(Editor’s Note – The post below speaks to a picturesque stretch of federally owned land along the shores of Lake Ontario, hosting one of the last remaining stands of Carolinian forest and other natural riches. Many in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario and surrounding communities fought to preserve this land, where a military rifle range was in use during the first half of the last century, when a Toronto-based consortium wanted to transform some of it into a venue for summer music concerts. The Harmony Residents Group of Niagara-on-the-Lake would like the lands preserved as a nature park for the public)
By Randy Busbridge
Catching turtles to take home as pets, swimming in the lake when the red flag wasn’t up, skating on Four Mile Creek Pond … these are but a sample of the stories shared on May 11 during the “Rifle Range Memories” discussion hosted by the Harmony Group.
A 1956 photo taken on the lakeshore lands, courtesy of Randy Busbridge.
Speakers brought old photos, maps – even a replica of a bazooka rocket – to help illustrate their tales. Most of all, they brought their memories.
Speakers recalled the former “Happyland Camp” facility for tuberculosis victims, fishing and hunting expeditions (including the Saturday night sport of shooting rats at the old town dump), and hours of childhood play on all parts of the “Army Lands”, as the Parks Canada Lakeshore Road property was known. They talked about discovering the foundation of the John Secord homestead, and rumours of an old burying ground.
These days the site is fenced off and guarded by a handful of “No Trespassing” signs, but when the Army was active on the site they weren’t so stand-offish. One speaker enthusiastically recalled the time when he hitched a ride in a Sherman tank. Another joked about the time as a young girl when she and her sister tried to attract the attention of the handsome soldiers as they paraded from Camp Niagara on the Commons to the Rifle Range.
Humorous stories abounded. One involved combing the town dump to collect Beehive Corn Syrup cans to mail in for hockey cards. Another involved an unfortunate tourist who went swimming in the sewage lagoon before he realized what it was.
Humour was complimented by feelings of nostalgia, as speakers remembered a simpler time “before iPads, cellphones and the Internet.” Reverence and joy were also present as people described the happy times and beauty they experienced as they explored and played on the property.
The healing power of nature was also a common theme, as speakers described how old roads are now overgrown, or talked about how the wasteland of the former tank range has now filled in with a young forest.
But nature can’t heal everything. Some spoke with alarm at the rate of shoreline erosion. One person estimates the shore has been reduced 200 feet in his lifetime. Another recalls a photograph he took of his children standing under an oak tree that was 35 feet inland – a tree that has now vanished into Lake Ontario.
The property may have been called the “Army Lands”, but one thing that stood out from the discussion is that the Army never had exclusive use. Locals have used the site to pasture their cows, to picnic, to hunt, fish, swim and play from time immemorial. The federal government may be the current custodians, but the land belongs to the residents of Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Randy Busbridge is a resident of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario and member of the Harmony Residents Group, a not-for-profit organization working toward establishing a Natural Heritage Park on the Parks Canada Lakeshore Road property. Visit the group’s site at: http://www.harmonyresidents.org/
(Share your comments on this story below.)
Niagara At Large 
Fantastic stories.
Shame on Parks Canada for not doing anything about the erosion!!! If they don’t wake up soon there will be NO LAND left!
LikeLike
At last, this grossly neglected piece of land is acquiring an identity.
Maybe Parks Canada can expand this process by doing something to show the land really does “belong to the residents”
I suggests that it invite residents to participate in a COUNT THE SPECIES DAY.
Using expertise from Parks Canada, Brock and Niagara College as leaders, local residents and organizations interested in natural science would volunteer to count all the flora and fauna species on the Lakeshore property over a period of 24 hours.
This data would have scientific validity, would emphasize the importance of the 270 acre site as wildlife habitat and would certainly involve members of the community of all ages. If the count were repeated every 5 years, its data would have an added bonus that it could be used as a way to measure the impact of climate change.
What about it, Parks Canada, as a way of linking the past with the future in your 2012 celebrations?
LikeLike
I was a visitor at the sewage lagoon over 32 years ago, as the Niagara Region was going to build one inside the border of Niagara Falls to take in raw sewage from Stevensville and Douglastown/Black Creek,That lagoon in NOTL spews into Lake Ontario and every summer the lake coast is posted no swimming, I can’t imagine somebody swimming in the sewage pond, The World Health Organisation condemns these lagoons for third world countries. our region loves them as they bill us for sewage none treatment a real cash cow for them. they also own sludge ponds as well, contaminating creeks. (Frenchmans Creek) for one.
LikeLike