Brantford Travel: A Grand
River Experience, a Blue Dog, a Sculpture Garden
& a Great View over the Valley
After a delectable and nourishing vegetarian omelette
at the Two Roses Bed and Breakfast in St. George,
Ontario, we were ready to start our third and final
day of our Brantford-area getaway. Melissa Stephens,
our local tourism expert, picked us up and drove
us to the quaint and historic town of Paris where
we were about to embark on our Grand River adventure.
A brilliant October morning in Paris, Ontario
She introduced us to Jamie Kent, owner of Grand
Experiences, an award-winning outdoor adventure
company. After a successful management career in
the paint and chemicals industry, Jamie started
his company about 10 years ago with the full support
of his family. Today Grand Experiences has customers
from all over the world, including Europe, Australia,
Asia and Africa.
Jamie Kent from Grand Experiences
After watching a safety video I took a walk through
the store with Jamie and learned about all the different
outdoor adventures that Grand Experiences offers.
Adventures on the river include rafting, canoeing
and kayaking. Due to its 20 feet per mile elevation
drop, the nearby Nith River even offers some challenging
white-water experiences with its class 2 and 3 rapids.
Guests can choose fully outfitted multi-day trips
with expert guides or they can simply rent a kayak
for the afternoon with the comfort of lessons and
a shuttle service.
All sorts of outdoor gear at Grand Experiences
Aboriginal travel experiences are a specialty at
Grand Experiences, where curious adventurers can
travel down the Grand River with a guide in a war
canoe for 12 people. Travel groups can stay overnight
on an island and enjoy native story-telling around
a campfire. For those who prefer to stay on land,
Jamie’s company also offers guided hikes,
mountain biking and fishing as well as snow-shoeing
in the winter.
Getting ready for our boat trip down the Grand River
Corporate team building events, customized programs
such as training in the “True Colors”
personality temperament theory, as well as special
programs for school groups and even patients of
mental hospitals, round out the offerings available
at Jamie Kent’s company. With its commitment
to safety and customer service, Grand Experiences
is a premier outdoor adventure company that has
won many local tourism awards.
All sorts of canoes and kayaks await adventurous
visitors
We started our Grand River tour in the historic
town of Paris, which was first settled in 1829 and
officially became incorporated as a town in 1850.
The name of the town stems from “plaster of
Paris”, referring to the once plentiful gypsum
deposits that were mined here in the first half
of the 19th century.
The Victorian architecture of Paris, viewed from
the Grand River
Jamie explained that the town is particularly well-known
for its Victorian cobblestone architecture which
is highlighted by several unique historic buildings
that are constructed from small rounded river stones.
On August 10, 1876, Paris became famous as the site
of the first “long-distance” telephone
call, made by the father of Alexander Graham Bell,
from downtown Brantford. During the late Victorian
era Paris became an industrial powerhouse due to
the numerous textile manufacturing plants. In the
early 1900s, Paris was the largest textile manufacturing
centre in the British Empire. Many of the remaining
buildings from this era have today been converted
into lofts and condominiums.
Impressive architecture in Paris, Ontario
Our river guide turned out to be an expert on the
fauna and the flora of the Grand River area. As
the largest river in Southwestern Ontario, the Grand
has particular ecological significance as a spawning
ground for many different types of cold water and
warm water fish. Anglers enjoy plentiful stocks
of walleye, pike, brown trout and rainbow trout,
as well as small mouth and large mouth bass. In
all about 80 species of fish call the Grand River
home, and the section surrounding Paris has been
designated “exceptional waters” due
to its role as a spawning ground. Special fishing
regulations apply here: anglers must abide by the
catch-and-release rules.
The Grand River - a special habitat for many plant
and animal species
Blessed with a milder climate than the rest of
Canada, Southwestern Ontario also is an environment
for unique plant life. Jamie explained that the
area features some of the last vestiges of the Carolinian
forest, a mostly deciduous forest area that stretches
from as far south as the Carolinas to southwestern
Ontario. Southern tree species such as Kentucky
coffee, sassafras, tulip trees, black willows and
sycamore trees that cannot be found elsewhere in
Canada grow in this area and support a wide range
of mammals and birds.
