WalkCK's Dresden Trillium Trail Historical Walk

This past weekend, WalkCK hosted a group led walk at the Dresden Trillium Trail. This walk was one of the walks I was looking most forward to. I have always been a history lover. I can tell you much about Renaissance Italy, or England from 1400 to present, and Canadian History, but when it comes to local history I know only the basics. The Trillium Trail will have you walking past 53 historical sites which include 22 plaques which have corresponding pictures of the key figures and industries that helped shape Dresden from 1820 to 1920.

When everyone arrived for the walk to begin at 10:00am, we had enough people so we could split the group into two different groups each led by a local person who helped develop the trail. One group went with Lynda Weese who was able to give a great tour of the horticulture seen along the Trillium, while the other was led by local historian Marie Carter for a more historical based tour.

While I heard many wonderful things about the horticultural tour, I happened to be in the group led by Marie Carter and got some amazing insight to the history of Dresden. We started at the plaque that showed where Rev. Josiah Henson’s house (“Uncle Tom’s Cabin”) actually sat originally. From there we went along the famous and once sought after “Hughes Street” which is a street with beautiful houses and some intriguing stories to go with them. We saw a house that John A. MacDonald might have stayed at when he came to visit a good friend who lived in Dresden during his last campaign tour, stories of forbidden love, and just interesting facts of architecture and the first families like the McVean’s that settled in Dresden.

 We stopped at a spot where there was nothing but some trees in front of the river and grass to find out that this spot is where the old train station once was in 1883. Upon closer inspection of the road you could see the middle of it was a lighter colour. The lighter colour was due to the fact that the road was made over top of the train tracks, so you can still see the outline.

We passed by many more interesting houses some that dated back to the mid to late 1800s and the stories that came with them were amazing. As we reached Rotary Park there were many new trees that have been planted through the past few years. For someone like me who, while appreciates the surrounding nature, but has difficulty putting a name on it, I loved the fact that names labelled the trees. I believe they planted trees that would have been native to the Dresden area when settlement was first taking place. 

Part of the trail had cement bricks in the ground we were essentially walking on, and a bit further up there was part of a wall standing. Walking by it would be seem pretty insignificant, however, learning it was remnants from a giant four floor sugar beet factory that once stood there made it much more significant.

There were so many stories and different dynamics along this trail, from the Underground Railroad to the industries of Dresden, I couldn’t possibly list them. Growing up in small towns all my life I always had an understanding of the importance and the impact small towns have on surrounding areas. This trail has really brought a whole new understanding and appreciation that Dresden was, and still is, such an integral part to Southern Ontario. I will end this with the lesson I learned the most during this WalkCK walk; never take anything you see on a walk for granted, history is always surrounding us and trying to tell its story.  Be aware and embrace it for what is was and how it has shaped the area you are in now.

A special thanks once again to Marie Carter and Lynda Weese for making WalkCK’s walk a memorable, entertaining, and educational walk. For anyone interested on going on the Dresden Trillium Trail you can find a self-guided tour brochure at http://www.dresden.ca/TrilliumTrail.pdf.