History and Heritage

Location: Gore's Landing Pioneer Park

Named after Thomas S. Gore, an Irishman who settled in this vicinity in 1845, the Village of Gore's Landing prospered for a time as the terminal point of a plank road construction from Cobourg to Rice Lake, 1847-48. Among the well-known residents of Gore's Landing were Archibald Lampman (1860-1899), noted poet; Derwyn T. Owens (1876-1947), Anglican Primate of All Canada from 1934-1947; J. D. Kelly (1862-1958), historical artist; and Gerald S. Hayward (1845-1926), a painter of miniatures who won acclaim in the U.S. and Britain. Hayward contributed to the building of the present St. George's Anglican Church, constructed of stone in 1908 to replace the wooden church erected 1846-48, and is buried in the adjacent cemetery.

Erected 1968 by the Province of Ontario, Department of Public Records and Archives, and the Archeological and Historic Sites Board of Ontario.

Location: Harwood Road, (Lot 6, Concession 8)

In 1854, fourteen German immigrants who had been working on the construction of the Cobourg and Peterborough Railway died of cholera while on this property. They were buried in unmarked graves beside the railway berm. In 1882, J.R. Barber, a former superintendent of the railway, erected a wooden cross to mark the burial site. The inscription on the cross reads:

In memoriam, fourteen German laborers who died of Cholera, 1854, and buried in Potter's Field.

In 1987 the memorial was restored by the Cobourg and District Historical Society, the Township of Hamilton, and the Ministry of Citizenship and Culture.

Location: McClelland Road (Lot 32, Concession 4)

Boltus Harris, United Empire Loyalist from New York, was granted this property in 1797. Known as the Township's "first settler," Boltus, his family, and other settlers, are buried here on the hill just south of the creek. In 1832, the lot became Melsetter Farm, the first home in Canada of Dunbar and Susanna Moodie. Moodie's book, Roughing It In The Bush, relates the story of the Harris family she found here and her adventures with them.

The Bicentennial of the Province of Ontario was celebrated in 1984.

Location: Harwood Hall, 5453 Front Street, Harwood

This area was purchased in 1828 by Robert Harwood, a merchant from Montreal, but significant development did not occur until the arrival of the Cobourg and Peterborough Railway in 1854. The village of Harwood was surveyed in 1855, and the railway, used to transport passengers, lumber, and goods to Peterborough, and later ore to the Marmora iron foundry, spurred commercial growth in the area.

A key feature of the railway was the nearby crib bridge across Rice Lake; however, due to poor engineering and construction, the bridge was closed in 1862. The line also faced strong competition from the Port Hope–Peterborough Railway. With the decline of the local lumber industry, rail service on the Cobourg and Harwood line ceased in 1895.

Erected in 1971 by the Archaeological and Historic Sites Board and the Department of Public Records and Archives of Ontario.

Location: Cavan Road, (Lot 28, Concession 7)

Born on this property, Mina Benson was an early 20th-century Canadian explorer and writer. Between June 27 and August 27, 1905, she retraced and completed the ill-fated 1903 Labrador expedition of her late husband, Leonidas Hubbard, covering 576 miles from the Northwest River to Ungava Bay. Her field surveys, among the first to document the Naskaupi and George River systems, were accepted by the American Geographical Society. In 1908, she published her account as A Woman’s Way Through Unknown Labrador. Benson later remarried, raised three children, and settled in England, where she passed away.

The commemorative plaque was erected in 1996, the Bicentennial Year of the Township of Hamilton, with support from the Ontario Heritage Foundation and the Cobourg and District Historical Society.

Location: Lander Road (Lot 19, Concession 8)