On Christmas Day, 1849, Anthony Binga Sr. would help build the First Baptist Church in Amherstburg.
“He was known as the walking preacher because he would walk between Detroit and Toronto raising funds to build the church,” explained Dr. Lorene Bridgen-Lennie, assistant curator at the Amherstburg Freedom Museum.
Along with curator Mary-Katherine Whelan, they gave a detailed historic account of how freedom seekers settled in and made an impact on the town.
It was part of the annual Jane’s Walk Tour on Sunday which presents a non-traditional look at the town’s history by moving from one location to the next and while focusing on a specific area and subject, gave a lot more detail of surrounding neighbourhoods.
According to Tammy Dewhirst, chair of the local chapter of the Architectural Conservatory of Ontario, which helped host the event, Jane’s Walks are held in over 300 different locations.
They are named in honour of Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) who was an urbanist and activist whose writings championed a community-based approach to city buildings.
Sunday’s event was the third time it was held in Amherstburg and though the rain in the morning meant altering the route, there were a total of five stops including Historic Buildings by Meg Reiner from the Marsh Historical Collecction; Look Again! Outside Amherstburg by Art Windsor-Essex; Relying on the River by the Reiner and Kara Folkeringa of the Marsh Historical Collection; Old Burial Grounds presented by Robert Honor; and the Amherstburg Freedom Museum, led by Whelan and Bridgen-Lennie.
“It’s getting out and learning about the community,” said Dewhirst.
Dewhirst added that all the tours held in Essex County over the weekend, including walks in Leamington, Kingsville and Essex were well attended.
Sandra Marwood Pattman and Mary Konrad came from Windsor and joined the group at the Christ Church on Ramsay Street for the Burial Grounds session which was led by local historian Robert Honor.
“We had read about it and we wanted to come out to Amherstburg, which is nice,” said Marwood Pattman.
Konrad said they got the information about Jane’s Walk from Sarah Morris, who was the lead guide last Sunday.
“Sarah brought the information to our language class. The idea of a historical cemetery is interesting. It drew our attention.”
What they learned from Honor about the burial grounds is that while there are numerous dated tombstones propped up against a stone wall at the Christ Church, the entire neighbourhood was once the town’s original cemetery.
Standing at the corner of Bathurst St. and Simcoe St., Honor said by 1820 there were about 500 burials and it is doubtful they were moved when houses were built.
“There are no records to say they were interned anywhere else. There still could be burials under these houses,” Honor told the group assembled.
Honor passed around a copy of William Caldwell’s death notice. Caldwell died in 1822 and is considered one of the founders of Amherstburg.
Jane’s Walk continues this weekend at several places in Windsor and Tecumseh. For more information, go to www.windsorjaneswalk.ca.
Jane’s Walk tour presents a different look at local history
By Fred Groves
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