Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from July, 2021

This blog is a project of Friends of Mary Allen (FoMA): friendsofmaryallen@gmail.com
Find out more about FoMA at our Facebook page - the link is in the sidebar.

Maybe you have a story you'd like to tell here?
Get in touch!

The Mary Allen neighbourhood is located within the Haldimand Tract: hundreds of thousands of acres along the length of the Grand River. The tract was defined in the 1784 treaty between the British and the Six Nations Haudenosaunee as reserved for the Six Nations and their posterity “to enjoy forever.” Non-Indigenous settlement of its northern half began c.1800, including what is now Waterloo Region. This land has been the territory of the Neutral, Anishnaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples since time immemorial. The Mary Allen Stories blog acknowledges this historical context and ongoing reality. Find out more, including more about treaties, in the sidebar under INDIGENOUS LINKS.




The Making of Mary Allen Park, Part 1

written and researched by Deb Ferguson I’m sitting at the harvest table in my park – Mary Allen Park. It’s right by my house, and, I’m guessing, close to the homes of most of the other people who are enjoying it right now. It is a great place to play and be active, meet with friends, or to throw a ball for the dog. This park serves as a place to burn off excess energy on the way home from school, as a meeting spot for some well-needed social time with other parents, and as a destination for seniors in the neighbourhood. It is a place for people to hang out, chat, or observe.    I t’s the centre of our neighbourhood and it gets a lot of use.       In front of me, and slightly to the right, are a variety of climbing areas, surrounded by older trees and newer bushes. There are large rocks and vertical logs to run across and balance on, a thick segment of a fallen tree trunk, a swing set, and a variety of climbers. In the distance, by the north entrance, are ...