Living in Aurora, Town of Aurora, Ontario » Leslie Street https://livinginaurora.ca Living In Aurora Ontario Canada Mon, 13 Jan 2020 19:51:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.38 community FOCUS: Experience Nature Or Who Hauled Nature Away? https://livinginaurora.ca/aurora/community-focus-experience-nature-or-who-hauled-nature-away/ https://livinginaurora.ca/aurora/community-focus-experience-nature-or-who-hauled-nature-away/#comments Thu, 13 Feb 2014 17:24:35 +0000 http://livinginaurora.ca/?p=11376 that this will be noted as an important moment in the history of the Town of Aurora. Some welcome the development but I find it sad though, and somewhat hard to understand the short-sighted motives behind it.

Why are we so ignorant of the future, the future of our community? Developmental growth may bring some benefits to the town but also carries with it certain consequences that we blindly ignore to speak of today.” Read More & View Photo Gallery

I will be writing more on the community FOCUS site, post images and perhaps videos. Feel free to subscribe to other site as well as there will be more of Aurora on community FOCUS and more of a community related content.

If you wish to connect I can be found on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. I am active on all social medias and content may vary. Please no marriage or forever friends proposals :).

IMG_4496_HaulingNature
]]> https://livinginaurora.ca/aurora/community-focus-experience-nature-or-who-hauled-nature-away/feed/ 0 Addison-Hall Horse Breeding Farm, Life Left Behind To Demolish https://livinginaurora.ca/aurora/addison-hall-horse-breeding-farm-life-left-behind-to-demolish/ https://livinginaurora.ca/aurora/addison-hall-horse-breeding-farm-life-left-behind-to-demolish/#comments Wed, 20 Nov 2013 18:56:59 +0000 http://livinginaurora.ca/?p=11193 if I spent more time photographing sunset that evening or rather observing.

I was in the middle of field so who knows what critters were crawling around me or on me, regardless I always tend to bring something home anyway, so I am used to.

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON


Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON


Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON


Once beautiful farm land landscapes on Leslie Street are now being transformed into residential areas. So what’s the fascination with the view on the hill. Regardless of transformation the sunset will always be the same, but it will not look the same because of all the developments around.

Sometimes I ask myself where all these people coming from. Perhaps someone had the same question sixteen years ago when I moved to Aurora.

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON


On the same evening I discovered that the Addison-Hall Farm on 15775 Leslie Street was going to be flatten, flatten eventually. It wasn’t yet but the walls were slowly coming down. With a help from a friend I got on the site. The adventure began.

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON


Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON


We can’t possibly preserve everything physically, but we can in photos, and this is what I do.

I spent many September days on the site and photographed the Addison-Hall farm from different angles and inside out, whatever was left each day. All the good recoverable mainly wood and metal materials were stripped from the barn for re-use.

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON


Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON


Unfortunately I missed when the main barn was still standing, but I do have some photographs of the barn and the horses from few summers ago when I was driving to photograph now the new restored Petch Log house. As of today the farm house is still standing, but its days are numbered.

The main green barn is now almost flatten and the second near by barn with horse stalls has a roof off. The site is now going under main demolishing.

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON


In the place like that you will never know what you can find and I didn’t know what to expect. I learned my ghostly lesson not to take anything from the old sites, just photos.

Who knew, but there was an apartment inside the main barn and probably been there since 1960s. It was one floor apartment – bedrooms, kitchen, washroom, living room and office, accessible from the back mainly. When I came inside first time it felt like someone left life behind, just like that – they just left and didn’t bother taking anything with them.

There was way too much personal stuff scattered all over – mainly family photographs, letters, postcards and other articles. We even found property mortgage papers. I guess all that meant to go down with the site, not wanted.

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON


Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON


It was definitely a horse breeding farm. Once you see what was in the barn and at the apartment, one can easily figure that out. Lots and lots of information about the horses, boxes of log filled with records and boxes of x-ray negatives.

Thousands and thousands of horse related records, brochures and books. And all that meant to go down with the demolition, it was left behind.

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON


I fell in love with the land all around the farm house and the barns. On the hill overlooking Aurora, beautiful landscape all around. It wasn’t just a horse farm, surrounded with beautiful trees, it was a bird sanctuary as well. Every turn I made something was chirping beside me.

Partially I think I got to re-live my childhood, and may be this is why I get drawn to places such that. This is how it was and this will be gone too very soon.

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON


And here is something interesting, the farm was once owned by Dennis Mills, I don’t know anything about him, but may be you do. The Addison-Hall farm was the Thoroughbred horse farm, if you interested to know more.

I have seen and captured enough.
Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON

Addison-Hall Farm, 15775 Leslie Street, Aurora ON


]]> https://livinginaurora.ca/aurora/addison-hall-horse-breeding-farm-life-left-behind-to-demolish/feed/ 4 Walked Alone Along the St. John’s Sideroad, Views Will Never Be The Same https://livinginaurora.ca/aurora/walked-alone-along-the-st-johns-sideroad-views-will-never-be-the-same/ https://livinginaurora.ca/aurora/walked-alone-along-the-st-johns-sideroad-views-will-never-be-the-same/#comments Wed, 16 Oct 2013 17:48:36 +0000 http://livinginaurora.ca/?p=11049 the St. John’s sideroad between Bayview Street and Leslie Street there will be a substantial number of residents moving into new houses in the near future.

