The Great Canadian Towns and Villages Thread

[Laceoflight]

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

This is utter nonsense.

Maybe it's not well-explained. But if you want more information, you could read this or anything in the bibliography :

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home..._num_77_2_1568

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I've never been, but I'm told that Port Dover on Lake Erie is also OK. I guess it's best known for the tens of thousands of motorcyclists who show up ever Friday the 13th.

Meh. It's got a small beach and the standard Ontario beach-side promenade lined with tacky souvenir shops and vendors of foot-long hot dogs, as per its cousins Grand Beach, Sauble Beach, Wasega Beach et al., but the main commercial street is paltry, as are the Victorian brick homes on offer on the side streets.

In short: too much vinyl siding. One trip for a swim and some Lake Erie perch should suffice anyone without close proximity or family ties to the place. The other beach towns on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay are more worthy of day trips.

Curious fact: Lake Ontario doesn't have beach towns like Lakes Erie and Huron and Georgian Bay do. The beaches in Toronto and Cobourg seem nice enough, but they don't provide the same atmosphere.

[le calmar]

I think they were very similar in form, but eventually took a different direction during their evolution. New Amsterdam (New York) was basically a little Dutch town. The urban form of New Haven, CT hasn't changed from the very beginning and you still have that old English town feel in the center. Montreal was built around a marketplace (Place Royale) a la française, surrounded by walls, which is a lot like medieval towns in Europe. I am not sure about Quebec City since the "habitation" concept was new, but the urban form was probably very european as well.

[Laceoflight]

Originally Posted by le calmar

I think they were very similar in form, but eventually took a different direction during their evolution. New Amsterdam (New York) was basically a little Dutch town. The urban form of New Haven, CT hasn't changed from the very beginning and you still have that old English town feel in the center. Montreal was built around a marketplace (Place Royale) a la française, surrounded by walls, which is a lot like medieval towns in Europe. I am not sure about Quebec City since the "habitation" concept was new, but the urban form was probably very european as well.

Very interesting debate! And I think you're right for the oldest villages / towns (back to the 1600's / in New England, New France, New Amsterdam). These thus became major cities today, with few exceptions.

However, it is interesting to see what happened when a systematic colonization of the land started. In New France, for example, the authorities adopted the "range" system (seigneuries). This system shaped most of the villages we know today in the Saint Lawrence valley : villages organized along a long main street, with common land a church place in the center. The cities that developed from this system have long blocks following the longitudinal division of the land (Montreal, for example).

After the conquest, a new system came, much inspired by what prevailed in England (the township system), but applied systematically on an almost virgin land. Most English canadian towns originated from this system, including in the Eastern Townships, Upper Canada... The prairies also, later.

Thereafter, in the end of the 1700s and in the 1800s, even in the 1900s, real north american urban forms took shape (in continuity / or rupture with the colonization forms previously developed)... City beautiful, boom towns... and many more. Utopian visionaries from Europe and America shaped the north american city in the 19th century (according to Jane Jacobs and others). In the USA, these "new ways" even came earlier, Philadelphia or Washington D.C. being examples.

IMHO, what explains that Canada (and on a global scale - North America) does not feature villages that look or feel like what you can find in Europe (as it seems to be an object of debate in here) lies there. In our "systematical colonization" history, which since the beginning or almost, is way different, new. It relies on our relationship with the territory. And we must not (IMHO again) diminish this heritage we share, but look at it with informed eyes, and see it for the qualities it actually has.

BTW, sorry if some of my sentences do not seem to make sense. I am still (and always) working on my English

[SignalHillHiker]

KW: Elora looks lovely - but, although you're correct about what it is about Paris, ON, that I love, Elora doesn't do it. That last picture, though, would be beautiful converted to a wedding reception location.

Paris just seems a little more... real, lived in.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

KW: Elora looks lovely - but, although you're correct about what it is about Paris, ON, that I love, Elora doesn't do it. That last picture, though, would be beautiful converted to a wedding reception location.

Paris just seems a little more... real, lived in.

Well, the good news is that you can drive from one to the other in about an hour, so it will be easy to compare when you do visit.

[TownGuy]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Curious fact: Lake Ontario doesn't have beach towns like Lakes Erie and Huron and Georgian Bay do. The beaches in Toronto and Cobourg seem nice enough, but they don't provide the same atmosphere.

Yeah, true. Cobourg has more of a Caribbean resort feel. Wasaga, etc more of a Florida beach town vibe.


Cobourg Beach by l2oni2915, on Flickr

Random pics of Cobourg


Storm's Coming by mgerskup, on Flickr



Cobourg by Cam Salsbury, on Flickr


Cobourg by cheeser359, on Flickr



COBOURG by ettml, on Flickr


Downtown Cobourg by livewiremedia, on Flickr



Cobourg 1 by Photos by PhilLi, on Flickr

This is a skating pad in the winter, fountain in the summer.

Cobourg by Craig Bogden Photography, on Flickr

[Trevor3]

Originally Posted by Vorkuta

I spent a week in Great Harbour Deep back in the 80's. No roads and a generator powered the whole town.

Lucky you! Great Harbour Deep was resettled in the early 00's. You would have seen it when the fishery still provided a livelihood and future. I remember watching a special that CBC news ran in 2002 about the last person to leave, and yes their job was to turn out the lights (shut down the generator) as they walked down to the final ferry run.

