Ontario Stone Towns | GREENSVILLE and WATERDOWN

[flar]

Originally Posted by salvius

Interestingly, I was driving past the escarpment today, cursing myself for not waking up earlier to take a side trip down the Bruce Trail that goes past Dundas Peak. I was wondering how many of the leaves turned colour. Well, that question has been answered!

The leaves on that part of the escarpment always turn first, a lot of Hamilton is still mostly green. In past years I've always been too busy and missed out on the fall colours, I hope to get out for some more photos next weekend.

Originally Posted by go_leafs_go02

I gotta check out Waterdown sometime. with only a bus pass, I don't get out much around Hamilton.

Websters falls i've hit up quite a few times, but that's about it.

Hamilton is gorgeous in its natural beauty. Or should I say Wentworth County. The original city of Hamilton is a completely different story.

There's not really much to see in Waterdown, it's mostly suburban housing and big boxes with the small Victorian core that I've shown in the pictures.

Originally Posted by raisethehammer

I hope you've got energy for another photo tour next weekend...the colours will blow these away...we're about to hit prime time for colours.

Hamilton is a beautiful spot. Today a band of San Fran style fog rolled in off the harbour. I snapped some pics from the mountain brow looking at it past the downtown skyline...was beautiful.
The escarpment runs right through downtown, the harbour, Cootes Paradise, RBG and Dundas Valley all exist right in the urban heart of the city.

Indeed, there is a lot of natural beauty in Hamilton, even in the old city.

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Flamborough is west of Hamilton, correct? I think I drove through that area when I drove to Kitchener. I remember taking King Street up the Escarpment on my drive there, and being awestruck of the view. I tried getting a picture while driving back, and it turned out alright, but the view in real life is much better than my picture.

Where's Waterdown? I don't think that I've heard of that place. Was/is it as big as Dundas was/is?

You definitely drove right through Greensville on your way to Kitchener. There is actually more to Greensville than meets the eye. There are quite a few subdivisions with nice homes on large lots, it's a bit like the typical American style sprawl up there.

Waterdown is east of Greensville along Hwy 5. Waterdown is almost as big as Dundas now and growing extremely fast. The current developments should bring Waterdown's population over 30,000, surpassing Dundas. Historically Dundas was always been larger than Ancaster and Waterdown but the latter two towns had much more room to expand. Ancaster has grown immensely in recent years and has much more population than Dundas now. Dundas is trapped in a valley and is now building up instead of out.

[kcexpress69]

Excellent photothread Flar!! I never realized that Hamilton had this much natural beauty inside its city limits!! Well done!!

[xzmattzx]

Originally Posted by flar

You definitely drove right through Greensville on your way to Kitchener. There is actually more to Greensville than meets the eye. There are quite a few subdivisions with nice homes on large lots, it's a bit like the typical American style sprawl up there.

Waterdown is east of Greensville along Hwy 5. Waterdown is almost as big as Dundas now and growing extremely fast. The current developments should bring Waterdown's population over 30,000, surpassing Dundas. Historically Dundas was always been larger than Ancaster and Waterdown but the latter two towns had much more room to expand. Ancaster has grown immensely in recent years and has much more population than Dundas now. Dundas is trapped in a valley and is now building up instead of out.

Looking at a map, I didn't go through Flamborough; I drove through West Flamborough. I used Highway 8 to get to Kitchener, since I wanted to see Cambridge, even though Google Maps and Windows Live Local recommended Highway 8. Some of the scenes are still familiar, like the view of the skyline coming down that King Street hill.

Where is Greensville? Is that an old little crossroads town, like Rockton or Sheffield?

Are they making Highway 6 into an expressway all the way to Highway 401? How is the road now? I'm assuming that they are doing this for HIghway 6 instead of Highway 8 because of the natural features along Highway 8, like that steep hill, and also because of the communities along the way (Dundas, Cambridge, etc).

[giallo]

You do SW Ontario a huge service, flar. Fantastic tour!

[flar]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Looking at a map, I didn't go through Flamborough; I drove through West Flamborough. I used Highway 8 to get to Kitchener, since I wanted to see Cambridge, even though Google Maps and Windows Live Local recommended Highway 8. Some of the scenes are still familiar, like the view of the skyline coming down that King Street hill.

Where is Greensville? Is that an old little crossroads town, like Rockton or Sheffield?

Are they making Highway 6 into an expressway all the way to Highway 401? How is the road now? I'm assuming that they are doing this for HIghway 6 instead of Highway 8 because of the natural features along Highway 8, like that steep hill, and also because of the communities along the way (Dundas, Cambridge, etc).

On Google maps they have it labeled "West Flamborough" but I call the whole area on the escarpment above Dundas "Greensville." Flamborough covers a large area, it was formerly the townships of East and West Flamborough. Pretty much every bend in the road has a name up there (eg: the ruins of the old mill is at "Crooks Hollow") and there are dozens of villages and hamlets like Lynden, Copetown, Strabane, Freelton, Carlisle, Mineral Springs, etc. Most of those little places have some nice historic homes and many date to the early 1800s.

This is the view from King Street, Dundas is in foreground, Downtown Hamilton in background:



Highway 6 is just being upgraded from Hwy 403 to Hwy 5. From Hwy 5 to Hamilton city limits (just past Freelton), it is 4 lanes with a turning lane in the centre. From there to the 401, it goes down to two lanes and passes through Morriston before interlining with the 401 for a few kms. It's extremely busy as the main route from the 401 to Hamilton and is often called the Death Highway because of all the serious accidents that have occurred. There are major bottlenecks in Morriston and the plan is to bypass Morriston and have it connect to the Hanlon Parkway in Guelph (where Hwy 6 continues north). Hwy 6 will then take you right up to Owen Sound through many small towns and then on to Tobermory where you transfer to a ferry (the Chi-Cheemaun) taking you to Manitoulin Island. Hwy 6 continues across the island and over a bridge to northern Ontario and into the town of Espanola where it ends at the Trans Canada Highway. Hwy 6 is one of Ontario's great highways and there are many sights the entire way.

[flar]

Thanks for the comments

[boden]

I had such a good time when I visited Hamilton last summer. It is so unique in a way that I find very appealing.
Another great set flar!

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

Great shots of beautiful nature (fall colours) and beautiful houses.

[jdcamb]

Some fantastic Mountain biking in that area. Kelso gets all the attention but Waterdown is more primitive and I enjoy it there.

[montréaliste]

Great job again flar! Thanks for showing a good sampling of stone houses. I really like the loyalist style of houses and the care a lot of people take in preserving the details.