In the fall of 2021, Grand Experiences invited a group of newcomers to the city of Brantford to learn area history combined with a hike around the local portion of the Grand River. I was lucky enough to be asked to join the group for their first taste of this unique perspective of Brantford’s historical and natural background. And, because I was trying to interest my then 5-year-old nephew in all things outdoors, he too was welcome to come along.
We met the group in the parking lot of the Bell Homestead National Historic Site, located at 94 Tutela Heights Rd. My nephew and I gathered with a broad selection of the latest people to call the city their new home including international immigrants, retirees, and some who relocated to do a daily work commute to Hamilton, Oakville, and Toronto. At the direction of our Grand Experiences guide, Jamie Kent, we first entered the museum store to begin our tour of the historic homestead and learn about Alexander Graham Bell and his contributions to world communication.
Brian Wood, curator of the Bell Homestead (image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons) and its principal structures, greeted us in the museum store and welcomed the newcomers to the city, advising what to anticipate on the tour. While the telephone was the most notable invention produced by Bell at the namesake homestead, the property also featured many of the modernizations that a home and family of that stature could be expected to have in Brantford in the mid to late-1800s. This roughly 10-acre site, inclusive of the Melville House (the principal structure and museum,) a visitor reception area and museum store, and the Exchange Café, also features summer theatre workshops, outdoor symphony performances, and a concert series, among other amazing events and museum tours!
From the museum store, our group was introduced to our tour guide who, in addition to outlining the significance and process of the invention of the telephone on July 26, 1874, also explained how the Bell family lived and worked. We saw various phone models, toured the family home, and learned of original furnishings, designs, and intricacies of the homestead. Maintained as a picturesque mid-19th-century property, the site features elements that went over the head of my nephew, who was actually fascinated by the dial-phones, having only ever seen a smart phone. Our guide was well versed in the Bell family, their home, and way of life, offering to take questions along the way and to speak with members of the group following our hike.
Following the tour of the Bell Homestead (image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons,) the group gathered again in the site parking lot to make plans for our hike, where our Grand Experiences team (Jamie and an additional guide) prepared us for the path. The entrance for the trail was adjacent to the historic site parking lot, at a gate along the north side of Tutela Heights Road. The trail marker indicated the roughly 5-km return route on the high banks overlooking the Grand River, and since he listened intently to the safety instructions, my nephew was given his own hiking stick by our guides. With that, we proceeded with the Brantford newcomers along the path upstream, directly below the historic site. Here our guides outlined more details about the Bell family, their love of this area, and parts of the property and river they frequented and enjoyed.
On the return up toward the Tutela Heights Trail main gate, our guides transformed the hike into an interpretive learning experience in this beautifully natural setting. Before setting out on the second part of the hike through the pine forest that leads the way to the lookout points over amazing views of the Grand River, they offered tips on local habitat exploration and historic lifestyles including Indigenous as well as immigrant families to the area (considering the makeup of our newcomer group.)
Wrapping with folklore on early makeshift outdoor shelters, species and habitat exploration in this part of the Carolinian Forest region, and local enjoyment and uses of the Grand River, the Grand Experiences team gave this beginner group of explorers a unique perspective of their new home, capped off with a warm campfire lunch of delicious maple chili!
My nephew was too pooped to pop after soaking up all the local details and fresh air. So, we took some group pictures with the newcomers we enjoyed the experience with, and he and I started the hike back by ourselves to the Bell Homestead parking lot. Walking back by the Grand River overlooks, past corn fields and the pine forest we set out in, we talked about everything we learned on this very quiet trail. We heard the birds and saw signs of deer and turkeys, met other hikers who had harvested puffballs, and already planned to go back and explore the lower trails by the river. The pairing of the Tutela Heights Trail hike and the Bell Homestead National Historic Site experience was a hit for us, introducing him to beginner hiking and history, and teaching me that no matter how much I think I know, there’s always more to learn about what our area has to offer.
Uncommonly Grand 
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