Nature lovers enjoy coming to the Grand River
The biodiversity among the bird population is also
significant, with orioles, blue herons, bald eagles
and osprey standing out. Southwestern Ontario has
Canada’s most diverse eco-system in terms
of trees, plants, animals and birds. Half of all
of Canada’s bird species can be found here.
A wide range of mammals lives here as well, from
badgers, white-tailed deer, foxes and coyotes to
beavers, otters and minks.
Victorian architecture in Paris, Ontario
Jamie put the area into context and explained that
it has historically been fairly thinly populated,
and the surrounding countryside is mostly used for
agricultural purposes. I also learned that the Grand
River is a designated heritage river due to its
historic significance. Our river guide explained
that for more than 200 years, people of different
backgrounds have lived together here in harmony:
from the early Iroquois settlers who came here in
the late 1700s after the American Revolution, to
the Mennonites in the upper Grand River near Elora
and St. Jacobs, the Scottish settlers of Fergus,
the German immigrant populations of Kitchener and
Waterloo, and the residents of Brantford, most of
whom are of English heritage, the human history
of this area is diverse as well.
Historic architecture in Paris
The fall colours were just starting to come in
during this early October weekend, and we enjoyed
the quiet tranquility of the Grand River. Jamie
pointed out the primitive plaster mining shafts
in the riverbank which have been abandoned for more
than 150 years now. Ospreys were soaring high overhead
on this beautiful day.
The fall colours are starting to come in
We slowly floated by local sights such as the remains
of the corduroy road, a timber log roadway that
was used more than a century ago to transport the
plaster alongside the river. Another major sight
is Sarah’s Island, a long island that is named
after a native woman who made her home here during
the summer months for many years until she passed
away in the late 1990s. We also passed underneath
the bridges of Highway 403, a fairly recently constructed
highway that finally made this region more accessible
to travelers from Toronto, Detroit and Buffalo.
Highway 403 made this area more accessible
After about two hours we had finally reached our
destination, the Brant Conservation Area, where
our local tourist expert Melissa picked us up. We
thanked Jamie for this interesting and informative
journey down the historic Grand River. Chilled to
the bone, Melissa took us to a local café
in Brantford called Blue Dog Coffee Roasters.
Blue Dog Coffee Roasters in Brantford: time for
lunch!
We finally warmed up with a nice lunch and Megan,
one of the café’s employees, took me
on a tour. The menu features a wide variety of breakfasts
while the lunch and dinner selections include various
salads, grilled panini sandwiches and a fresh selection
of daily soups. The most stunning feature in this
historic structure is the oversize portrait of a
blue dog on a red background, depicting the owner’s
favourite pet. Megan even showed me the upstairs
meeting room which is made available for meetings
to local groups free of charge.
The portrait of the Blue Dog which gave the café
its name
Now strengthened by a nice lunch we continued our
explorations to the historic Dufferin Avenue neighbourhood
which features an impressive collection of Victorian-era
mansions, many of which overlook the Grand River
Valley. In the late 1800s Brantford became Canada’s
third largest manufacturing centre, and the wealth
of the local industrialist families can be seen
in the imposing architecture in this city.
The former Cockshutt mansion - now the Glenhyrst
Art Gallery
During the sunny afternoon we made one more stop
at the Glenhurst Art Gallery and Gardens, originally
a 1920s mansion owned by one of Brantford’s
industrialist families. In 1957 Edmund Cockshutt,
of the Cockshutt Plough Company, bequeathed his
estate to the City of Brantford which created an
impressive gallery and sculpture garden. We had
already toured the mansion a couple of days ago
on a very rainy day and enjoyed the architecture
and art collections. Today, on this gorgeous sunny
fall day, I finally had a chance to take in the
scenic gardens of this complex which is often used
for weddings and special events.
The sculpture garden of the Glenhyrst Art Gallery
Finally, we ended our adventures in Brantford with
a phenomenal lookout over the Grand River Valley
from the Brantford Golf and Country Club. Our two-and-a-half
days in Brantford had come to an end and I could
not believe how much we had seen and experienced.
I realized that this mid-size town about an hour
from Toronto offered a wide range of things to see
and do. It had been the perfect destination for
a weekend getaway.
