Due to network maintenance, online resources and Guest Wi-Fi will not be available on Sunday, October 12, from
6 am to 5 pm. Thank you for your patience.
The following locations have upcoming delayed openings due to Staff training drills.
Monday, October 20
Ancaster Branch, 10 am
Tuesday, October 21
Central Library, 10 am
Sherwood Branch, 10 am
You may visit nearby Branches for your library needs. www.hpl.ca/hours
On Wednesday, October 8, the Helen Detwiler (320 Brigade Drive) visit has been changed to 11-11:30 am this week. Thank you for your understanding.
All HPL Branches are closed on Thanksgiving Monday, October 13. Bookmobile is off the road. Extended Access and Study Hall services are not available. Regular service hours resume on Tuesday, October 14. Our Virtual Branch is open at hpl.ca.
All branches close on Sunday, October 12, 2025 for Thanksgiving. This includes branches with Extended Access.
Due to the ongoing Mohawk College Support Staff strike, the Bookmobile visit on Monday, October 6, is cancelled. You may select Terryberry Branch as an alternative location to pick up your Holds. On Wednesday, October 8, the Helen Detwiler visit is changed to 11-11:30 am this week.
Interlibrary Loan (ILLO) service will be temporarily paused starting Friday, September 26, due to continued negotiations between CUPW and Canada Post. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Bring back your borrowed library items (due Oct 1 or later) within 28 days to avoid a replacement or lost fee. We'll remove the fee when you bring back your overdue items.
Due to roof repair maintenance, the Branch is temporarily closed from September 2 until October 14. Please visit the Red Hill, Parkdale, and Barton locations as your nearest branches for your library needs. Thank you for your patience.
Greetings from Hamilton
"She was most intrigued with the variety of plants ..."
Shortly, after Campbell 's journey, one of Hamilton 's better known tourists arrived; Mrs. John Graves Simcoe. She was most intrigued with the variety of plants in the area. Mr. Green (Billy Green the scout's father) named them all for her to write down:
"Ginseng...sarsaparilla, golden thread ... consumption vine... Poison vine...Madder, toothache plant... sore throat weed; dragon's blood; Adam and Eve ... droppings of beech; enchanter's nightshade ... dewberries; wild turnip..."
Her experience with the food of the area was slightly more appealing than the Rev. Christmas'.
"They prepared me some refreshment at this house, some excellent cakes, baked on the coals; eggs; a boiled black squirrel; tea, and coffee made of peas, which was good; they said coffee was better'. The sugar was made from black walnut trees, which looks darker than that from the maple, but I think it is sweeter."
She stayed at the King's Head Inn, where most of the earliest travellers stayed. It would have been of particular, interest to her as it had been ordered erected "for the accommodation of travellers" by her husband.
"It is beautifully situated at a small portage which leads from the head of a natural canal connecting Burlington Bay with Lake Ontario , and is a good landmark. There are eight rooms in this house, besides low wings behind it, joined by a colonnade, where are the offices. It is a pretty plan. I breakfasted in a room to the S.E., which commands the view of the lake on the south shore, of which we discern the Point of the Forty-Mile Creek, Jones' Point and some other houses. From the rooms to the N.W. we see Flamborough Head and Burlington Bay . The sand cliffs on the north shore of Burlington Bay look like red rocks. The beach is like a park covered with large, spreading oaks."