May 13, 2009. Carriage Hills Resort. Ontario. Bricks.

Every place has something distinctive, specific only to that location. Sometimes, local folks are not aware. Brick was used to build houses in the late nineteenth century in Southern Ontario and the Bruce Peninsula. This is not unusual as brick homes were built all over North America. What is different and specific to this area is that the builders used lighter colored bricks to add decorative touches to the home which adds beauty of the home. No one here knows how happened to find how all these beautiful decorative touches were added to the homes, but it is my guess that some good builder moved here and kept on going, adding this fancy brick work to every home he built. Then for a long time, the custom died out probably because the builder died. Now at least some houses are being built in the old fashioned style. Once when we were visiting my sister and driving around the Bruce Peninsula, we noticed these old homes and asked some local families about the fancy brick work. They did not think that the brick work was unusual, and that the construction was just the way things are done up here. But the truth is, these old homes are beautiful and unusual, and specific to southern Ontario and the Bruce Peninsula.

Ken and I and Don and Doreen went out to take a picture of one of these lovely old homes. Yesterday, during our drive to Midland and Wasago we saw many examples of these houses. Of course, I pointed out these houses to everyone in the car, but as they had all lived many years in Ontario, they did not think it unusual, just like all the locals. I set them straight. Wouldn't you know, but today we drove up and down all the side roads searching out one of these distinctive homes. Finally, we found one or two and took a picture. The thing that pleases me so much is that the builder used these lighter colored bricks just to make the home more beautiful. The structure is not impacted. The task of adding the light colored brick makes the job more difficult. But there you have before your eyes all these lovely homes, built many years ago, that you can only find in Southern Ontario.