PLACES OF INTEREST AROUND BARRIE
BARRIE ARMOURY: Home of the GREY & SIMCOE FORESTERS REGIMENT (G&SF)
Location: Park Street, Barrie, Ontario
Heritage Value
Barrie Armoury is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental value.
Historical Value
Barrie Armoury is associated with the provision of drill halls for the active volunteer Militia in Canada, specifically under Sam Hughes, Minister of Militia and Defence from 1911 to 1916. He expedited the program of armoury construction initiated by Frederick Borden. In the interest of reducing costs, he handed over the design of the majority of armouries to his Engineering Services Branch. Armouries were invaluable as centres for the conscription and training of the overseas expeditionary force
BARRIE'S MILITARY HERITAGE PARK:
Location: Lakeshore, Barrie, Ontario
The Military Heritage Park sits along a walking trail on the south shore of Kempenfelt Bay. The land was dedicated as a Military Heritage Park in June of 2009, the 65th anniversary of D-Day, in recognition of the significant relationship between the City of Barrie and Canadian Forces Base Borden.
THE BARRIE CENOTAPH
Location: Dunlop Street East & Owen Street
Memorial Square
The Barrie Cenotaph was constructed in memory of Simcoe County fallen heroes of the First World War and dedicated on June 28, 1922. The cenotaph is unique in that it lists the end of the war as 1919 rather than 1918. While fighting ceased after the German surrender in 1918, those responsible for the monument consider the formal end of the war to be the signing of the Treaty of Versailles - June 28, 1919. The cenotaph was dedicated on this same day in 1922.
The GREY & SIMCOE FORESTERS REGIMENTAL MUSEUM
Located at 36 Mulcaster Street in downtown Barrie, the Grey & Simcoe Foresters Regimental Museum is located in the recently refurbished historical gem built in 1889 as a Company Armoury and drill hall for the volunteer militia raised from the surrounding counties.
Hours of Operation - May through November
Wednesday to Saturday - 10:00am to 3:00pm
- Also open during various City Special Events
Admission FREE
BASE BORDEN MILITARY MUSEUM
Base Borden Military Museum is a military museum located on the grounds of CFB Borden, in Borden, Ontario, Canada. Combining four separate museums, it has numerous items, equipment and vehicles from
all eras of Canadian military history, including a large number of historic armoured vehicles and aircraft displayed outside in the Major-General F. F. Worthington Memorial Park and around the Base. CFB Borden, Borden, Ontario,
The museum is located about 25 kilometres west of Barrie. The museum, which combines all the separate museums at the base, was established in the 1990s.
In June 2007 a new main building for the museum complex was opened, with a large hangar for the display of historic military vehicles. The museum complex consists of several buildings and a memorial park.
PEACEKEEPERS MEMORIAL PARK - ANGUS, ONTARIO
Peacekeepers Park, a registered Military Memorial is located in Angus, Ontario, about 20 kilometres west of Barrie. The park is bordered by Brentwood Road, Commerce Road and Mill Street. . This 2 1/2 acre park of Essa Township is dedicated to those who have served on United Nations-sanctioned missions and Afghanistan. It includes a Wall of Honour, vehicles that have served on UN missions and, portraits of fallen brothers and sisters who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in the name of peace.
THE BORDEN LEGACY PARK - CFB BORDEN MAIN ENTRANCE
Camp Borden was founded in 1916, training nearly fifty thousand soldiers for service in The Canadian Expeditionary Force. For many of those soldiers, their first action was during the Battle of Arras, and specifically the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
The Borden Legacy Project began in 2014, and in June 2015, sacred soil was removed from the Battlefield at Vimy Ridge and patriated to Canada. This soil symbolically holds the DNA of all those fallen and wounded in the 1917 Battle.
This was one of the important steps that saw the creation of Borden Legacy Park –three distinct pieces that serve to commemorate our past and inspire the future. First, a white and black granite wall, a tribute and inspiration to each and every member of the Canadian Armed Forces that pass through our gates. Etched into the main wall is a powerful tribute to all past and currently serving Canadian Armed Forces members: Through these gates, the son's daughters of a grateful nation pass – serving Canada with Honour, Duty, and Courage, so that all may live with Freedom, Democracy, and Justice.
The wall also encases an urn, in which the sacred soil is held. The promise of General Sir Arthur Currie to his troops is etched into the wall that holds the soil and reads: “To those who fall I say: you will not die, but step into immortality. Your mothers will not lament your fate but will be proud to have borne such sons. Your names will be revered forever and ever by your grateful country, and God will take you unto himself.”
The second piece of the park is the restored WWI trenches that were used to train infantry soldiers before their departure to the Western Front. Connected to the Legacy Wall via a short wooded trail, these trenches are a reminder of the importance of training, and the conditions of the First World War.
Finally, a Bronze Bugler stands in the park, calling to his companions, calling visitors to the monument, and calling to the now-empty trenches that once trained soldiers before they left for battle overseas.
by:mrb/17/09/21