The Founding of Bayfield
Text from the plaque
In 1832 Carel Lodewijk, Baron van Tuyll van Serooskerken, a Dutch nobleman, purchased large holdings in the Huron Tract including 157 ha here which he set aside for a settlement. During the next decade an extensive town plot was laid out, grist and saw mills were erected and a community was established. The settlement, named Bayfield after the nautical surveyor Henry Wolsey Bayfield, developed as a centre for the surrounding agricultural community. By 1851 the hamlet contained a wagon and ploughmaking works, two blacksmiths shops, an ashery, a distillery, two tanneries, a brickyard and about 125 residents. The construction of a harbour during the 1870s spurred further growth, and in 1876, with a population of over 800, Bayfield was incorporated as a village.
Transcribed from the marker, not summarised.
Find the place
The County of Huron
The Municipality of Bluewater
In Bayfield, in front of the library on Main Street North
between Charles and Catherine streets
N 43 33.884 W 81 42.044
Recorded June 2005. Check current access before visiting.
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