[ssiguy]

Blenheim and Ridgetown are both quite pretty little farming towns each of about 3500 in Chatham-Kent.

Dresden is a very cute little place. Buxton south of Chatham is probably the most non-descript little place you can imagine. It only has a couple hundred people and really seems like nothing more than a collection of old houses but looks are deceiving.

Buxton has one of Canada's most interesting histories. It was settled by slaves as most slaves who made it to Canada did not stop at Windsor as bounty hunters would still cross over the water and take the ex-slaves back. They went further in and one of the first stops was Buxton where the church bell would ring every time a new escaped slave arrived into the town. Before the US Civil War it was home to 600 people and it's school was of such high renown that even many white people from nearby Chatham sent their kids to school there. Almost everyone in the village today are descendants of those ex-slaves. It is home to the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum.

Nearby Dresden which is much more substantial at around 2500 is a very pretty little farming community and is, of course, home to Uncle Tom's Cabin and it's quite amazing.

Nearby Petrolia is quite a cute little place of 6000 in Lambton. Beautiful old theatre & opera house. It's history is also quite interesting as the area is home to the first oil find in Canada hence it being between the tiny villages of Oil Springs and Oil City.

Petrolia exploded in population when oil was first discovered. It grew from nothing to a town so quickly that houses were built before the roads to get to them. Today Petrolia is still full of dead-end streets of different lengths that radiate off the main street and do not connect to another street or even meet squarely with the other street across from the main street. Think of it as urban form built on the lines of a small tree branch........small little branches of different sizes connecting to nothing except the main branch.

A lot of interesting history in our small towns which is why I love them.