Today we head out to the middle of the county, to another point on the map. Behold New Canaan!
It was a little disappointing to head to such a biblically named locale, and not even find a church. This view is looking over the River Canard River Bridge towards downtown.
48 years of service for this bridge. Eugene Whelan, long time local politician of the red kind, was the chairman of the Road Committee back in 1959.
The greenway now occupies the former C&O railway line, creating a trail from Lake Erie to Highway #3 & Walker Road. The railroad crossing signs have been replaced with bicycle crossing signs.
The scar of the level crossing is still visible in the road.
Looking north along the old rail line.
An old railway bridge has been refurbished.
One of the few houses in the area. One of the proud New Canaanites!
Another little mystery settlement from the map ends in disappointment.
I don’t really know if it’s a dissapointment or not. There’s still evidence of the town, if only in the paved over railroad crossing. Dora and I have this nasty habit of taking back roads whenever we wander around Washington state, Some of the towns we find are lucky if they have the falling down shell of an old store, but one can still get a feeling for what the town might have been at one time.
Thank you, Andrew for your tours of lost Essex county. I would assume the ghosts of the towns that once were appreciate it. I know I do……
When in grade school, the school bus I rode travelled daily through New Canaan. I recall that the signs for the “town” were taken down after the small general store there burnt down. That would be in the late 60’s or early 70’s. At the pond near the road, rumoured to date from the era of steam trains using the water, many a “pond hockey” game was played. The pond is smaller now due to it being filled in with soil (in the late 80’s or early 90’s I believe).
Thanks Ralph!
In that area was an early black settlement. Back behind one of the farmers fiels is an old black cemetery. These people were some of the escaped slaves. That’s the history that has been lost. Contact HEIRS in Harrow and you will get a lot more info. For instance there is an old cemetery between Oxley and the lake that has been restored and has a monument to sailors lost in a ship wreck. Interesting stuff.
New Canaan was one of the fugitive slave settlements of the 19th Century, as Shirley B has mentioned. In fact Canaan was a code word for Canada. Initially the Black population lived segregated in these settlements, but later became more integrated into the mainstream population. Mary Ann Shadd (editor of the Provincial Freeman) and Frederick Douglass were among those urging Blacks to move toward integration for a more viable future. Descendants of original fugitive slave residents still form the core of North Buxton over in Chatham-Kent. Labour Day weekend is traditionally Homecoming weekend in North Buxton, where there will be a parade and descendants of the early inhabitants will come from across North America … I know because I am one who will be there 🙂
Jim, thanks for some background history on the place, simply amazing.