#2778 "Old Briar Hill Road"

#2778 "Old Briar Hill Road"
8x10 by 3/4 inch profile oils on canvas

This is the second painting completed with the Rural Community Expo Event of June 2023. I decided to remain in an obvious location right on the Old Briar Hill Road in front of the "504" mailbox. 

The sun was overhead and to my right with nary a cloud in the sky. I simply turned around after completing #2777 "Furnace Falls Farm" and looked the other way, eastward along the Old Briar Hill Road. I did not include any of the cars driving in to attend the Rural Community Expo Event. Each passing car raised a cloud of dust and some of that certainly got into the oils. 

The tree tunnel in the Old Briar Hill Road at the brow of the hill is what really caught my eye. At one time the Old Briar Hill Road connected to Summers Road that passed across some rough terrain simply called "The Bush" on some maps, north to Elgin. 

The Leeds & 1000 Islands Historical Society publication #28 Fall/Winter 2007 has some interesting information about the area. The Leeds gang, otherwise known as the Chase or Briar Hill Gang plundered the hard-working farmers of the area from 1865 to 1868. They were a gang of horse thieves based along Briar Hill northwest of Lyndhurst - right where I was painting. The Briar Hill Gang also had links to criminals on the American side of the border south from Rockport. 

The thieves raided homesteads at night, taking in addition to horses an estimated $3,000 worth of property including grain, harnesses, buffalo robes, firkins of butter, sheep and poultry. Gertrude E. Wheeler wrote of three separate robberies in "Briar Hill Mob Terror Of The St. Lawrence Valley". Apparently, some very influential people including politicians were behind the workings of the Leeds County gang and never faced jail time. Another mob referred to as the Clutes were prominent in the late 1880's.

Times were certainly different a century or more ago in many ways but in others, things have not changed that much. People are still people. 

My sincere thank you to the historians who record the facts before they are lost to time. This information and much more not included would have been forgotten without the dedication of the Leeds & 1000 Islands Historical Society. Without a sense of history, we do not know where we were. Without that, we do not really know where we are or where we might go. Rewriting history to fit the now is always a mistake with no honest landmark to refer to and anchor reality. If you truly wish to become better you must start with an honest understanding of the past or risk repeating it.

The Rural Community Expo Event of 2023 was excellent and promoted the area in a positive and productive manner - quite in contrast to the Briar Hill and Clutes Gangs. It was a wonderful day in the country enjoyed by many. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick