My Home

Home is not just a place where you hang your hat. Home can be a very complicated word. It is like the pebble that you toss into the pond. The ripples formed show us how home life expands outward to others and how our love of home, colours our world and extends (love, hopefully) to our neighbourhood, city and country.

I want to tell you about my home, not the walls and furniture of my house, but my extended home, my hometown. As with many towns, it began as a small settlement, in 1780, because of it's proximity to water. It was first called "The Twelve" because it was located on the Twelve Mile Creek. (As a very young child, I recall throwing stones into the wide creek, from an old iron bridge, and having a special ring that my Grandma gave me, slip off my finger and disappear into the gently flowing waters of the creek. My Grandparents lived one house away from these waters. My youngest Aunt would take me down the hill to watch the water every time I visited.)

By 1798 it was called "Shipman's Corners" because Paul Shipman built an Inn on the main mud road, which is now called St. Paul Street. The Paul part stuck, but the Shipman part didn't. Ten years earlier Robert Hamilton built the first goods store here and later the town was named after his wife...ST. CATHARINES. Funny how in those days "Saint" was put in front of so many names of places and streets. I guess it was wishful thinking.

Business started to boom when the first Welland Canal was built in 1824. It was only about 15 feet wide because that was boat size then. The canal was dug behind St. Paul St. and eventually ran over 20 miles. Second and third Welland Ship Canals have been built since then, to accomodate the huge ships of today. St. Catharines became the hub of industry and commerce for the entire Niagara area.

In the 1840's and 50's this was the end of the Underground Railroad. Thousands of slaves from the U.S. south, found their way to freedom, thanks to generous folks in local churches.

The Welland Canal runs parallel to the Niagara River. Both now join Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. If you're contemplating a visit by boat, take the canal route. You won't servive the river. Passage from one lake to the other is impossible because of the gigantic Niagara Falls and class 5 and 6 (deadly) rapids.

My city is boxed on all sides by lovely countryside......Lake Ontario on the north, the Niagara Escarpment (it's the water of the Niagara R. falling over the Escarpment - a World Heritage Site - that formed Niagara Falls) on the south, the Welland canal on the east and gently rolling hills covered in vineyards and soft fruit (apples, peaches, pears and cherries) farms on the west. The lakes give us our temperate climate, which is perfect for the delicate crops grown here. Winter temperatures rarely go to -15C (close to zero F) and summer weather is hot, up to 38C. (in the 90'sF) The land then flattens a bit and if you drive around the tip of L. Ont. you'll find Toronto. It's a lot closer if you row across the lake, but you'll be really tired when you get there.

In St. Catharines and area you can skate (inside) all year round, enjoy all the water sports, go antiquing, go carting, stock car racing, go to a gorgeous gambling Casino, enjoy many, many wooded parks, and go hiking and biking on endless trails along the lake, the escarpment and the canal. The Falls and the most beautiful town in Canada, Niagara-on-the-Lake, are only 15km away. Our big city-wide events are the Multicultural Folk Arts Festival in the spring, the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta in June, The huge Grape and Wine Festival in the autumn and the Ice Wine Festival in the winter.

We are home to very highly rated educational facilities...the world reknowned Ridley College, Niagara College and Brock University, the only University to have a Bachelor of Science degree in Viticulture (wines and wine making). University tuition is subsidized by the government.

Population is 138,000 and the average salary is $35,000. The average home price is about $160,000 to $175,000.

I love this place and as I wrote all these wonderful things about my city, I began to love it even more. I can't think of one thing undesirable about St. Catharines. Oh, someone did say they saw some hookers on Queenston St. a while back. I try to close my eyes when I drive down there. As for the rest of my city.......It's all good!