Some will be just moving from one Aurora home to another home in Aurora, and some will be newcomers.

St. John's Sideroad, Town of Aurora

St. John’s Sideroad, Town of Aurora


By looking at the construction site area we are not seeing a small project here.

St. John's Sideroad, Town of Aurora

St. John’s Sideroad, Town of Aurora


It used to be a beautiful scenic ride along that path or a bike ride or a walk. Walk may be somehow dangerous as there was never much of a side path for walking. Those times are now gone just like the times for St. John’s sideroad between Yonge Street and Bayview Street – the farm view is now gone.

St. John's Sideroad, Town of Aurora

St. John’s Sideroad, Town of Aurora


St. John's Sideroad, Town of Aurora

St. John’s Sideroad, Town of Aurora


Last summer in June 2013 I took a three hour hike along St. John’s sideroad, back and forth. I missed to photo shoot the original scenery along that path, just because I procrastinated – beautiful corn fields and the blue house, and some trees with character are now gone. The blue house wasn’t that old (1998) but it had to be removed. So this time I thought if I wait any longer I will really miss the ultimate change.

St. John's Sideroad, Town of Aurora

St. John’s Sideroad, Town of Aurora


St. John's Sideroad, Town of Aurora

St. John’s Sideroad, Town of Aurora


Since that time things have been rolling. Now when anyone drives along that stretch will notice construction site and the sales office. Not a pretty site now. Since residential buildings are production houses I cannot see how nice the views will be. I can also suspect that the road will need some widening.

St. John's Sideroad, Town of Aurora

St. John’s Sideroad, Town of Aurora


It will be interesting if along that road will we ever see road kills. Road kills like snapping turtles, black squirrels and something flat and orange, quite unrecognizable I have seen. I did photograph those grotesque scenes but I rather not share them here – just imagine.
St. John's Sideroad, Town of Aurora

St. John’s Sideroad, Town of Aurora


]]> https://livinginaurora.ca/aurora/walked-alone-along-the-st-johns-sideroad-views-will-never-be-the-same/feed/ 2 Sunday Break, View From Top Of The World https://livinginaurora.ca/aurora/sunday-break-view-from-top-of-the-world/ https://livinginaurora.ca/aurora/sunday-break-view-from-top-of-the-world/#comments Sun, 25 Dec 2011 05:12:23 +0000 http://livinginaurora.ca/?p=5000

View from BestBuy Parking Lot, Leslie Street, Aurora

‘A great thing about these trees is that they are excellent for cleaning, both groundwater, and of course, air.’ ~ by Mike Lowry
]]> https://livinginaurora.ca/aurora/sunday-break-view-from-top-of-the-world/feed/ 0 Ho Ho Our Town, Our Aurora, Our Big Town https://livinginaurora.ca/aurora/ho-ho-our-town-our-aurora-our-big-town/ https://livinginaurora.ca/aurora/ho-ho-our-town-our-aurora-our-big-town/#comments Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:10:41 +0000 http://livinginaurora.ca/?p=4954

In case you live far away though, or you get your thrills from party poker, or living vicariously through old acquaintance Facebook pages, today I am going to take some time to talk about some of the facts and history that surround the town and display few photos from 2011. We as the community should be proud of the heritage.

Sheppard House, Sheppard's Bush Trail


Where is Aurora? Aurora can be found roughly 20 km north of the city of Toronto and is situated on the Oak Ridges Moraine. The Moraine, which covers a geographical area of 1,900 km between Caledon and Rice Lake, is a geological land-form that is thought to have been formed during the Late Wisconsonian glacial period. The word ‘beautiful’ doesn’t cover the splendor of the area, and it’s a wonderful place for Aurora to be.

Sheppard's Bush, Maple Sugar Shack


In terms of the town, I would say I’m not the only person to love it, considering in 2010 the population rose to 53,892. This makes us the 97th largest population in Canada. Compare this to 113th in 2001, and I believe there are many people like me who moved into the area and just fell in love. A lot of this love comes from the fact that a large part of Aurora is under the Ontario Government’s Greenbelt legislation, which enforces limits on growth in designated areas. There is a lot of build up to the north of the town, but the southern eastern areas, in particular are largely protected.

Rail Track Crossing, St. John's Sideroad


So what is there to do in Aurora? Our community theatre for example, Theatre Aurora has been around since 1958. At the time it was called the Aurora Drama Workshop. Then 1973 came around and they banded together with the Aurora Musical Society to form Theatre Aurora. The following year they moved into the Factory Theatre on Henderson Drive, where they, to this day perform show after show, generation after generation. Their shows are always worth a watch.

Barn, Leslie Street, Aurora


So there you have it. Just a few little facts and as always photography of our big town. Ho Ho Ho …

Aurora Cultural Centre, Aurora

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