Here's where you can learn a little Ontario history

The Buxton Settlement

Photos by Alan L Brown - June, 2009

Plaque Location

In the Municipality of Chatham-Kent
at coordinates N 42 18.369 W 82 13.261
at 21979 A.D. Shadd Road.

Click here for an interactive larger map
© 2010 Microsoft

Plaque Text

From the shores of Lake Erie to the seventh concession, from Dillon Road on the east to Drake Road on the west, Buxton's ordered fields are dotted with churches and homes from the epic experience of the Underground Railroad. In 1849, Reverend William King arrived with fifteen former slaves at a 3600 ha tract of swampy, forested land. More refugees followed, buying and clearing 20 ha homesteads, establishing industries, churches and schools. The settlers created the regular pattern of roads and drainage ditches seen today, transforming the landscape into the prosperous Elgin Settlement, as it was then called, where neat cottages spoke of industry and thrift, and children received a classical education. Buxton lives on today through descendants of these determined immigrants who carved out a free life for themselves and their families on the tranquil plains of southwestern Ontario.

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