUR
September 24 — 1pm — Mount Pleasant Cemetery
“Join us for a peek into the past at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Cremation & Funeral Centres. This Saturday, September 24, 2022 at 1:00 p.m, meet Toronto Historian Chantal Morris near the Yonge Street gates. Tour will take approximately two hours, please dress for the weather & comfort. Light refreshments will be served.”
Free!
THE GOVERNOR SIMCOE WALKING TOUR
September 24 — Part 1: 9:30am — Part 2: 1pm — Swansea Historical Society
“This FREE guided tour retraces a portion of Simcoe’s 1793 expedition up the Toronto Carrying Place portage route. SHS Vice-President Lance Gleich will be leading the tour and will provide commentary. As in past years, Part 1 of the tour will start at 9:30 am at the Rousseau plaque (8 South Kingsway, beside the Petro Canada station), heading north along Riverside Drive to Bloor Street. After a break for lunch on Bloor Street, Part 2 will start at 1:00 pm at the Alex Ling Fountain (north-west corner of Bloor and Jane), heading north towards the Eglinton Flats, and mostly using side streets between Jane and the Humber River. Everyone is welcome. You can choose to participate in Part 1, or Part 2, or both, and you are free to join or leave the group at any point.”
Free!
TOWARD THE MOUTH OF THE ROUGE: A BILINGUAL WALK
September 25 — 2pm — Walking Tour — La Société d’histoire de Toronto and Lost Rivers
“To mark both World Rivers Day and Franco-Ontarian Day, you are invited to join us in an exploration of the natural and human history surrounding the area near the mouth of the Rouge River. Learn about its evolution as well as the dynamic presence of Indigenous peoples and French explorers until the time of British colonization.”
Free with registration!
TECHNOLOGY, CRISIS, AND TORONTO’S POSTAL SLOGANS: THE ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF GOVERNMENT POSTAL PROPAGANDA IN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES, 1870–1920
September 27 — Riverdale Historical Society
“Incorporating an artifact from Toronto’s rich history of postal slogan postmarks as an inquiry starting point for a broader scholarly examination, this lecture delves into the local, national, and international history and origins of government postal propaganda in Canada and the United States during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.
“This lecture argues that Progressive Era crises, ranging from social unrest to war, encouraged the Canadian and American governments to appropriate traditional craft aesthetics and work with transnational capitalists on both sides of the forty-ninth parallel to transform seemingly mundane postmarking machinery into subtle tools of constant state indoctrination that proliferated propagandistic pictorial slogan postmarks to mailboxes in every corner of North America.”
FREDERICK BANTING: THE MAN YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW
September 28 — 7:30pm — Online — North Toronto Historical Society
“‘Insulin was but a means to an end.’ wrote Frederick Banting. Grant Maltman, curator of Banting House in London, Ontario, will highlight insulin's centenary, and also show that there was far more than this Nobel Prize-winning discovery in Banting's life and career: his service in both World Wars, his use of art as an escape and his role as a catalyst for Canada's military and medical research.”
Free with registration, I believe
TORONTO’S STOCKYARDS THEN & NOW
October 6 — West Toronto Junction Historical Society
“Toronto’s Stockyards District – Then and Now is an illustrated talk on one of the most important and unique industrial areas of Toronto, which has all but been replaced by large box stores and homes. The talk will feature both Vincenzo Pietropaolo’s photographs from the1980s—most of which have never been seen before—and his photographs of the same streets and lands as they appear today.”
SIDEWALK STORIES: PUNK, CREED & CREE MÉTIS ON QUEEN WEST
October 8 & 9 — 10am & 12pm both days — Walking Tour — Myseum
Explore the counterculture of Queen West from ’77 to ’83 with a storytelling tour seen through the eyes of Cree Métis artists Rebecca and Kenny Baird. Delve into the history of this tumultuous and flourishing vanguard arts hub as told by the Baird siblings. You’ll hear their contributions to punk, queer, street and magazine subcultures, ground-shifting local music, thought-provoking art installations, and more. Weave through this radical time, hearing about the many illustrious arts allies and locales they frequented, such as The Cameron House, Toxic Plan 9, Art Metropole, and more. The tour ends with an artist talk and Q&A with Rebecca and Kenny Baird. Developed in collaboration with Caroline Azar and Franco Boni.”
Free with registration!
GHOSTLY WALK THROUGH THE TOWN OF YORK
October 13, 20 & 28 — 7pm — The Town of York Historical Society & Toronto’s First Post Office
“Brave the darkness as we head into the city to explore the ghostly haunts of the Old Town of York, and hear tales of dread and mystery from those who walked Toronto’s streets before us. The walk will proceed rain or shine, so please dress for the weather. Tours start/end at Toronto’s First Post Office.”
$16.93 for non-members; $11.62 for members
SIDEWALK STORIES: OLD MEETS NEW
October 15 & October 16 — 1:30pm & 4pm both days — Walking Tour — Myseum & The Toronto Society of Architects
“Explore over 150 years of unique architectural history in and around the University of Toronto’s St. George campus, delving into how architects have worked around, added to, repaired, adapted, and even relocated some of the earliest structures in the area. Tour through one of the most remarkable architectural collections in Canada, taking stock of buildings such as the Royal Ontario Museum, the Faculty of Arts and Science, and Robarts Library. Led by Joël León of the Toronto Society of Architects, this walk will challenge preconceptions of what heritage is and raise questions of how to preserve our past while meeting the needs of the future.”
Free with registration!
A DAUGHTER REBELS: THE STORY OF ANNE POWELL
October 20 — 7:30pm — Online — Etobicoke Historical Society
“For Anne Powell in 1807, life in York (now Toronto) was unbearable. Her mother's rules of genteel propriety were intolerable, as were her father's insistence that a daughter's only role in life is to marry. But Anne craved a different future. As a midwife and nurse, she saved a friend from a botched abortion, delivered a servant's baby, and nursed the wounded during the American invasion of York - activities her parents hated and opposed. Author and educator Ann Birch will draw on her research from her historical novel, A Daughter Rebels, to follow the adventures of the real-life Anne Powell as she dared to challenge the norms of early 19th century society.”
Anne Powell was one of the figures I was most fascinated by while writing The Toronto Book of Love!
Free for members; an annual membership is $25.