For years we used to stop at the entertainment facility just north of Barrie on highway 11 as we made our way back home from Gravenhurst. Usually we would grab a coffee or a snack from McDonalds but this section of the highway used to be known for cheaper gasoline. Therefore, if we had seen cheaper gas on the route north we might stop on the way back home to fill up. The image below shows the site from the air and indicated the location of the Go-Kart Track, the Kids Track, The Coffee Time, McDonalds and the Shell gas station. Other blogs online suggest that the business was closed as a result of Covid restrictions. However, when you look at the historic images on Google Earth there haven’t been cars in the parking lot or on the track since 2016. Reliable information seems to be hard to come by online.
The entrance stands empty and the ticket booth has been boarded up for years now. You used to have to but tickets for individual laps and hand them to the attendant between each round on the track.
The one-kilometre long track loops around itself and speeds of kilometres per hour were advertised. A loop could be done in as little as a minute and a half and cost $5.00. Five laps could be had for $20.00. To ride the adult track you had to be at least 11 years old and 52 inches tall. There were 30 carts, some single seaters and some double. There was also a small mini track with a single cart for those too young to go on the adult track.
The rules are still posted near the gate. They also give the conditions that riders from 8-11 years old must meet. They had to be at least 48″ tall. The kids track is 1/4 kilometre long and has a maximum speed of 16 kilometers per hour. Children between 3 and 8 years old could ride for free as a passenger in a two seater adult kart. Children under three cannot ride on the tracks.
The most prominent feature on the mini golf course is the volcano. The mini golf is getting badly over-run and the carpet on the greens is falling apart.
A Coffee Time drive through used to operate on the north end of the building.
The menu sign is broken away except for one panel announcing a new treat called Maple French Sticks.
A Shell gas station used to operate at the front of the building.
There was also a McDonalds restaurant on the south end of the building for those who wanted a meal either during their stay or just a snack while stopping for gas.
It’s too bad that this facility isn’t operating anymore because over the years thousands of people enjoyed a spin around the track.
The Uxbridge Historical Centre was founded in 1972 and was created around the Quaker Hill school house. It is home to ten buildings and a large number of artifacts that combine to tell the local history of the township and the town of Uxbridge.
When Uxbridge township was opened up for settlement a lot of the early pioneers were Quakers. These members of The Society of Friends came from Pennsylvania along the newly created Yonge Street. Twelve families started to carve out a new life for themselves in 1804. Soon they started to make plans to build a Meeting House for themselves. In 1809 they built their first Meeting House out of logs and replaced it with a frame building in 1820. This was the only church in the township for nearly a generation. Meetings were held in this building until 1925 and it holds the distinction of being the oldest building in Uxbridge Township.
At the same time as they built the first Meeting House they acquired the plot across the road for a cemetery. This was the only cemetery in the area for a decade and has some early grave markers made from local granite.
The home known as the Gould-Carmody house was built in the late 1850s in the area of town that currently is home to the arena. It was built by Joseph Gould who was the first local MPP. He was very influential in the development of the town of Uxbridge. His family sold the home to William Carmody in 1914 and it was moved to its present site in 1988. The decorative bargeboard, or gingerbread, along with the finial at the peak, give the home a distinctive appearance.
The Scott Township Municipal Hall was built in 1860 and served the town council until 1967. After this time, the wood frame building was moved to the farm of Ed and Dorothy Brown and used as a Country Heritage Museum. It was moved to the Uxbridge Historical Centre in 1993. The front entrance has windows on either side which contain 12 over 12 window sashes. The door itself is modest but has pilasters on either side and a lighted transom over the top.
The United Church on site was moved from the west end of lot 16, where it stood closer to Goodwood. It was built in 1870 and dedicated on December 14th. Originally it was a Methodist Episcopal Church and was part of the Uxbridge circuit. It was known either as Forsythe’s or Russell’s Church. In the 1880s the Methodist churches recognized that they had several different types of congregations that basically held the same beliefs with minor variations. They were investing resources to compete with each other for congregants and missions funding and decided that it made sense to unify. The Primitive Methodists and the Episcopal Methodists joined together with the Wesleyan Methodists to become the Methodist Church in 1884. This building then went under the Goodwood circuit. In 1925 the Methodist, Congregationalists and some of the Presbyterian Churches joined together to create the United Church of Canada. After that, the church was known as Fifth Line United Church until it closed in 1966. It was moved to its present location in 1979.
There are many historical pieces of farming equipment that are located on the property and in the various barns and sheds.
The Hilson Shed was built in the 1800s in Uxbridge and was used as a coach house or carriage shed. It was home to the Hilson family horses, carriage and tackle until they were replaced with a family car. It has been part of the Uxbridge Heritage Centre since 1973.
The Nesbitt family drive shed was located on their farm and used by several generations of the family. It has the distinction of having been on the farm that was used for filming seven seasons of Road To Avonlea. This show was based on books that were written by Lucy Maude Montgomery who also wrote Anne of Green Gables. It was disassembled in 1981 and reassembled on the grounds of the Heritage Centre. A sawmill that was located on the same farm was moved to Black Creek Pioneer Village.
This Edwardian styled house was built in town in 1908 for George Stokes. George was a councilor, deputy reeve and later reeve. The house was later sold to George and Nellie Kydd. In 1963 Nellie became the first female mayor in Uxbridge. The house has a unique two story porch along the front and was moved to the Centre in 2002. It now houses the offices and gallery shop.
The Uxbridge Post Office Bell was donated to the town on its centennial anniversary by Bell Canada on Aug. 26, 1972. It was forged by Jim Taylor in England in 1912.
The school is the nucleus for the historical centre and is the third one to be built in Quaker Hill. The first school was built in 1817 by Quaker Ezekial James and was made out of logs. It was the first school in Uxbridge Township. It was located just a short distance south of the present school. It was replaced in the 1850s with a frame building that stood where the present driveway for the school is. The brick school was built in 1924 and served the community until 1969. The two doors were used to allow the boys and girls to have separate entrances so that the boys wouldn’t see the girls ankles when they were changing their shoes as this was considered improper.
The print shop is not an historical building as it was built on site in 1994. It was erected to house the historical printing equipment from the Uxbridge Printing Company. The large square front is known as the Boomtown Style and was used to make small buildings look bigger. It also hid the front gable and allowed the merchant to have more space to advertise their business.
The buildings are open for tours in the summer months and some of them, like the school, can be rented for functions.
Hiking the GTA 