Hidden Ontario by Terry Boyle Read Free Book Online Page A

109 barrels of Wagners in a 10-hour day. George DeLong and his gang of five men picked and packed 120 barrels of Starks in one day.
    In the 1880s Brighton’s industrial centre featured a carriage and sleigh factory and some farm equipment factories. Mr. Robinson operated an apple evaporator, while William Butler operated a sawmill. A harness shop was run by Robert Marshall. Brighton had its own cheese factory located on Cedar Street. The village was also known for the Brighton Nightwear Company, which manufactured pyjamas.
    Every village, town, or city has had its occasional setback, and Brighton is no exception. The harsh winter of 1933–34 caused tremendous damage to Brighton’s apple orchards. Brighton experienced 20 degrees of frost on October 24. This was followed by temperatures as low as -35 degrees Fahrenheit in December and January, 1934. The apples were frozen on the trees. An extremely dry summer was followed by a wet fall that prevented the apple tree wood from hardening properly. The leaves remained on the trees throughout the winter. Those trees which had borne heavily died, while those without a crop survived. The older varieties such as Cooper’s market, Gano, Ben Davis, and Stark disappeared. The farmers were now faced with replanting and many growers chose the Melba, Lobo, McIntosh, and Cortland varieties. Other farmers decided to end their apple business entirely. Brighton then saw houses where the old orchards had once stood.
    In July 1975 the Downtown Business Association made the decision to hold a fall festival. They called it Brighton’s Applefest. Their first Applefest hosted a street fair for one day. When the coffee and baked goods ran out, the fair was over. The next year a few booths appeared. By 1977 the Lions, Legion, and Kinsmen Clubs assisted in Applefest. Today, Applefest is a four-day event attended by tourists from all over the province.
    The success of Brighton as a community and a tourist destination is in part due to their long-standing heritage and traditions, much of which involves the growing of apples. Perhaps Brighton was able to get by without a doctor for as long as it did, until it had 500 residents, because, as the saying goes, “An apple a day ...”

Burlington
    Â 
    He was called Thayendanegea. In Mohawk it meant “two sticks tied together for strength.” His English name was Chief Joseph Brant. A man of the Kamenhekaka nation, in 1798 he was granted 3,450 acres of land in Burlington by King George III, for his service to the Crown during the Seven Year War and the American Revolutionary War. This parcel of land included the area where the hospital and the museum, which both bear his name, are located.
    Joseph Brant was born in 1742 on the banks of the Ohio River during a hunting trip. He was raised in a place called Canajoharie, in the valley of the Mohawk River, in what is now New York State.
    His Majesty’s representative for Indian Affairs in the colony of New York was William Johnson. It is said that Johnson, while participating in a regimental muster, was approached by a 16-year-old girl, who asked if she could ride behind him on his horse. Thinking she was joking, he agreed. Suddenly, she leapt onto the saddle behind him and the two raced across the field. The girl was Molly Brant, Joseph’s sister. William Johnson later married her and became his third wife.
    During the Seven Years’ War between France and England (1756– 1763), Major General William Johnson appealed to his Native friends for assistance in fighting the French. Joseph Brant, aged 13, joined with other Mohawks to defeat the French. Johnson was later knighted Sir William Johnson.
    At the age of 19, Joseph Brant was sent by Johnson to Moore’s Charity School in Lebanon, Connecticut. The main mission of this college was to teach Natives to abandon their Native environment, mix with non-native students, learn English, and become missionaries among their