On February 23rd the guest speaker at our Programme was Jason Ramsay-Brown. His book covers all of Toronto but many of Scarborough’s parks and ravines are written about. He pointed out that these ravines are open air museums to our natural heritage and local history. Many are not well marked with signs and may even be hidden.
He spoke about the Doris McCarthy Trail “Gates Gully” in the Scarborough Bluffs area, which was a smugglers haven in the 1830’s for many items including tea, tobacco and leather.
Gates Gully
One of his favourite parks is the “L’Amoreaux Park North Passmore Forest” and its 600-year-old Alexandra aboriginal site where 800 Huron-Wendat people lived. It is located north off of McNicoll Ave. east of Birchmount Rd.
L’Amoreaux Park
He summed his talk up by saying that the easiest and best way to protect these natural history areas is that you should try to stay on the trails when using these parks and ravines.
The Scarborough Historical Society hosts programmes on the 4th Tuesday of each month from January to April and from September to November. All programmes begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Bendale Public Library and are free and open to the public.