Public Walk – Todmorden Mills and Vicinity: Stewardship in and near a Heritage Site

Date: Nov 09, 2024 at 10:00
Meeting Location: In front of the Todmorden Mills Papermill Gallery at 97 Pottery Rd.

Join us on Saturday, November 9th at 10:00 AM for a 2-hr, roughly 1.5 km, circular walk over mostly paved or hard packed gravel, some grassy areas.

Leaders: Paula Davies and Kathy Chung

Meeting Point: In front of the Todmorden Mills Papermill Gallery at 97 Pottery Rd.

Getting There: TTC: Many buses stop at the intersection of Broadview and Mortimer/Pottery Road, including the #8 Broadview, #62 Mortimer, #87 Cosburn, #100 Flemingdon, or #925 Don Mills Express buses. Get off at Broadview and Mortimer/Pottery Road. Walk to the NW corner of intersection and down the paved multi-use path down Pottery Rd to the Papermill Gallery or take the concrete stairs about half way down Pottery Rd and walk down the grass slope to the Papermill (building with the brick chimney). Along either way, enjoy the view down and across the Don Valley.  By car: street address is 67 Pottery Rd. There is free public parking at the site.

Walk Details: A 2-hr, roughly 1.5 km, circular walk over mostly paved or hard packed gravel, some grassy areas.

Accessibility: Certain areas may be soggy and wet. Some uneven ground and grassy areas. 

Washrooms: in the Papermill Gallery at the beginning and end of walk

Walk description: We will explore the natural and human history of this heritage site as well as TFN’s involvement in supporting heritage and conservation projects at the site. We will discuss stewardship activity at the site over the years and the challenges and necessary considerations for conservation and stewardship at a heritage site.  We will observe urban influence on the natural environment, invasive species, native species and their planting initiatives

What to Bring:  The walk will take place rain or shine so dress for the weather.  Bring warm clothes, layers are good. Binoculars optional; birding is not the focus of the walk.

Other information:  The Papermill Gallery has changing art exhibits which participants are invited to visit at the end of the walk. Those arriving by transit will have to walk back up Pottery Road to take a bus either north or south on Broadview.

City of Toronto’s website for Todmorden Mills:

https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/history-art-culture/museums/todmorden-mills/

 

Link to 1987 survey by Toronto Field Naturalists on the human and natural history of Todmorden Mills. You may wish to compare what has changed over 37 years! 

https://torontofieldnaturalists.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/todmorden_mills_c.pdf

There are two nearby cafes on Broadview: Supernova at 897 Broadview (near Mortimer) and Broadview Espresso at 817 Broadview (near Broadview Stn).

This walk is only one of more than 140 that TFN will host this year alone! TFN members enjoy a complete listing of walks in our newsletter. Not a member? Learn more about the benefits of membership now!

Please tag any photos you take on this walk with #TFNWalk so that we can all live vicariously through your lens.

Toronto Field Naturalists wishes to acknowledge this Land through which we walk. For thousands of years, the Land has been shared by the Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, and the Anishinaabe. Toronto is situated on the Land within the Toronto Purchase, Treaty 13, the traditional and treaty Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. This territory is also part of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum, a covenant agreement between Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Wendat peoples and allied nations to peaceably share the land and all its resources. Today, the Land is home to peoples of numerous nations. We are all grateful to have the opportunity to continue to care for and share the beauty of this Land.