From Port Burwell I followed the Nova Scotia line to Port Bruce and then along the Dexter Line to Port Stanley. All along the way, luxurious houses clung to the shoreline. It was obviously a prime place to live for those in South-western Ontario.
Port Stanley proved to be a fascinating destination for those seeking relaxation under the sun, not only today but in generations past. A railway, since abandoned used to run from London, Ontario to Port Stanley carrying coal from Pennsylvania and fresh fish to London, and vacationers back and forth from the whole of South-western Ontario to this popular vacation spot. Renovated railway cars stand ready to take tourists and RR enthusiasts on short jaunts along the line.
Along the road beside the wide river there are condos, restaurants and a wide variety of shops luring tourists into their intriguing interiors. Fishing trawlers tie up to jetties on each side of the broad river where one can see piles of containers for their catches. A short way from the harbour, a beached and decommissioned submarine stands ready to welcome the curious.
I could have stayed much longer to explore the port but it was time to head inland to find my motel in St. Thomas. St. Thomas, billed as the Railroad City, was a surprise. A very high, abandoned RR trestle had been turned into an elevated walkway and park with marvelous views over the deep valley below. It also had a full-size statue to Drumbo, the elephant. Why I asked myself?
Billed as the world’s largest elephant by Barnum and Bailey circus, Drumbo was being loaded into a circus boxcar in St. Thomas after a show, when a barreling freight train hit and killed him. He had been a superstar seen by thousands. His death spawned a series of conspiracy theories including one that, with his declining health and unpredictable behaviour, the circus had staged the death. In a special, David Suzuki proved that his death had been by massive trauma.
With a new day dawning and time constraints, I could not explore further along the shore of Lake Erie to the tail of Ontario jutting into the US, nor our most southerly land on Point Pelee and Pelee Island. Perhaps, I would return. Instead, I cut across country to find the shore of Lake Huron at Goderich. (to be continued)
Country Inspiration 