Do You Remember When We Ate the Fish in Lake Ontario? New Memorial in Bronte

September 8th, 2007 Categories: Historical Oakville, Oakville Events, Oakville Real Estate News, Oakville Town Planning & Development, Real Estate News

Respecting the Past, Celebrating the Present , Embracing the Future is the Town of Oakville’s motto.

Oakville is a forward-thinking modern town that also cherishes its history and heritage.

This past weekend Wayne and I were strolling along Bronte waterfront with our friends Ashley and Min-Na and enjoying a cappucino gelato. We stopped to admire the new Fishermen’s Memorial Monument.

Oakville's Bronte Harbour

Unveiled just a few weeks ago, this beautiful granite memorial measures 12′ x 6′ x 2′. The simple dedication reads:

“In memory of the Bronte Commercial Fishermen who ventured onto the lake in good weather and bad to set and lift their nets to earn a living catching fish. Ciscoes, Herring Whitefish Lake Trout. Cleaned at the dockside shanties. Packed in ice and shipped to markets in Toronto, Hamilton and New York City. Twenty-two boats travelled from the harbour at the peak fishing season. As the fish dwindled, so did the boats fishing from Bronte. The last boat left the lake circa early 1950s.”

Not too long ago we, and people as far as New York City, would pay to eat fish from Lake Ontario!

A local Bronte community group took on this project as a labor of love and raised funds from the community in the amount of $54,500 to finance this memorial.

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The Village of Bronte became part of the Town of Oakville in 1954. Today Bronte is experiencing renewal and is becoming a growing centre for commerce, tourism and residential development.

It’s nice to know that along with progress, residents see value in preserving the past.

I like the royal blue benches in Bronte Harbourfront Park. They remind me of Portugal and Greece. My friend Ashley took this photo and the one at the top.

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