Echoes of the Old Durham
Road focuses on the early
Black pioneers, their
settlement along the Old
Durham Road near Priceville,
Ontario and the Old Durham
Road Pioneer Cemetery. This
virtual exhibit aims to tell
a local story on a national
theme – Black History.

   Historic and present day
photos, maps and contemporary
local artwork link our
present to a past not
recorded in our history
books.
   Pictures of the remains
of old stone foundations, now
nearly lost in the mossy
forest floors, offer proof

that the history of the Old
Durham Road goes back further
than those texts tell us.
From the constantly shifting
soils of Artemesia, broken
shards of dishes that were
once used by the first
settlers along the road
resurface to be captured by
our camera.

   In the 1851 census almost
every 50-acre lot along the
Durham Road was settled by a
Black family with the parents
stating their birthplace as
U.S., and children as old as
17, given Canada as their
birthplace.
   
   Some of these people