Audio Excerpt

Welcome to the city of Barrie!  Looks pretty new right? Well guess what!? It wasn’t always that way! … And in other news, the sky is blue... and I ate an entire pizza last night… shocking, I know!.

 

 At it’s inception, Barrie was nothing more than a couple houses at the foot of a popular portage. This wasn’t just any portage though, it was actually around for centuries before the Europeans arrived!

 

This 9 kilometre long route linked Kempenfelt Bay, which Barrie is built around, to the Nottawasaga River that flows into Georgian Bay.  Due to the portage, Barrie played an integral part in the war of 1812 as the city became a large supply depot for the British.  Barrie got it’s name in 1833 after Sir Robert Barrie, the British naval commander in charge of the same strategically important portage. 

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You can actually still walk the entire 9 kilometre trail today.. If you want a real historical recreation though... you should probably do it with a canoe on your head!  Hmm ya not one of those light fiberglass ones though.. no that would be cheating.. It’ll have to be a wooden one.. And you should make it yourself.. with your bare hands… you know, to be reallll authentic! 

 

Anyways the 9 kilometre portage wasn’t the only journey that ended in Barrie, any idea what other historical route ended here?