PONSONBY

NAME: PONSONBY COUNTY: ONTARIO ROADS: 2WD GRID: CLIMATE: Snow in winter BEST TIME TO VISIT: Spring summer or fall

COMMENTS: REMAINS: In 1867, a new two-story hotel was built that has been preserved as a private residence.

Much of western Ontario was known to its early settlers as “Queen’s Bush.” Given its level rich land, it attracted settlers by the tens of thousands. New arrivals to the area needed stopping places offering small hotels where stagecoach passengers could take a meal or sleep overnight. Ponsonby was one of those towns situated on the Garafraxa Settlement road that led from Guelph to the unsettled wilds of the “Queen’s Bush.” The village dates from 1843. It housed a wagon maker and blacksmith, a storekeeper and postmaster, and a hotel.

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