Posts Tagged ‘Vincetoxicum rossicum’

Old Finch and the Finch Meander

Posted: May 29, 2025 in history, nature
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

Old Finch Avenue runs immediately north of the zoo way over in the northeast corner of the city.  It also crosses the Rouge River close to what is called the Finch Meander.  Because of  its history and the surrounding geography, the eastern portion of Finch has to curve around the river and as a result, it doesn’t align properly with the western portion.

below: On Finch, traffic crosses a one lane bridge that spans the Rouge River.

from behind, a car crosses a single lane bridge, trees all around, green

below: Hurricane Hazel struck Toronto in October 1954. It damaged or washed away many bridges over the Rouge River including the one here.  The replacement bridge is a “Bailey Bridge” built by the 2nd Field Engineer Regiment of the Canadian Military Engineers.  Seventy years later it is the last one still in use.

small bailey bridge over the rouge river, brownish water underneath, lots of green tree around

graffiti on the support to a bridge

below: Can you see the little orange alien?  I think that it’s waving at you…..

graffiti on rock and concrete under a bridge

And a few photos from walking around the Rouge River park in that area –

below: Down the steps and into the woods….

a set of stairs covered partially with old leaves, wood hand railing, leading to forest near Rouge Rver

a path through the woods in late May, most trees now with leaves

forest scens, with lots of greenery, some smaller trunks of trees in foreground, one of which is bent over, some old vines

below: Measuring the water levels

white measuring stick in the water, to measure water levels, Rouge River,

rouge river, with trees overhanging the water

below: Greater Celandine growing in the shadows.

small yellow flowers on green leafy plant in woods

below: Little pink honeysuckle flowers

little pink flowers on honeysuckle plants along the shores of a river

below: Mayapple among the ferns

spring plants, mayapple and ferns along a path

below: Keep an eye open for poison ivy!

a fallen log on the ground that is starting to rot, with a knot that looks like an eye, some poison ivy is growing beside it along with some other forest plants

below: Another silent threat that lurks here (but won’t give you a rash) is an invasive vine.  “Dog strangling vine”, or Vincetoxicum rossicum, wraps itself around trees and other plants that it encounters.  It is early in the growing season so most of the plants here were still short but there were masses of them.  The lighter beige curved objects that run through the middle of this photo are the remains of last year’s vines.

remains of last year's growth of do strangling vine lie partially hidden in this years growth, in a forest

drying dog strangling vines and seed pods form a web around other plants and trees

forest views, rouge river park

young trees, leaves, and spring growth in the woods

Close by is the old Hillside church built in 1877.

wrought iron details above a metal gate, entrance to churchyard

tombstones, monuments in a churchyard, with an old small concrete bench, small white wood church, Hillside church, in the background

historical society plaque in front of hillside church, white picket fence

Hillside Church – The church opened on Nov 16, 1877 as a branch of the Scarboro circuit of the Methodist Church of Canada to meet the religious needs of this rural community.  The property was given by Mr. and Mrs. John Crawford to the “Trustees of the Mount Zion Congregation”  – namely John Sewell, Peter Reesor, James Ormerod, George Pearse, James Pearse, Robert Stockdale and Thomas Barnard.  Combining to form the Congregation were members of the Bible Christian Church … and the adherents of the former Wesleyan Methodist Church.  Known from its opening as Hillside Church, it continued to serve the area until Church Union in 1925 when the congregation became part of Zion United Church, Markham.  Both the exterior and the interior of the church remain essentially the same as they were in 1877.

below: Someone with surname Thomas once passed this way.  Lived here.  Played here.  The small stone suggests that it was a child, maybe?  Almost 150 years later this little stone, cracked and weathered as it is, still stands in memory of Thomas and the person who cared enough about him to have this stone made and erected in the churchyard.  A few of us stop and linger long enough to think about him but at some point the words will become even more unreadable.

old, faded and cracked tombstone in a cemetery, can read the name Thomas and that he died 188?.

Stone possibly says, Leonard, infant son of ?? Thomas, died July 11 1888 (1889?)

With thanks to Wilfred who suggested checking out the Rouge River and Bailey Bridge! It was a few months ago now but I was waiting for a nice spring day.