SEE MERRICKVILLE ON A WALKING TOUR
There are 22 historic and architectural sites well worth seeing in the town. All you have to do is pick up a printed copy of the guide and off you go, writes Patrick Langston.
Q Where did you go?
AOn a walking tour of Merrickville. These self-guided walkabouts to architecturally and historically notable buildings and other sites are ubiquitous (Carleton Place and Perth offer them, for example), and they help structure your trip to a town even if you’ve visited before. For Merrickville, we first checked the online tour guide at merrickvillehistory.org/walkingtour. html and then picked up a printed copy at the Blockhouse at the corner of Main and St. Lawrence streets. Built in 1832 to defend the Rideau Canal against possible American invasion, the Blockhouse is on the tour; now a museum, it houses a varied collection of local, 19th-century artifacts.
Q What other buildings did you see?
AThe tour comprises 22 sites, most of them made of stone and constructed pre-1900. You can get inside well-preserved commercial sites like the Aaron Merrick Block on St. Lawrence St., which now hosts popular retail stores. There’s also some access to the mostly crumbling industrial complex where William Merrick, who founded the village on the shores of the Rideau River in 1794, built the saw, grist and other mills that brought him wealth (the complex has a small museum that traces Merrickville’s industrial past; it includes a promotional sign for “John Mills Furniture Dealer and Undertaker”). The homes, of course, you can admire only from the street. Although it’s on the tour, the William Merrick House at 129 Mill St. has a sign saying “private” and is set too far back from the road to view.
Q What are these homes like?
AA mix of styles, sizes and conditions. The Merrick Tavern, built c. 1830 on Mill Street and now a private home, is a simple, tidy affair with a deceptively asymmetrical elevation and a pretty front garden. The soaring red-brick Percival House on Main Street East, on the other hand, is a picturesque, but deteriorating blend of rounded and linear stone arches, jutting towers, and irregular rooflines in the Richardsonian-Romanesque style. Elsewhere, are the former home of the multi-talented John Mills and a lovely Greek revival house where lockmaster John Johnston once lived; above the latter’s front entrance is a “suicide” door that leads to nothing but the open air — presumably a porch was planned for that door.
Q Did you have a favourite home?
AThe Stephen Merrick House at 106 Brock St. E. built c. 1850 for a son of William Merrick, it’s exquisitely proportioned with twin stone chimneys and a handsome white portico in the Greek Revival style. The portico’s pediment and tapered Doric columns draw the eye to the front door, while the fine-cut ashlar stone on the front facade signals that the Merrick family was one of substance.
Q I understand there’s a church on that tour.
AThe Knox Presbyterian Church on St. Lawrence Street is a Gothic Revival building now called Cross House Antiques. Don’t be fazed by the less-than-effusive welcome you may get on entering the red-brick building with its four-square tour and spire above: The interior is packed with neat stuff from children’s toys to old song sheets.
Q What about food?
AThere are full-service restaurants in Merrickville, but we’ve long been partial to sandwiches, baked goods and outdoor tables at The Village Bean Coffee House at 205B St. Lawrence St. This time, we also stopped by Sugar Belle Bake Shoppe, 109 Brock St. W.; its selection is modest but accomplished (we brought home cinnamon buns and excellent sausage rolls). If you visit on a Saturday, Land O’Nod Farm has a stand on Main Street West just past St. Lawrence; it sells preserves (we sampled the blackberry and loved it), pickles, pickled eggs and seasonal vegetables. For fries, The Chip Witch stand on Main Street E., right across the road from Percival House, gets top honours.
Q Did you shop?
AWe peeked into some of the specialty stores along St. Lawrence including the ever-popular Mrs. McGarrigle’s Fine Food Shop, where the selection includes locally made chocolates as well as Gray Art Glass, which often hosts glass-blowing demonstrations. For Canadian-made jewelry, pottery and the like, don’t miss Cherry Picked next door to the Stephen Merrick House.
Q Tell me about the drive.
AGoing there, we took Hwy. 416 to Kemptville and thence to Merrickville. Coming home, we took Hwy. 23, the pretty Rideau Heritage Route, to Hwy. 44 just north of Kemptville and then made the short drive to the heavily forested Baxter Conservation Area. Unaccountably deserted on Canada Day weekend, it’s a lovely spot with trails, a small beach and picnic benches. From there, it was a short drive to Hwy. 416 and home.