Prince of Barrhaven

Melissa and I had a great night last night. We took my Mom out for a drive. We decided to go out for a drive on the worst night of the year (day after the first snow storm) to stretch the legs of my Mom’s car as she has not been driving much.

The drive was nice; we did a nice run on the highway and just chatted with each other. Then I decided to swing out to Barrhaven to take a little trip down memory lane. You see I have always known that my Mom grew up on a farm out in the Barrhaven area but I did not know much more than that. So last night I asked her to show us.

We started the drive up Greenbank, left on Followfield, and then right on Woodroffe. As we were talking about the farm, my Mom tells us that there is a park named after us (well her maiden name)….. A park! Hey, that I never knew. So I blurt out, where is it… now remember there is tons of fresh snow, and she had not been there in years (so we start randomly driving down side streets and low and behold we see a wooded area and drive up to the sign and we se it “STINS0N PARK” (again my Mom’s maiden name).

This was wild, so after driving around the area (some nice houses) I decide to pull over and check this park out. The park is nice, several play structures, a soccer field, and a covered picnic area where I assume the house once stood. One day in the spring I will check it out rather than in a foot of snow.

I found out that it was quite a farm, it was off Woodroffe from went from north of Strandherd (or known then as Wills side road because Will something lived on it) all the way to Greenbank.

So to let you all know how much land once was in my family I am attaching a map (thank you google maps) of Barrhaven with the area once owned by my Grandfather (yup Grandfather, not that long ago really). Unfortunately for me and my family, it was sold at not much of a profit, so no family fortune waiting in the mist (sorry mel).

MikeG.