It was at Open Doors Grimsby on Saturday. Grimsby is an interesting town historically. It was the site of Engagement of the Forty. "Forty" is Forty Mile Creek and it is known as a landmark "engagement". (An engagement is a small-size combat, often part of a battle.)
This plaque was presented by the Historic Sites and Monuments board of Canada in June 1955:
Here at the Forty Mile Creek, on the 8th of June 1813, American Forces, retreating after the battle of Stoney Creek, were bombarded by the British Flotilla under Sir James Lucas Yeo. Indians and groups of the forth and fifth Regiments Lincon Milita joined in the attack and created such confusion in the enemy ranks that they abandoned this position and retreated to Fort George.
I was at Nelles Manor on Saturday and took a picture of the couple who restored it over 43 years and had it designated as a museum in 2013. They are Barry and Linda Coutts. I stood at the second floor bedroom window looking north and imagined the view to the lake that would have been.
You can see the video of the Nelles Manor story HERE. Barry and Linda are active and avid historians and have many stories about the area. The reason Nelles Manor is so important is that this is the oldest house between Kingston and Niagara-on-the-Lake and was built 1788-1798.
The original Nelles property was 3,000 acres. That would have covered from Main Street to the Lake, and then over to Forty Creek where Robert built a mill. Nelles came here from New York because the the American Revolutionary war, being forced to flee in 1783. This explains the timing of building the house.
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