If you wanted hair extensions in 1870, and you happen to be in Stratford, Ontario, then you could buy them at 106 Downie Street. The hair salon and beauty parlor were owned by the Harrison clan, a well-to-do Black family.
We passed the site of their former store on our garden tour of the small-city. It was an easy daytrip from Toronto, as Stratford is about 150 kilometres due west of the metropolis. We drove there in under two hours.
This Stratford, over here, on this River Avon, is famous for its annual Stratford Festival – a summer full of plays and musicals for theatre lovers and followers. That Stratford and River Avon, over there in England, is the birthplace of William Shakespeare. His plays are performed in both Stratfords. Over here, it is a vital part of the local economy.
Eight show gardens were on the tour run by the Stratford & District Horticultural Society. Some were shady or in full sun. Others tinkled with water from fountains and man-made streams. It was pure delight to see how a love of plants could transform an ordinary front or backyard into a living work of art. It helps if you have a green thumb, patience, or a wheelbarrow full of money to hire professional landscapers.
Stratford is on the traditional land of the Attawandaron, Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. There is a large reservation just up the road in London, Ontario.
Stratford is surrounded by farms. We passed fields filled with corn and hay. The area has a large Mennonite population who are mainly farmers. We bought the garden tour tickets from a Mennonite woman at a garden centre. She wore a navy-blue ankle-length dress, and her hair in bun covered by a white lace bonnet. This kind of clothing was popular in the 1820s when the Mennonites settlers immigrated from Europe to USA and Canada.
An angel of the garden!
I forgot. Prairie dresses are popular again as part of the trend in urban homesteading, and its wishful longing for a simpler past. I don't long for that past. It's hard to when slavery and genocide were its foundations.
After the garden tour, we had lunch at a lovely Thai restaurant. My red curry chicken with coconut rice was fabulous. We ate on the patio, watching the street life for entertainment. I played my usual game of counting the Black people. In this rural hinterland, we were there on the garden tour, and in the small-city centre enjoying the delights of the charming place.
The Harrison clan would have felt at home in Stratford. They were part of the small Black community living in the area. The Stratford & District Historical Society recovered their story from the archives. Their presence counter the myth that Black people are not part of the history of rural and small-town Canada.
Both Joseph Christopher Harrison and Emma (Hemingway) Harrison were born enslaved in the USA, and escaped to Canada in 1837. They taught themselves how to read and write. The Harrisons were married at Niagara Falls. They first farmed in the large Black community, known as the Queen's Bush Settlement, near Waterloo, Ontario. After an accident on the farm, they left for life in the small-city.
The Harrisons were successful. They built and owned their own home. They had a business at 106 Downie Street, in a large heritage building that is still standing. Downtown Stratford has lots of these Victorian-era houses and shops.
The Harrisons advertised their hair-care, barbering and dry-cleaning businesses in the local newspaper. Their two children, Harriet and Harvey, joined the family enterprises. The beauty business was still in existence in 1924, at 31 Erie Street West. The newspaper advert show the six staff – all Black women, expertly coifed, and wearing a uniform.
After lunch we strolled down to the river and along the nature trail. We stumbled on an open-air art show which runs thrice per week in theatre season. After a look-see, we strolled over to the Shakespearean Gardens, and then took a cruise on the river to cool off. We were too tired to rent and paddle our own canoes.
Graceful willow trees lined both river banks. A Great Blue Heron ignored the gawkers and photo-hunters, its eye locked on its next meal. Then a jab and a stab, and down its gullet went the fish.
My next trip to the area will be to Avondale Cemetery for a visit with the Harrisons. Then it is off to the weekly Saturdays Farmers Market and then the Stratford Festival. There is a show there for everyone. I think I will turn it into a week-end trip. The lovely town has charmed me.
© Jacqueline L. Scott. You can support the blog here.
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