February 9, 2012


Hi...


Today, in addition to the answer to the "Butter Tart" question, I'm posting the fictional story which introduces the utterly fascinating, rich, and very true history of Ontario's "Golden Horseshoe"; i.e., the "Niagara Escarpment" and surrounding area. 


I hope you'll enjoy reading the fun-facts provided by my fictional characters, Sarah Allison and Madisson MacKinley, and that you'll follow the links in my posts to learn more about the people, places and events that have come to make this area of Canada so "golden"...


They Don’t Call It “The Golden Horseshoe” for Nuthin’!

by Patti Zonta  ©2001

Sarah Allison and Madisson MacKinley were best friends. They lived in a city within the “Golden Horseshoe” area of Ontario, Canada, in other words, the Niagara Penninsula. 

One day during the summer of their 13^th birthdays, Sarah's family announced that her dad had been assigned a new teaching job. This meant that her family had to move to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, (on Canada's Atlantic Coast), almost 1,000 miles away!

This new situation didn’t sit well with Sarah and Madisson. They were BFF’s and wished they could be neighbours all their lives! But, under the circumstances, the girls promised to keep in touch with each other every day after Sarah and her family moved away. 

So, as soon as Sarah and her family set out on the road, the girls began texting each other and talking to each other with their computer's video cameras - every day - just as they had promised.

i_brasdor_beinnbhreagh.jpg

After living in the town called  Baddeck for a while, Sarah told Madisson that her family had visited a nearby farm where Alexander Graham Bell, (the inventor of the telephone), had lived in Cape Breton. 


Alexander Graham Bell had named the farm “Beinn Bhreagh”. This is where he built his laboratory. 

http://www.bellhomestead.ca  

Sarah also mentioned that Alexander Graham Bell had lived in Brantford, Ontario, (which is very close to Niagara Falls), when he was a teenager, so Madisson found a photo of the house he grew up in.

Sarah also mentioned that a bakery in town sold home-made Butter Tarts and sent a photo to  Madisson, because they both loved to eat Butter Tarts!      

Canadian Raisin Butter Tarts by Cape Breton Bakers    
Photo Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_tart
                         
All of these small, almost insignificant connections inspired the girls to search for all the connections they could find between Cape Breton and the “Golden Horseshoe” area of Ontario. 

Doing their research on the internet, at the library and travelling with their parents, the girls discovered many other interesting connections between Cape Breton and the Golden Horseshoe area of Southern Ontario, such as:

http://www.cbc.ca/lifeandtimes/mowat.html  

Farley Mowat, (author), who lives in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, also lived in Oakville, ON (near Niagara Falls)

Denny Doherty a musician in the famous music group called The Mamas & the Papas was born in Cape Breton and lived in Oakville, ON (near Niagara Falls)

http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Mamas_and_the_Papas/gallery/P4831p14980l4jls/

John Allen Cameron, musician, was born in Cape Breton and also lived in Oakville, ON, (near Niagara Falls)

http://www.atlanticartists.com/jac/jac.html

The Bruce Trail, Ontario (World's Biosphere near Niagara Falls) 

450px-Bruce_Peninsula_-_Bruce_Trail_-_Cliff_-_2005.jpgbrucemap.gif

and The Cabot Trail, Cape Breton, 



pic_wonder_cabot_trail_lg.jpg                        cabottrail.jpg

are both magnificent, natural, and protected globally- acclaimed green spaces

Sir Alan  McNab, Prime Minister of Canada, was born in Nova Scotia and lived in Hamilton, ON (near Niagara Falls)

                                        http://www.hamilton.ca/CultureandRecreation/Arts_Culture_And_Museums/HamiltonCivicMuseums

Sarah and Madisson made all sorts of eye-popping discoveries about globally famous people, places, events, and feats from within the Niagara Peninsula. 

Their parents mentioned that this is often how important discoveries happen.  


People who are doing research in one area, often accidentally discover something else that no one else has ever discovered before.

They said that the information the girls were uncovering about the Niagara Penninsula was something like "finding gold".

The girls found their parents' comment amusing and really exciting since the area is also called the “Golden Horseshoe”; so, they decided to call their project “They Don’t Call It ‘The Golden Horseshoe’ for Nuthin’!”

The following pages are full of fun facts based upon the information they found, for instance, Sarah asked Madisson: 

butter_tart_300.jpg

"What do Butter Tarts and Niagara Falls have in common?"   

1_201105080412451ZS1t.jpg

Answer:  Both originated in Southern Ontario, Canada!

"...historian Mary Williamson is an expert on butter tarts. She notes the earliest reference was in a cookbook compiled by The Women’s Auxiliary of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie (in Southern Ontario near Niagara Falls), in 1900 and it’s merely named ‘A filling for tarts.’ For farm women, two essential ingredients, eggs and butter, were in abundance. And Canada, when these (butter) tarts were invented, was a farming country.”  "Eat a butter tart today.  It’s the Canadian thing to do!!!!!"    Resource: http://www.recipestap.com/amazing-butter-tarts-for-the-culinary-olympics

Tomorrow's post is about how the Underground Railroad is linked to the Niagara Penninsula!

'til then...

Patti Zonta