Fall Colours-Vermont, New York State, Ontario

Here are pictures of some of the trees we saw in Vermont, New York State and Ontario

Elora Gorge, Ontario

Upper Canada Village Morrisburg Ontario

This is a 60 acre site with 40 historical buildings, with costumed staff interpreters. There are activities at most of the sites, including; broom making, bread making, weaving, shoe making, candy store, restaurant, etc.

One of the first things we did was take a horse drawn wagon ride around the village.

Bakery

Twice a day, the pungent smell of freshly baked bread spreads over the central part of the Village. It comes from this red frame building, where the baker has been kneading dough since early this morning.

A hardwood fire is built in the red brick oven and once this is hot enough and the coals have been raked out, the pans are put in. The bakers make the dough from flour ground at nearby Bellamy's Mills. The bread is baked by heat radiating from the hot oven bricks.

While most farmers and townspeople baked their own bread, there was always a need for bread for travellers and inns.

The flour for the bread is ground at the mill then made into bread at the bakery.

sacks of flour

types of flour

Crysler Hall

The Doric columns of this imposing structure, each made from one great pine tree, were moved from the original site when this house was taken down and reconstructed in Upper Canada Village. It was originally built by John Pliny Crysler, a timber merchant. He was the son of the John Crysler upon whose farm the Battle of Crysler's Farm, had been fought (part of the War of 1812).

Crysler Hall was built as a residence. The sweeping circular drive, cast iron fence and formal garden all add to the dignity of this fine example of Greek revival architecture. It is not typical of most houses of the period, and would have been considered pompous by most residents. At the back, next to a sunken garden containing may plants from house sites.

Horse drawn boat

school house

Separating wheat to make into flour

Oxen would usually be used for this not human power

Broom Maker

We really enjoyed learning about broom making.

In the 1860s, making brooms was not a full-time occupation. Most were farmers who also made brooms to supplement the family income and hence, it was a small home trade done in the family home or in an adjacent farm-building. At this time, there was also competition from mass-produced brooms from the United States and Canada.

Broom corn was grown in Canada, near Sarnia, but much of it came from the central United States. Planted in rows like Indian corn, which it resembles, broom corn is a form of sorghum whose seeds are formed in a large brush at the top of the plant. Once the seeds are separated from the harvested brush, it is dried, baled and sent to market. Even in the 1860s, broom handles and thread were already being commercially produced.

Our village broom-maker makes two style of brooms: a round, earlier style and a more "modern" flat broom. Visitors are encouraged to watch a broom being made, inspect the tools and machinery of the time, and then visit the village gift shop where our brooms are sold. The broom-maker's house is a small log cabin built in the 1820s with an impressive stone fireplace of large, hammer-dressed limestone blocks. With its flagstone floor, the house is an excellent example of the skill of our early Scottish stonemasons.

Stagecoach

An Inn

Fire Engine

Montpelier, Capitol Building of Vermont

It was pouring rain but we stopped at Montpelier and did a tour of the State Capitol building. This is the 3^rd building on the site and is still used as a place for the legislature to meet. Because Vermont has such a small population about 600,000 they only meet Oct to May. It is a beautiful building with vintage chandeliers, plaster work and marble, quarried in nearby town.

Ottawa, Lake Placid, covered Bridges

Sept 23 & 24

We got up bright and early, 5 am and flew out of Kelowna, BC to Calgary. We had a 4 hour stop in Calgary, then flew to Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, we got there at 5:30 pm our time. Our friends Dot and Floyd were there to greet us as they say 2 ding a lings with bells on. We quickly adjusted to the time change because we were so tired and it seemed a lot later. We relaxed and visited with friends the next day.

View from their deck

Sept 25 & 26

We drove to Ottawa, about 350 miles with Dot and Floyd, who went to visit relatives while we stayed at another friend's house, Brent and Yukari. We enjoyed spending the week end visiting with them and their children.

On Sunday it was rainy so we went to Science Museum, and drove around Ottawa, including past Rideau Hall.

We watched a science show with dry ice

Sept 27
Dot and Floyd picked us up from our friends and we started on our New England color tour. We crossed the US border at Cornwall into New York State and were disappointed that they don't have a duty free store anymore. The weather was dull, but not raining. We saw trees in many different colors from green, yellow, orange, red and burgundy. In the late afternoon it started to rain. We stayed in a little motel called Adirondack Motel near Lake Placid, New York, price $98. The rooms were small and clean, staff very friendly and it is on a small lake called Saranac. The only problem was the beds were hard so did not sleep that well.

Sept 28

Weather was rainy when we drove to Lake Placid but we walked around town anyway. Enjoyed looking in little tourist shops. We drove past the Olympic buildings, skating rink, and ski jump. We drove to Lake George and shopped in Outlet Mall, Ches got 3 pair of jeans for $70. As we drove to Rutland, Vermont we saw lots of beautiful colors and a large waterfall. It would have been a really spectacular drive if it would have been sunny instead of dully and rainy. I enjoyed going past the farms and small towns, lots of nice brick and stone houses and buildings and white siding houses, Victorian style houses. We had a hard time finding a good hotel in Rutland and settled on Ramada Limited Rutland, price $78. At first it seemed like it would be okay, looked reasonably clean. Ice machine did not work had to go to another building. There were noisy, cigarette smoking neighbors partying late into the night with smoke coming in our room and could not close window because the air conditioning did not work. You could hear kids running around in rooms above us too. I would not recommend you stay at this hotel.

On our trip we saw 4 different covered bridges, including the last one in Ontario.

A covered bridge in Pitsburg, Vermont that you can drive through.

Shelburne
Shelburne's rare surviving tow-lane covered bridge was built in 1845 to span the Lamoille River in Cambridge, Vermont. The bridge's distinguishing arch truss, which permitted longer spans, was patented in 1804 by Vermont inventor Theordore Burr