Book Review: German Communities in Southern Ontario

Fred Dahms. Photo provided by author.

In what is probably one of the worst cases of timing that I've ever seen, I received a book useful to plan "day trip" excursions in Southern Ontario a week or two before the world went into social isolation and tourism ceased to exist as a human activity. It's titled German Communities in Southern Ontario and written by retired Geography professor Fred Dahms. That's too bad, because my wife and I both enjoyed reading the book and if we could, we'd probably be planning on a little "day trip" to look at old buildings and enjoy a meal at a local pub based on the work that Dahms has done.

Just to "fully disclose" any personal connection, I will admit a certain fondness for the German community of Ontario. I grew up around old order Amish people and probably the first non-English language I ever heard was the German spoken by the local "plain people". They babysat us as children. I also remember ploughing a field in the cab of a tractor while my neighbour used a team of heavy horses to do the same thing next door. We hired them to do carpentry work. And one winter they did the chores for my dad because he was too sick to do them himself. In exchange, they cut a "reasonable" amount of wood for their sawmill from our 60 acre woodlot for as long as he lived. (This is how I was taught to do "deals" with other people---on the basis of community-building through trust and looking out for the other person, instead of "sharp dealing" and formal contracts.)  One day we saw a crowd of people arrive on the neighbour's land while we ate breakfast. At lunch a frame structure had been erected. At supper there was a barn.

Of course, Mennonites and Amish are only part of the German community that settled Ontario. There were plenty of immigrants who were Roman Catholic. The Town of Formosa, for example, was a "hot bed" of Catholic education (the town's name was coined by a visiting Jesuit---it's Latin for "beautiful").

The Church of Immaculate Conception in Formosa.
Photo by Fred Dahms. Used with his permission.

This isn't to say that this is just a book for the "church tour" crowd. Being Germans, they also brought a very healthy beer drinking culture to the province. 

The Commercial Tavern, Maryhill

Interior shot of Harley's pub in Mildmay.

There's lot of information about how to plan a "mini-vacation"---local festivals get mentioned in passing that can be looked up on line for future trips. Also the odd bed and breakfast in a historic site get mentioned too.

The Maryhill Inn---now a bed and breakfast.

As I said to begin, it's not an ideal time to publish a book for day-tripping. But eventually the pandemic will end and we will begin to go out for tourist jaunts. When we do, this book will be a good way to plan some local trips. It's available for purchase at the Bookshelf downtown (who may be closed right now, but I believe are doing deliveries---.) It's also for sale at the Amazon.ca website.

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I don't expect anyone to put supporting news blogs "high up" on their priority list in today's crisis. But if it isn't a big deal for you and you enjoy reading about local stuff, why not buy a subscription through Pay Pal or Patreon? One thing that I hope a lot of people have learned through the present situation is how important their local community can be. Things like the Backgrounder build the sense of solidarity that we all need a lot more than trips overseas or "bling". 

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Furthermore, I say unto you we need to deal with the climate crisis!