PETWORTH
|
PETWORTH |
|
|
|
|
NAME: Petworth COUNTY: Frontenac ROADS: 2WD GRID: 1 CLIMATE: Snow in winter BEST TIME TO VISIT: Spring summer or fall |
COMMENTS:
Partially occupied.Close to Lake Ontario
shoreline.Historic area, very scenic. Visit Ghost
Towns of Ontario for more info. REMAINS: Stone mill blacksmith, school house, barns |
| Things are quiet in Petworth now, very quiet. Not like in the 1870s, when a group of vigilante farmers from nearby Verona, upset about their flooded fields and ruined crops, crept down late one night and blew up Petworth's dam. Petworth started out as a lumber town in the 1840s. By the 1890s, it was one lively place, boasting a blacksmith shop, cheese factory, general store, school and two churches. Two hotels were kept busy, quenching the thirst of the many loggers, who arrived every spring. By 1905, it was a very different story. Sixty years of steady logging had pretty much depleted the surrounding woods and the new railway took a turn eastward bypassing the tiny village. Petworth never recovered. Petworth is not completely deserted. A few older residents remain, along with a handful of newer residents who enjoy the peace and tranquility of rural living. The stone walls of the old Stephenson and Lott sawmill are still standing, along with the blacksmith shop, a barn, several original houses and the one room schoolhouse, closed since the 1960s. Newer houses stand amidst the ruins and other original buildings, some of which are still in use as sheds, storage buildings and the like. For now, the residents of Petworth refuse to give up their former ghosts and visitors can still get a sense of a mid 19th Ontario century mill town, as it once was. Submitted by: Jeri Danyleyko |
|
|
|
