I have included a JPG map, so you may only need your GPS to calculate the final. Enjoy your walk through Olde Waterdown. Imagine it with no concrete sidewalks, no electricity, only dirt roads, and horse and carriages instead of cars. A lot has changed since these buildings have been built.
To calculate the final:(see waypointed questions)
Question 1: The Library. N 43° 20.086 W 079° 53.557 What number is above the door? Double the first digit=D
Question 2: The former Church. N 43° 20.084 W 079° 53.539 What year is on the building? 3rd digit =C
Question 3: Pickwick Books. N 43° 20.062 W 079° 53.511 Find the even number beside the doorway. Divide by 2=A
Question 4: Griffin Cottage. N 43° 19.982 W 079° 53.456 What number is on the fence? Last digit=E
Question 5: Old Post Office. N 43° 19.968 W 079° 53.516 What number is on the building? 2nd digit=B
Question 6: Memorial Hall. N 43° 20.040 W 079° 53.542 What year is on the bronze fountain? 2nd digit=F
Final N43 20.ABC W079 53.DEF
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.
Some optional reading on the buildings you will encounter.
(Question1)The former East Flamborough Township Hall. Built in 1857 and served the community in this regard for the next century. The exterior is built of local quarried limestone. The interior was renovated in the 1970’s and now serves as Waterdown’s Library. Inside, mounted by the elevator, are the gravestones of Alexander Brown and his wife Merren Grierson, some of the first European settlers in this area. Merren’s name is spelled incorrectly. The stones were probably removed when they were replaced by a monument to the family in the Union Cemetery. They were discarded and reused upside down in a walkway of the cemetery caretaker. In the 1970’s, they were discovered and placed here. Since then, some of the library staff have noticed that the elevator will switch floors on its own. After finding no mechanical reason, it is suspected...ghosts?
(Question2)The Wesleyan Methodist Church. The original building on this site was a frame church built in 1838. It was covered in stone in 1866, and has remained basically unaltered on the outside since then. It has changed denominations though, 1925-1957 it was home to the United Church of Waterdown. In 1957 until just recently it was home to the Waterdown Alliance Church. It was sold just recently.
(Question3)Pickwick books is in the building formerly known as the J.T. Stock Building. Built c.1855, many businesses have called this building home, including the Royal Bank. If you go into Pickwick books today and go into the back corner, you will see the old bank vault. This building was also home to the very first telephone in Waterdown, in 1882. It remained the only telephone in the village for the next 23 years.
Across the street, you can see the American House. It was built c.1824, and is one of the Ontario’s oldest Hotels. It once had an upstairs ballroom, a front verandah, and a stand up bar. Within the last few years the stucco has been removed on the Mill street side of the building, exposing the original stone. You can see the former arch that carriages would drive through to drop off their passengers for a night of merriment.
Kitty Corner to Pickwick books is the building that may still be known to many in Waterdown as “Weeks”. It was constructed c. 1821 by Ebenezer Griffin. The Weeks family owned it from 1924-1972, when they sold it and relocated ‘Weeks of Waterdown” to its present location. It is perhaps one of the most picturesque blocks in Waterdown.
(Question4) Griffin Stone Cottage is one of the oldest domestic buildings in Waterdown. It was built c.1840 on the laneway that Ebenezer Griffin built to gain access to his industrial sites along grindstone creek. (now known as Griffin street). When he died in 1849 the cottage was sold for $200. The current owners have the most beautiful rose gardens in Waterdown, the best time to see is in June.
(Question5)The Old Post-Office. Built c. 1857, this building housed the first telegraph office and was Waterdown’s Post Office for many years. When I moved to Waterdown, it was ‘Pause Awhile” tea house. It has stood empty for a few years now, but construction on the adjacent lots began in fall of 2012. Resulting in what you see now.
On the corner of Main and Dundas you will see the Royal Coachman English Pub, formerly known as the Kirk Hotel. The Kirk’s had possession of the property from 1888-1966, enlarging the building to accommodate stage coach passengers.
The Victorian building that now houses “Ontario Early Years Program”, set back from Dundas street, was built in 1880 for Waterdown’s first Reeve, Charles Sealey. The house was named ‘Chestnut Grove’
(Question6) Memorial Hall was built in 1922, spearheaded by the fundraising efforts of the Waterdown Women’s Institute. It was built to commemorate the soldiers who gave their lives in the First World War It once had a clock tower on top, but this was torn down due to safety concerns. The bell from the clock tower, and formally the bell tower which was on this site in the 1880s, can be seen on the cairn in front of the building. The bronze crooker fountain was dedicated to the man who was postmaster and reeve of Waterdown at the time of his death in 1927.
Final: I chose this spot because you can see Grindstone Creek, which is the main reason that Waterdown became a community. It was the center of industry for the village, with a variety of saw, grist and flour mills along the creek, the last closing in 1939.
You will also notice the train tracks. The railway was officially opened July 1, 1912. There were two passenger stations in Waterdown, one on Parkside and one here. Waterdown South Railway station operated from 1912 until 1950, when passenger trains no longer stopped here. The station was closed in 1962, and burned to the ground in 1966 (arson). The station was located on Board street, which is no longer a maintained roadway, but you should be able to make out the remains of the street from where you are standing.