Another glorious day. Beautiful sunrise. Arose 6 A.M. Broke camp and packed. After Father & Mother. Started out 7 A.M. Rode 27 miles before breakfast thru fertile, rolling country. Very pretty. Just 100 miles took us to Niagara Falls. We spent about 1.5 hours there. Hanford & I went to foot of the falls. Wonderful view and sight. Very pretty ride thru Canada Via St. Catherines, Hamilton, Brantford, Woodstock & London. Slight accident at Brantford. Man on bicycle turned in front of us without warning. H.H. turned off and avoided what might have been a serious collision. No damage done. He admitted it was his fault and we both went on our ways. Great fruit belt in Canada from Niagara Falls to Hamilton. Large well kept orchards and vineyards. All of us camped at Hyde Park, near London, Canada, on school house grounds. We slept in tent. Mother & Father in car. Wrote. To bed 10:30 P.M. Everything going nicely. Thankful for protection.
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Their second day of travel was eventful--a bicycle-auto collision, no less! Below is a map of their possible route, including their 1.5 hour stop at Niagara Falls. You can see that Google clocks it at 239 miles, taking 6 hours and 49 minutes. It took them from 7 AM to about 10 PM, I'm guessing, so about 15 hours (minus the 1.5 hrs, about 12.5 hours). They're making good time!
Stanford's mention of camping on "school house grounds" is interesting, as the Hyde Park School had apparently been associated with the Methodist church in the past. Below is an excerpt from the history of the village of Hyde Park, taken from the Hyde Park Business Association website (which also has a photo of the little town, taken in 1915).
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Their second day of travel was eventful--a bicycle-auto collision, no less! Below is a map of their possible route, including their 1.5 hour stop at Niagara Falls. You can see that Google clocks it at 239 miles, taking 6 hours and 49 minutes. It took them from 7 AM to about 10 PM, I'm guessing, so about 15 hours (minus the 1.5 hrs, about 12.5 hours). They're making good time!
Stanford's mention of camping on "school house grounds" is interesting, as the Hyde Park School had apparently been associated with the Methodist church in the past. Below is an excerpt from the history of the village of Hyde Park, taken from the Hyde Park Business Association website (which also has a photo of the little town, taken in 1915).
In 1839, John Barclay donated land at the southwest corner for the erection of Hyde Park School. The same lot would later see two more schools. In 1854, the fourth S.S. 17 was a frame building set on the west side of Hyde Park Road, midway between Gainsborough Road and the United Church. In 1867, another school, this one a brick building, was built for $1,500.
Churches also sprung up to serve the spiritual needs of the growing Hyde Park Corner community. Methodist preachers had been conducting occasional services in the schoolhouse as early as 1845, and the services continued to be held for the next 30 years. In May, 1870, Edward Attrill donated a site for a church to the east of the intersection on the north side of the road.This night, and many other nights along the way, Stillman and Fannie slept in their car. Ann Closson writes:
We often wondered how S.T. and Fannie could sleep in the car. An article in the Michigan History Magazine cleared this up for us. It stated that the Jewett slept two persons in comfort as long as neither one stretched out more than 6' 1.5 inches. This was done by making a bed with the front seat cushions folding back into the rear seat cushions.You can read Stanford's letter to Mary Leah this day at the Letters page. It is the third letter attached.
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