Woodend Conservation Area is located along the Bruce Trail and the Laura Secord Legacy Trail. The trail follows the approximate route taken by Laura Secord, a heroine of the War of 1812, famed for her walk from Queenston to Decew House, St. Catharines to warn British troops after hearing American soldiers discussing a surprise attack. This would have been a difficult stretch on her trek; a heavily wooded area along the top of the escarpment which would have been much less developed than it is today.
In 1779 Peter Lampman, a United Empire Loyalist, fled New York state with his family. He received a 650 hectare grant of land that later became Woodend Conservation Area.
Canadian poet Archibald Lampman was Peter's grandson, and among his many famous poems, he wrote about his grandfathers farm. The farm and house, built in the early 1800s and later renovated in 1931, is now known as the Woodend Environmental Centre, an outdoor education centre for students of the District School Board of Niagara.
This 45 hectare Conservation Area is a unique section of escarpment with cliffs on either side of the point. There are spectacular views to the vineyards and orchards way below, spreading northward towards Lake Ontario. The Bruce Trail and the Laura Secord Legacy Trail both pass through Woodend. Two self-guided trails take visitors on either side of the escarpment edge and through broad-leaf hardwood species such as sugar maple, beech, and red oak forest communities that are representative of Niagara's Carolinian forest environments. If you are lucky you might even find a Pawpaw tree!
The park is popular with birdwatchers and hikers and is close enough to downtown St. Catharines to be easily accessible. Both the Hardwood Trail and the Silurian Adventure Trail are no longer than a kilometer and a half, the ideal for most hikers. The Wetland Ridge side trail also enters the park, running along the base of the escarpment.
During the War of 1812 the conservation area is said to have been an important observation point, being at the top of the escarpment. It is said that a three gun battery was set up on the hill top to ward off enemy troops and act as a warning system for occupying forces.
QEW Niagara exit 38, Glendale Avenue
1. Take Glendale Avenue southwest towards the Niagara Escarpment, about 200 yards (a Tim Hortons coffee shop is behind you on the north side of the QEW)
2. Left on Taylor Road at the lights (you will then pass Niagara College campus on the left)
3. On Taylor Road drive about two kilometers and near the top of the hill
4. Turn left into the Woodend Conservation Area. (There is a sign, but it is hard to see. And if you get to Mountain Road you have gone too far)
5. Once into Woodend Conservation Area, do not park in the first parking lot. Instead, drive as far as you can into the park; the main parking lot is about a kilometer up the road.
A NIAGARA LANDSCAPE
a sonnet by Archibald Lampman
1861-1899
Heavy with haze that merges and melts free
Into the measureless depth on either hand,
The full day rests upon the luminous land
In one long noon golden reverie.
Now hath the harvest come and gone with glee.
The shaven fields stretch smooth and clean away,
Purple and green, and yellow, and soft gray,
Chequered with orchards. Farther still I see
Towns and dim villages, whose roof-tops fill
The distant mist, yet scarcely catch the view.
Thorold set sultry on its plateau'd hill,
And far to westward, where yon pointed towers
Rise faint and ruddy from the vaporous blue,
Saint Catharines, city of the host of flowers.
Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority
Woodend Conservation Area
Taylor Road
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
Latitude: | 43.14326989210 |
Longitude: | -79.16735540360 |
UTM easting: | 649030 |
UTM northing: | 4778355 |
Diane L. Bois
Administrative Assistant, Operations
Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority
250 Thorold Road West; 3rd Floor
Welland, Ontario
L3C 3W2
Tel (905) 788-3135
Fax (905) 788-1121
Email dbois@conservation-niagara.on.ca