[Laceoflight]

Cobourg is pretty!
As do so many ontarian cities.

Here are a few ones I remember from my last trips :

Port Perry :


Port Perry by Yana and Denis, on Flickr


Orangeville :


Town Clock by Sean_Marshall, on Flickr


Port Hope :


Port Hope by grapegraphics, on Flickr

[Dr Awesomesauce]

When you think 'small Ontario city,' Port Hope, Cobourg, Stratford, Fergus, Galt, etc. often come to mind. And for good reason, too - they are picture-perfect little burgs after all.

But we often overlook Orangeville, which, in my opinion, has all the qualities of a premier small city: a lovely main street; attractive housing stock; surrounded by prime agricultural land; a stone's throw from the ski resorts of Central Ontario; a relatively short drive from Toronto, and much more.

Unlike the aforementioned locales, it's probably not a place you'd go on holiday but it is a place you'd consider moving. Nice town indeed.

[Denscity]

Here are some gems around my neck of the woods:

Kaslo BC

Kaslo Jazz Fest by BC Gov Photos, on Flickr

Kaslo, British Columbia by Jasperdo, on Flickr

Greenwood BC (Canada's smallest city and world's best drinking water 2013)

Cycling C&W and KVR - Day 3 - 17 by cookierace, on Flickr

Nakusp BC

Nakusp Street View by Roamster Rosalind Gardner, on Flickr

Nakusp - The Public Beach by Destination BC, on Flickr

Rossland BC

DSC07716p by rmcooksey, on Flickr

DowntownRossland by Trevor30, on Flickr

[Denscity]

...And these pics are from Sandon BC, a long gone ghost town in the middle of the Kootenay mountains:

Sandon by hey ~ it's me lea, on Flickr

Sandon Bus Graveyard by Vanessa Whiteley vola_vola, on Flickr

Hwy#6 Sandon 4995 by ~ Blu ~, on Flickr

And yes these are old Vancouver city buses in the middle of nowhere!!

Broadway to Alma by hey ~ it's me lea, on Flickr

Old Hasting and Main Bus in Sandon by sarahsparrow, on Flickr

[MonctonRad]

Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by Trevor3

Lucky you! Great Harbour Deep was resettled in the early 00's. You would have seen it when the fishery still provided a livelihood and future. I remember watching a special that CBC news ran in 2002 about the last person to leave, and yes their job was to turn out the lights (shut down the generator) as they walked down to the final ferry run.

LOL, yup, ate a TON of squid that week (they were running, and the clotheslines were chock-full). We stayed with one of the primary techs at the generator plant, so it might have even been the last to leave, though it's possible Mr. Ropson was retired by then. I remember the long, winding road/trail through town and the waterfall at the most inland part of the very sheltered cove.

PS: Mahone Bay is also one of my favourite places, along with most of the South shore in general. Summerville beach is amazing.

[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.

[rousseau]

You can get amazing old houses for amazing prices in those towns southwest of London. I sometimes look at the MLS website and weep.

The main streets have that classic southern Ontario charm, and it's palpably warmer and less snowy in winter than the GTA and the extended greater Golden Horseshoe.

The problems with the area as I see it are:

1. It's flat. So, so flat. As in: no hills. Whatsoever.
2. It's isolated. Chatham is an hour from London and an hour from Windsor, and at least two and a half hours to the GTA. During heavy GTA traffic times you're looking at three and a half hours to downtown Toronto. That's not a day trip anymore. Detroit is not an alternative to Toronto by any stretch of the imagination, and the thought of it being my nearby metropolis is depressing.
3. I've heard that southwest of London the people tend to be a little bit more American in character and a little bit less Canadian. That's a complete deal-breaker. For me, anyway.

And yet, look at the kind of place you can get for $359,000 in Chatham:



This one in Ridgetown is $209,000:



It's like they're giving them away!

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by rousseau

The problems with the area as I see it are:

1. It's flat. So, so flat. As in: no hills. Whatsoever.
2. It's isolated. Chatham is an hour from London and an hour from Windsor, and at least two and a half hours to the GTA. During heavy GTA traffic times you're looking at three and a half hours to downtown Toronto. That's not a day trip anymore. Detroit is not an alternative to Toronto by any stretch of the imagination, and the thought of it being my nearby metropolis is depressing.

Well, in terms of "big city character" Detroit definitely comes up a little short. It's basically a sunbelt city without the sunbelt weather.

I guess with Detroit you don't get a city, you get a population centre: you still have the critical mass that can support esoteric shops and decent restaurants, but you have to know exactly where they are ahead of time so that you can plan your drive to a strip mall in Royal Oak, or wherever.

The other advantage of Detroit is that you have access to cheap flights across the globe from their Delta hub*.

*Well, cheap US destinations anyway. International flights were always competitively-priced out of Pearson and the low Canadian dollar helps.

[kwoldtimer]

That house in Chatham is drop-dead gorgeous!

[rousseau]

I heard somewhere that Chatham has become a destination for retirees. I wonder how true that is?

[kwoldtimer]

That whole end of Southwestern Ontario seems ideal for retirees, imho. The Mop & Pail actually had a piece the other day praising Sarnia ( ) as a good retirement bet, based on low house prices.

I have a niece who has lived for a couple of years outside Essex, near Windsor, and she loves it. You're right, however, the country down that way is flat as a pancake.