Bruce Trail - Waterfalls - Second Part

This hike was on Easter Saturday, April 10, 2004 and 'hike' is only a title for the outing. Yes - we did hike but we spent more time by visiting wineries and maple sugar 'bushes' and driving than in the former! Still it was a fun day.

I am a history nut and I was more than pleased to find myself at the place where a famous incident occurred during the War of 1812. This was at the ruins of the DeCew (also spelled 'DeCou') house. When we were children here in Canada, we were told the story of Laura Secord - a housewife who lived along the Niagara River. She chanced to overhear a conversation between an American  sentry and his officer when they were discussing a surprise raid upon a unit of British soldiers who were bivouacked not far away.

Mrs Secord knew where one of the British officers lived with his family so she pretended that she was looking for a missing cow while working her way through the forest. She found the DeCew house and was able to tell that gentleman what she had overheard, Quickly a party of British were mustered and they surprised the Americans who were defeated in the battle. Below is a photo of the ruins of the De Cew house which was destroyed by fire at some time after the hostilities ended.   

From this point we hiked to the first waterfall that we would see that day - De Cew Falls. To reach that point we had to hike around De Cew Pond  formed by the creek being dammed.

The view looks bleak - however, with no leaves on the trees as yet, the falls were easier to see and to photograph.

Near there was the old De Cew Mill (now renamed The Morningstar Mill). It was supposed to be open for tours but it was locked.

I took more than one photo of that small community.

The lovely old house which looks like it was a mansion!

We ate our bag lunches there and then went on by car. Our next stop was at White Meadows Farm which boasts a large sugar bush. They have a shop selling maple syrup products and one of them really surprised me - 'Maple Syrup Mustard'. Huh?

No - I did not purchase any.


To the rear of the sugar bush was Swayze Falls.

                                          Not as impressive as some of the other waterfalls.

More famous than  the White Meadows Farm is the Henry Pelham Estate and its winery. We stopped there and enjoyed a taste. The bottles of wine which were for sale were more expensive than the ones I could buy in the liquor store across the street from where I live.

The final waterfall on this hike (more a motor trip) was Rockaway Falls.

                                                        Middle Rockaway Falls

                                           Lower Rockaway Falls

Before leaving that area and driving back to Toronto we stopped on the escarpment for a view over the town of Thorold and Twenty Mile Creek. 

Some of our group looking down upon the community of Thorold.