ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½’s top walks: On King street, discover stories of Black resilience
Heritage ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ offers a large ongoing series of walking tours, some free and some paid. You can take this walk with historian Faith Ebanks for $9.85.
ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ is best experienced by walking. The street life of our neighbourhoods, our hidden ravines, the small notes of history that have survived our constant urban renewal … what we love most about our city is best seen up close and at a leisurely pace. It’s no wonder, then, that ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ is home to dozens of groups, volunteers and professionals dedicated to the art of urban walking, from historians and nature lovers to architects, athletes and more. We asked a select group of these walking experts — ,Ìý, the , the City of ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½, and “Stroll†author Shawn Micallef, to share their favourite ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ walks. Here’s the fifth walk on our guide to some of the best walks in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½, as selected by the experts.
Being Black on King
Type: People and history
Location: DowntownÂ
Distance: 2 km
From: Heritage ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½
The core is full of scattered locations that, taken together, celebrate the resilience of Black people who fought for dignity and freedom. Heritage ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ is focusing on these often-untold stories and is offering .
Start on Sackville Street near King Street East at the Thornton and Lucie Blackburn site — now Inglenook Community School. The Blackburns escaped slavery in the U.S. in the 1830s, and their ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ property became the first Canadian Underground Railroad site to be excavated. Walk north and then go west on King before turning on Trinity Street to the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½â€™s first “free school,†where students no longer had to pay to attend classes.
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If you like to walk around ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ here are a few recommendations of where you should take your next stroll.
Kelsey Wilson
Continue west on King to the former site of one of ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½â€™s first Black-owned soul food restaurants,Ìýthe Underground Railroad Restaurant. Continue on to Jarvis Street, then head south, where you’ll walk along Front Street East to Oak Hall Lane, making your way up to where Mary Ann Shadd Cary, an anti-slavery activist and major figure in Canada’s Underground Railroad, published The Provincial Freeman, an anti-slavery newspaper, in the 1850s.
Head back east on King to St. Lawrence Hall, built between 1850 and 1851. Shortly after its opening the hall hosted the North American Convention of Colored Freedmen.
Walk northwest through St. James Park and on to Adelaide Street East, continuing west until you reach the plaque honouring James Mink, a Black businessman who opened a livery stable in 1849 at what is now Queen and Bay Streets during a time when ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½â€™s Black community was small. The plaque tells a story of troubling racism in 1800s ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½.
Heritage ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ is an independent charity and an agency of the City of ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½. It offers a range of ways to celebrate the city, including a large ongoing series of walking tours presented by more than 100 volunteers, some free and some paid. You can take this walk with historian Faith Ebanks for $9.85.
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