As a lifelong history buff and historian, I am always fascinated by historic sites with only the slightest remnants of whatever was once there -- and the way such sites force me to use my imagination to populate them and bring them to life.
Today's post deals with such a place, one that I tripped over only because I zoomed in closer on the right segment of Google Maps while looking for something else altogether. If there's one lesson I've learned during this series of travels to sites of interest, it's to zoom in closer on Google Maps -- just in case.
Southwold Earthworks lies in western Elgin County, south by southwest from London, along County Road 14. It's 8 kilometres southeast from Highway 401, through Iona Station and Iona, and just a few hundred metres north of County Road 16. Follow the exit signs from Highway 401 for Iona, and as soon as you're off the main highway you will see signs giving direction and distance to Southwold Earthworks.
It's a National Historic Site maintained by Parks Canada, but there is no admission fee.
The earthworks in this case are a double line of earthen mounds surrounding an oval-shaped site of level ground. This was the site of a longhouse village of the Neutral peoples between 1500 and 1650, likely closer to the beginning of that time period. The earthworks formed a foundation for the wooden palisades which surrounded the village.
Like their compatriots of the Six Nations, Huron, and others, the Neutrals settled in villages so they could cultivate fields of beans, corn, and squash. These produce items, together with gathered nuts and berries, and the catch from hunting and fishing, gave the people a broad-based and nutritious diet. The size of the village enclosure, and the number of foundations excavated within it during the 1930s and again in the 1970s, suggest that the population of this settlement could likely have exceeded 800 people.
So with that introduction, let's turn on the imagination and visit this site. From a small roadside parking area, you enter a grassy walkway between fences, which separates the site access from adjacent farmland.
Inside the entrance, you come to the first of three interpretive signs, this one with a map showing the locations of other similar earthworks that have been found across Ontario. The sign mentions that this is the only known location in Canada of a double earthwork, which also indicates that there would have been a double palisade.
It took me about 7 minutes of walking at a leisurely pace to reach the main site. The ground is reasonably level, with no steep hills, but rather bumpy -- like a suburban lawn that hasn't been rolled since halfway to forever. The earthwork mounds are not especially tall, but the artificial nature of the work is plain to see.
A second sign at the edge of the site shows the approximate layout of the site today, together with artist renderings of some of the artifacts excavated here.
Today, the site is home to a couple of dozen mature trees, but these have grown up at some time during the centuries after the site was abandoned by the Neutral people. The land would have been completely cleared for the village within the earthen mounds.
In the middle of the site, a third sign gives an artist rendering of the village at its peak, based on the findings of archaeological excavations in 1935 and 1976.
With upwards of 50 people living in a single longhouse, and with the houses fitted so closely together, the village would certainly have been a busy place in its heyday.
The entry walk brings you to the southwest corner of the site. I walked across the centre of the circle, and then stood on top of the inner mound at the north side to take this picture across the site as a whole.
Here's the same picture, with an arrow indicating the location of the second of the three signs. That one is located just outside the outer mound at the far side of the site, which gives a good indication of the total size of the village when it existed.
It was an entertaining exercise to try to imagine the bustle of the settlement, and to populate this parkland with all the people who once lived here.
Southwold Earthworks doesn't require a lengthy visit -- I spent a total of 25 minutes there -- but it does provide an enjoyable and easy walk in a peaceful setting, and the chance to touch at least a bit the lives of people who lived here as much as five centuries ago.
To conclude, here's a map to show the location of this national historic site.
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