Welcome!

This tour provides an introductory overview of the buildings or sites in Thorold's Past and Present Heritage Tour.

Before coming to the Niagara region, many visitors or new residents may not have visited or even heard of the city of Thorold. As new residents, my partner and I have been able to explore a fair amount of the city, and by creating this digital interpretive tour, we have learned so much about the rich history of Thorold. Many of the historical sites of Thorold are still present today, with some being repurposed into new ventures for our modern times. With this, we can see the transformation and the change of the city, but also the preservation of the history that built this city. The title of our interpretive tour, "Live the Present, See the Past" is a testament to the importance of the city's heritage. Although some of the heritage sites have changed over time and been repurposed, there are still plaques at each location to identify them and let people know the stories behind them.

This tour begins at the Lynch House, one of Thorold's heritage buildings, at 65 Chapel Street South, Thorold L2V 2C8.

We will walk through several different Heritage buildings or sites in Thorold:

• The Lynch House, a house that has many fine features in one of the most eye-catching and commanding locations.
• Memorial Park has a very melancholic feeling as you walk around the park.
• Chestnut Hall, which stands as Thorold's Public Library.
• The old Carnegie Library, one of 2,500 libraries is funded by a Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist named Andrew Carnegie.
• The Quebec Bank, Canada's second-oldest financial institution which was founded in Quebec City.
• Macartney Drug Store, one of Thorold's heritage sites design has been hardly changed so that it is easily recognizable.
• The Old Fire Hall, one of the most distinct buildings in downtown Thorold.
• The Millstone - Welland Mills. This building was one of Upper Canada's largest flour mills.
• Trinity United Church is a beautiful piece of architecture that is still being used as a church over 170 years after its inception.
• Last but not least, Battle of Beaverdams Park pays tribute to that pivotal battle of the War of 1812, and a limestone obelisk erected in 1874 marks the grave of 16 American soldiers.

I hope you have a pleasant and wonderful tour at Thorold's Past and Present Heritage.

With our interpretive tour of Heritage sites in Thorold, we want to be able to show the deep history being preserved by the city of Thorold that can easily be missed if you don't know what you're looking for. The tour allows anyone to learn some of the history of the city - not just tourists or new residents, but also lifetime residents who may not have not looked into the history. The preservation and repurposing of these sites to work in today's modern society shows the ingenuity of the city. It shows that Thorold is proud of their past and wants to showcase it so that it is not forgotten and lost in time. There was a big difference between us doing our online research for this topic compared to physically going to each point of interest and seeing them in person. There are so many stories behind each site just waiting to be discovered or rediscovered.