FN 4-18 Niagara Escarpment and Its Cultural Significance

Here at the Rotary Park north viewpoint, you can look across the valley of Twelve Mile Creek.

 
 

Glance to your right and see the infrastructure of the Decew Falls Generating Station.

 
 


Water comes all the way across the peninsula from Lake Erie, through a series of canals, and tumbles over the Escarpment in concrete and steel penstocks. They feed the water into power stations at the base of the escarpment.

This ridge of land – the Niagara escarpment - was a natural geologic and navigational beacon for First Nations.

Laura Secord would have used it like that too. And she knew that further upstream she would have had to scale those very slopes. Imagine how daunting the prospect must have seemed to her.

Maja Bannerman (as the voice of Laura Secord) and Santee Smith talk about the cultural importance of the Niagara Escarpment landscape.



 
 


Video: The Niagara Escarpment and Its Cultural Significance

*** Warning: Playing video clips on a mobile device with a data plan will use your data quickly! ***

Rotary Park is the end of Stage 4 of the Laura Secord Legacy Trail.

After leaving Rotary Park, Stage 5 takes you back into the Valley of the 12 Mile Creek, up the Escarpment, and along its brow to DeCew House Heritage Park.

Further upstream along this valley is where Laura Secord would begin her climb up the Niagara Escarpment. Stage 5 begins in the car park, here at Rotary Park.


This point of interest is one of many on the GuideTags app –
a free digital interpretive guide that features thematic tours, routes, and discovery sessions,
and automatically tells geolocated stories about the places that surround us.
Download the app today, and start exploring!
Contact us if you would like to create your own content.
Report an error or inappropriate content.